College major choices often a shot at chance
College offers great opportunities, but those opportunities are less reliable than they have been in the past. A diploma is no longer a job guarantee. There’s no doubt it will help, but it is no longer as sacred as it once was.
The economy has also added pressure to a student’s choice of majors. It’s become more important to choose a major that will have a good chance of landing you a job. According to a Yahoo article entitled “College Majors That Are Useless,” business and accounting are good. Performing arts, not so much. The article actually asks students considering a career in the arts: “How do you feel about waiting tables?”
But as detrimental as it could be to choose a dead-end major, it could be just as bad to choose a major you can’t stand. If your dream job happens to be fiscally promising, it’s smooth sailing. If not, it’s a catch-22. Do you want to do something that could ensure financial security, or do you want to do something you’ll enjoy? And even if you do choose to pick a sensible major, there’s still no guarantee your choice will pay off.
It’s a difficult world for college students, but it also gives us a chance to assume responsibility for our lives. If students are forced to think about their education in terms of the rest of their lives, they will be more prepared for the real world.
It often seems like there’s no good choice, and maybe there isn’t. Sometimes, we just have to roll the dice. The only way we can really go wrong is if we decide not to roll the dice at all.