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Let's have a contest. Whoever can tell Jessica what to major in, wins. It's simple really. All you have to do is pick an area of study out of a list of hundreds (well, hundreds in theory, at least) and tell Jessica what she should become. Keep in mind she doesn't like math or science or getting down and dirty with literature. She does not plan on being the next "Beautiful Mind," being responsible for discovering the cure for AIDS, or spending countless hours researching and lecturing on William Blake's poetry (nor Austen, for that matter -- no matter how much she enjoyed Pride and Prejudice). She feels lost. She feels paralyzed with choice. Are there too many options? Or too few? Will it even matter in the future? Unless she becomes an accountant, will her major define her career? She was once set on being an English major. She had her four year plan mapped out. She would major in English, minor in editing, study abroad her junior year in London, and get her masters in education with which she would then teach high school. Now however, she finds herself more confused than ever. And because of this, it is almost certain that she will be forced to go to college for more than four years in order to receive just her B.A. or B.S. So the quicker she finds the winner, the faster she'll get through this cloud of indecisiveness. Here are some recent thoughts concerning a major. You might take these into consideration when picking a major for Jessica. Or you might not. But these are what Jessica has been thinking about lately:
1) Sociology is interesting. It studies how groups of people interact with each other and within their cultures/societies. She is taking the SOC 111, thinking that it could be a potential major. But then she thinks about it. What could she do with a sociology degree? And what is this about it being so heavily revolved around statistics? This scares her...sort of. Does she want a career based in research and analysis and statistical information?
2) English---she was good at in high school. She received the COSA award for excellence in English at the end of her senior year. But why? How? She was good because she could write her way through the open-ended questions, not because she was an original thinker on topics such as "Duty vs. Freedom" in James Joyce's literature. She's never curled up in a corner on a rainy day salivating over Tolstoy or Dostoevsky. That doesn't mean she doesn't like to read or can't appreciate good literature. She loves to read. She greatly admires the classics. She just isn't in love with them. She recently read the Devil Wears Prada and loved it, but doesn't think that it constitutes as classic literature. So why did she think she was going to major in English? Refer back to the first sentence of this paragraph -- she was good at it. And doing what you're good at is safe. It's frightening to stick yourself out of your comfort zone and learn something new an area in which you feel must less confident. She was signed up to take two English classes this semester. Upon spending two and a half hours in a night class analyzing William Blake poetry, she found herself surrounded by those who should truly be English majors. They ate it up. They had all of these IDEAS, ideas she was without. They knew more than she did -- or so it seemed. Could she do this for the next four years? Would she jump in, thinking her swim lessons had prepared her for the English Channel, only to drown in her own ignorance? Or would she pull through and gain a love she had previously failed to grasp? Whatever the case, she dropped her English classes, a move that has left her as she is at this moment.
3) Journalism was what she used to know. She discovered it in the seventh grade when she became one of the youngest staff members to ever be allowed onto the Jo Lane newspaper. She loved writing and getting published. She loved the special privileges it allowed her to have, the inside access to the world around her. She became editor-in-chief of her middle school newspaper and then continued on to the staff in high school, where she was granted the opportunity to be editor-in-chief over the Orange R. She spent the majority of her senior year devoted the paper. Prior to her senior year, she was sent by her advisor to an "Editors in Residence" seminar at Oregon State, where she essentially learned how to be an editor at a newspaper. It last three days. And it intimidated the heck out of her. But she came out unscathed and ready to take on the incoming school year. Besides running the school paper, she found herself contributing to a youth column in the local community paper, as well. She loved it, despite the fact that she was forced to answer, what she thought to be, ridiculous and poorly thought out questions. Nevertheless, she liked having to research and formulate answers that to her, just seemed like common sense. Why didn't she decide to major in journalism? For one, you have to be accepted to the program at BYU, and Jessica lacks the confidence she needs to go for it. She's easily intimidated by others and she knows it holds her back in so many areas of her life. And two, she began thinking about the kind of lifestyle she wants to live in the future, and the fastpaced, deadline-driven journalism career didn't exactly fit the ideal. But should that be a consideration in choosing the major right now? She doesn't know. Like previously mentioned, her life is plagued by indecision and the need to get out of it.
And you, my friend, must help her. Play the game. Pick a major. Win a prize.
