Developing and Pursuing Interests as an Underclassman

Let me let you in on a little secret: it is not essential to know what you want to study in college before applying! End stop. You do not need to have your entire career planned out at age 17. What’s more, an estimated 20-50% of students apply to college undecided (and another 75% or so change their major at least once)! That being said, knowing what sorts of academic pursuits you find appealing can help drive your college search. That’s why I encourage students in freshman or sophomore year to start thinking about and figuring out what excites them. What could be a potential passion or interest. Ultimately, having passions and interests is fun! Having that “aha” moment can be extremely motivating and can help get you moving in the right direction. So, what if you are one of the majority of students who just doesn’t have a clue what drives you? Starting to explore and narrow down your options, even just a bit, in freshman or sophomore year can be incredibly valuable! The first place to start that exploration is in your own head. Here are some questions to start asking yourself:

• What do I like to do for fun?

• If I could be paid to do literally anything, what would that be?

• What is a subject(s) I can talk anyone’s ear off about?

• If I could design my dream class, what would it be?

• If I could spend an entire day learning about something new, what would it be?

You may not be able to answer some or all of these questions, but if you could, did any of your answers surprise you? Did they reveal anything about yourself to you? Do they have you wondering about possibilities you had never considered before? If you answered yes to any of these questions, that’s fantastic! Now what to do with that information? First off, hopefully you have somewhat of a general sense of where your interests are pulling you: STEM? The arts? The humanities? Business? A combination of a couple of these? Now, consider how you might explore one or more of these interests. Some general guidance:

• Does your school offer one or more courses in your area(s) of interest? Can you plan out how you would take any and all of the classes available to you (taking account of any prerequisites, etc)?

• Do you have the time and mental energy to take an online course (even one not for credit)? A website like Coursera offers thousands of free courses taught by university professors that you can do at your own pace. They have classes in most subjects including: Business, Computer Science, Data Science, Health, Physical Science and Engineering, Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities, Languages, Math, and many more!

• Think about your community. What opportunities are available to you nearby? Is there a lab or a business you can volunteer for? A local college professor you could contact and try to learn from/work with? A regional arts community that you could become involved with (whether through auditioning and participating or just helping out)? Students you could tutor at a lower school? Think about how you can both serve your community while doing something you might enjoy!

• How can you best take advantage of your summer breaks (while also getting some much-needed rest!)  to pursue any and all of your interests? A targeted summer program or camp? More volunteering? A passion project?

Some final thoughts: figuring out what you love to do and might consider studying in college likely won’t be a straightforward process. You may need to try a few things that you ultimately feel not all that drawn to before finding something that does excite you! But don’t fret: ruling out things that you definitely are not interested in can be just as useful though! Bottom line: take advantage of any and all opportunities you have to learn and grow; if nothing else, it will make you a more interesting person!