Why going into college undecided was the best decision I’ve made so far

From when I was a little girl, people would always ask me what I wanted to be when I grew up, and I gave them all sort of crazy answers. I remember a time when I thought that being a princess would be pretty cool, but as I grew and life became less of a fantasy and more of a reality, my dreams changed.

Somewhere along the line, I decided I wanted to be a singer/songwriter (I blame my Hannah Montana obsession for that), and then that idea turned into dreams of being a Broadway performer.

I think I peaked in third grade

I thought that my plan was plausible: I had been taking dance classes since pre-school and I had some acting classes under my belt. And by fourth grade, I had finally joined chorus and I was sold on music. I had spent most of my life preparing my Tony’s speech until sometime during my junior year of high school, when all of a sudden, things changed.

I really started to enjoy writing. I continued to participate in my high school’s music and theater programs, and took voice and dance lessons through my senior year, but I realized that I wanted to do something different in college.

The ladies in waiting

I thought that I could be a journalist or go into publishing, or heck, maybe even write a novel. I wanted to do something with my new found love, but I was all over the place. I thought that I needed to choose something and choose it quick. And by my senior year, when it came time to apply to colleges, something in my gut told me to check that scary little ‘undecided’ box.

I will forever be thankful for that decision.

Singing about work and my old pal, Monday

I am currently a Freshman Theatre Arts Management major at Ithaca College, which I just recently declared, and I’m really happy with my decision. When I came in this past fall, I was an Exploratory student, which basically means that I was undecided. As an Exploratory student, I spent my first two semesters “exploring,” and eventually was able to narrow it down to two majors.

While I was here, I dipped my toes into the theater and writing departments, but also into Whalen, the music school, and Park, the communications school. I exposed myself to a little bit of everything that I was interested in—which was a lot—and just went from there.

One class that I particularly enjoyed, and that was specifically for Exploratory students, was “Exploring the Options,” which is basically a class where we did just that—we explored. In that class, I learned something incredibly valuable: my major will not define me. A good amount of people go on to do work in a field that correlates with their college major, but a lot of people don’t. And that’s OK. There isn’t a rule that says you need to stick with your major for the rest of your life. It doesn’t define you – you are not your major. I had to constantly keep telling myself that when I was going through this process, and it honestly got me through.

I joined my show choir this past semester, and it was great to be around people who love to perform, but aren’t necessarily performance majors.

While exploring my options was the best thing that I could’ve done for myself, I won’t lie, it was rough at times. Throughout my first semester, seeing all of my friends thrive in their respective majors made me feel a bit sad. I felt like I didn’t really belong anywhere in this school that I love so much, and it honestly sucked. While they were all planning out internships and thinking about life after college, I was stuck behind, not even sure of what I was going to eat for breakfast tomorrow.

Looking back now, I’m glad that I went through all of that, though. A lot of college students feel that they have to choose a major when they come into college because that’s just what people do. And sometimes they don’t even like it, and end up switching to something else. If I had come into school as a journalism major as I had planned, maybe I would’ve liked it, who knows?

But I’m proud of my senior-year-self for taking that terrifying plunge into the unknown, and going into the next step of my life without a clue of what to do next. I ended up giving myself the extra time that I needed to reflect on all that I love. I was ultimately able to chose something that makes me feel like me, and I think that that’s pretty darn cool.

It’s kind of crazy to think that my childhood dreams weren’t really too much of a fantasy—they sort of became a reality. I won’t be performing on a Broadway stage anytime soon, but after exploring a bit, I’m kind of back where I’ve always wanted to be, and I’m one happy, theater-loving girl.