“It’s been a bit of a whirlwind,” says Samie Staudenmayer, a Journey Leader mentor for the New Student & Family Programs office. “I thought I was going to be an education minor, and now I’m not. Then I thought I was going to be a Spanish minor and now I’m not.”
What are you majoring in? What do you plan on doing after college? What industry do you want to go into? It can be alarming when we’re asked these questions. But guess what? It’s totally okay to not have it all figured out right away! Some people will have their paths figured out, but sometimes it just takes a little bit of exploring.
Samie applied to the Leeds School of Business as open option, not knowing what she wanted her emphasis to be in. She didn’t declare an emphasis until after her sophomore year. “It took me four semesters to figure out exactly what I wanted to do,” she recalled.
So, how did she go about finding the right path for herself?
Take a variety of classes
“Since I didn’t have an area of emphasis declared yet, it was really nice because I got to take a bunch of classes for each different area of business to begin to figure out what I wanted to do.”
Samie brings up a great point! Taking a variety of classes can help lead you toward finding your major, minor or certificate. Samie declared her certificate in real estate by trying out different business classes and figuring out what she really enjoyed. You never know…you may discover something you never would have thought you’d be into if it wasn’t for giving it a shot.
Join clubs and organizations
This is also a great way to learn about majors and careers. “I joined a co-ed professional business fraternity and that helped me get exposed to different recruiters and what their day-to-day looked like,” said Samie. Some clubs and organizations have a low-time commitment, so you could join more than one.
Know what interests you
It is always important to reflect on your interests when considering your path. Sometimes it is easier to start with what you aren’t interested in and eliminate those options first. For example, I always struggled with science in high school and have always been a strong public speaker and I’m good at English. So, I eliminated any sort of major that had to do with science and saw advertising as a good fit since it aligned with my strengths. Not knowing very much about advertising, I took a leap, and here I am today, loving every second of it!
Academic performance can also be a great indicator to go off of if you’re having difficulty figuring out what to do. “When I went through the process of trying to figure out what my emphasis would be, I figured it out by performance. How well I performed in each of the classes gave a good indicator if I could do the day-to-day job,” said Samie.
Enjoy your time at CU, Buffs, the right path will come. Take the time to reflect on what you enjoy, and remember to stop and smell the roses while you’re at it.
