After thinking about it for over three semesters, I can finally say that I have declared a major. I am majoring in criminology and minoring in education studies.
Picking a major was probably one of the hardest academic decisions I have had to make while being on college. I came into Stonehill with the idea that I wanted to be a dentist, but within the first month I realized that I only wanted to become a dentist because it sounds like a respectable career path, not because I would actually enjoy doing everything that the job entails. After that realization the journey began for me to really find what I want to dedicate my life to. I met with the chair of different departments, took a variety of different courses, spoke to my professors, went to the career services office and I still didn’t have a slight idea of what I wanted to major in. I noticed that in all of my meetings and conversations the same questions came up: “what do you see yourself doing in the future, what kind of job do you want, what do you enjoy doing, what are you good at?” I also noticed that my answers to those questions didn’t lead me to any direction: “I’m not sure, I think I’m okay at everything, I don’t know, I enjoy too many things.” When I spoke to my family about it, they always told me the same thing “do something that you like and that can support you financially.” Since none of my meetings or conversations helped me figure out what I could major in and I didn’t have the answers to many of the questions that I was being asked, I decided to go with what I did know- I like working in a school setting with young adults, but I do not want to be a teacher and I have enjoyed all of my criminology classes. Now that I finally have a major, I am being asked a new set of questions: “what are you going to do with that degree, what kind of job do you want and what are you going to do after college?” I am still not able to answer any of those questions and there is a chance that my major might change tomorrow, but at the moment this is what feels right and that all I can really go by right now.