I have a major and college on mind, but I am not committed. I am so stressed and wish that I am still a little kid so I don’t have to make these kind of decisions. Is it just me?
You are not alone but making these decisions is the transition into adulthood.
That is probably not going to be the hardest decision in your life. If you don’t know, make some spreadsheets and compare attributes of your contenders, do it analytically.
Don’t you have until May 1st to make a decision about school and even later to decide on major?
Yes, I do. But, I am just stressed because I feel like there are a lot of responsibilities for me.
Make sure your list is realistic and you have schools you know you can likely afford if you get admitted. Once you put your applications in and you know they are complete, try to forget about them and focus on maintaining your high school studies and activities for the rest of the school year. Get your senior pictures taken. Go do some thing just for fun. Enjoy what is left of high school. Many of the decisions about college make themselves over the course of the year because you will cross some off your list as you get admissions and financials from them. If you take a balanced approach things will work out.
don’t stress yourself. you’ll end up giving yourself a problem that you shouldn’t be thinking of in the first place. take time to decide on what to take. it’s OK to be mindful of what would happen in the future, but for now, focus on what you really want to happen in your stay at college.
OK, deep breaths.
Know that no decision you make today or next week or next year about academics is irreversible. Lots and lots and lots of kids change their major or transfer colleges.
So right now, you’re being asked for your best guess at age 17. That’s it. No life altering, no looking back kind of decisions. You’re not storming the beaches at Normandy, you’re just trying to decide what you think you might want to do and where you might want to do it.
So give it some thought. Consider who you are right now, not who you think you might be in 4 years. Keep the budget and geography in mind-- how far do you want to be from home? (I live on Long Island. I tell my students that as soon as they’ve crossed a bridge-- the first one is 20 minutes from here-- they’re “away.”) Consider the environment where you’re most happy-- large school, small school, urban, suburban rural, that sort of thing.
And give it your best shot, for the person you are today. As you grow and change, those desires may grow and change too, and you’ll deal with that then.
Don’t stress about choice of school. Cast a wide and apply to several schools. Decide on a school after that. Even then, there’s no ONE and only school that’s right for u. The truth is that you can be happy and do just fine at many places.
Also don’t stress about choice of major. Pick something that reasonably matches your interests now. You can still change your major. In fact, I switched my major in junior year and still have a life.
RELAX. And good luck.
I think these are decisions made by people who’re quite intent to get their education to the next level. You have to make it yourself. I think it’s in this decision making situations that you could measure your maturity or anything it’e simply knowing what you really want or where do you see yourself, something like that.
I just want to thank you all for all the wonderful replies. You all really made me feel better.
You’re so welcome! The best of luck to you!
Like so many big changes in life, they are horribly scary, and amazingly wonderful at the same time. Focus on the wonderful and then you can handle the scary.