What's Your Major?

Now that my daughter has started college, people keep asking me what she’s going to major in.  The answer is she has no idea, and I think that’s absolutely fine.  When you’re 18, it’s okay not to know what you’re going to do with your life, because you have plenty of time to figure it out.  I’ve told her to take her core classes and some electives for the next two years and then decide what field she wants to pursue.

Even after she graduates, there’s no guarantee her major will have anything to do with the job she moves into, and there’s no reason she has to stick with only one occupation, either.  I went to college planning to be a computer scientist, but ended up with a career in radio.  My wife majored in criminal justice, but ended up working in TV and now has an office job.  My mother was a chemistry major, but has spent the last half of her life as a librarian.  My father worked in advertising and didn’t become a teacher until he was 41 years old.  If you had asked any of us at 18 what we were going to do with our lives, we couldn’t have guessed.

I’ve told my daughter the next four years may be the only time she can afford to live in New York City (while I’m paying the bills), so she should enjoy it and make her college experience about learning new concepts, embracing new adventures, and becoming more independent.

Some good grades wouldn’t hurt, either.