<p>It helps if you know earlier because you can start working towards your goal and have more time. However IMO it is much worse if you realize that what you wanted before is not for you but still stick to it. I have seen kids sticking to majors and career paths they hate just because at the age of 21 they think it’s too late to change because they’d lose 1-2 years of their lifes, which is ridiculous… It’s never too late for anything at that age.
I’d say better spend a couple of months on trying out different things and choosing smth that’s right for you (most probably it’s not only one option and it’s not perfect) than doing smth that you don’t like for quite a lot of time.</p>
<p>On the other hand, I’d suggest not to expect a 100% match… I went into college with my expectations too high to find smth that’s super exciting and that I’d enjoy doing for the rest of my life, and after I tried out 2 majors that I hated I got severely deppressed. So hesitating too much and trying to find a perfect solution is also not good… I’d say try out different things and chose smth that you like and then follow it for some and see how it goes. You can’t expect to become awesomely passionate about it right from the start… sometimes it takes some time and efforts for that.</p>