Project 2 Final Draft

Project 2

Tristan Garcia

ENC2135

As soon as you get to college, almost every student is presented with a choice that will ultimately shape their next four years and potentially even their life. What do you want to major in? Through personal experiences with friends, I am not the only one who was shook to the core when presented with such a life affecting choice. For me, the question forces you to instantly identify your passion, and accept the fact that this will become your life’s purpose. I do only want to go to college once, and as soon as you start your first semester you already begin the process of completing pre-requisites for your desired major. Change your mind later about what you want to pursue and you might already find yourself slacking behind; being advised that you must take four classes over the summer just to make up half of the time you lost. It’s almost as if universities expect every student coming out of high school to have their entire career mapped out about what they want to do for the rest of their lives. Any student who fails to do so has already started late in what is the “marathon to a degree”. The counter argument to this continues to be that your first two years only consists of basic classes that don’t count toward any specific major, therefore students shouldn’t fall behind unless they struggle to decide after those initial two years. In other words, they give you about two years to completely close in on a major, and if you can’t pick one after that than it now becomes your problem to catch up. Fair enough.

This was an idea that I also bought into as an indecisive college student, but quickly dismissed as I was met with a different situation. Upon arrival to Florida State University I had my eyes set on being an engineer, mostly because of my interest in the field of technology and robotics. This seed was planted in me mostly by my parent’s influence, as they loved the idea of me becoming a “builder of the future’ and found every way they could to push me in that direction. I don’t say this in a negative way, but as any parent would push their child to become a doctor, they did the same with me. At orientation, I met with the Engineer Major Advisor for the first time, and found out what it would really entail to make this dream into a reality. What I was met with was a lady telling me that I would have to take three math classes a semester, along with science classes I couldn’t even pronounce. Call me what you want, but I ran home with my tail in between my legs telling my parents that this isn’t the major for me. I’ve been good at math and science for the most part, but this major lived, breathed, and slept with those two subjects and that was something I just couldn’t see myself doing. I felt like I wasn’t prepared at all, and on top of that I was back at ground zero. I wasn’t going to pursue being an engineer anymore, and was again met with the question of “what do I want to be?”. Any student can tell you the feeling of relief when you know, and the feeling that the clock is ticking when you don’t. It’s a reality check. My whole life I felt I knew what I wanted to be, and in such an instance that was out the window. But as I was told a hundred times, there was no need to worry because I haven’t even started my freshmen summer semester yet and there was still time. But as I quickly learned, time is always of the essence when it comes to picking a major. The further along you go taking nonspecific classes, the more of a hole you seem to be digging yourself. What I was quick to find out was that I wasn’t alone. Many close friends of mines, and students I met through classes were for the most part unsure about the decision they already made, or completely unknown to one they should make. I could see the feeling of uneasiness on their faces, and resonated with the fact that I wasn’t quite sure what to do next.

Why are me and so many other students in the same boat of being unsure about what we want to do with our lives? I kind of settled with the fact that it will come, I will find my interest and when I know, I’ll know. But once again if time is of the essence, how efficient is that solution. The answer is not efficient at all, but through a little research I did find a PDF on the FSU website that gives some guidance to students in this very situation. It’s under the page of FSU admissions, and is titled “Choosing a Major or Occupation”. These seems to be the only push by the University that students who are actually not enrolled yet can access. It starts very redundantly with the first two pages explaining how to make a “good” decision as opposed to a bad one. Now like I said, I was very in need of guidance, but this seemed like it should have been included in the D.A.R.E. campaign rather than a PDF about what my potential career should be. But I continued to read anyway. The meat of the article consisted of a list of interests, values, and skills, and the directions prompt you to circle which one most resonated with you. The next page then asks you to, believe it or not, write in a big box all your feelings about what your dream jobs are and how you hope to achieve them. My issue with this is that this is the very thing I am trying to figure out; it’s almost like asking someone who just lost their keys “Where’s the last place you left them”. I also feel my child instincts come in when told to write all my dreams and aspirations in big black box, only for my eyes to stare at. Was the purpose of this PDF to help incoming students hone in on a major that most suits them, or just give an impression of guiding them to a decision. The following pages consist of exercises that mostly work in labeling yourself as artistic, social, realistic etc. to further pick what major is for you. My only gripe with this is that this evaluation is all self-answered, at the most basic level. You either classify yourself as artistic or you don’t. There are so many levels of depth to being artistic, but just because you don’t draw may sway students to never selecting that as a trait, and rightfully so. I feel that this supposedly guide to a decision is more of a surface level self-evaluation then a tool to help students. If this is a real problem that hit students in the face as soon as they step on campus, then why isn’t it addressed like one?

Part of the solution to this problem starts with the preparation of each individual student. All through high school, there is more time dedicated to a tennis class then there is to potential career planning. Whether a student decides to take the next level of education or not, the community of high school students should already be active in the process of finding a path to a carrier. It’s important that students find an interest that they are both passionate and skillful at, but time is never set aside for this very thing. This is a long process, and it shouldn’t start the second you are actually accepted into a college, as through my experiences shown it’s already too late. Students are expected to already have some sort of idea, but are never given any guidance beforehand. The way we have mandatory subjects of Math, Science, and English; there should be mandatory classes about career planning that involving more real life thinking and planning. Preparation is key to making a smart decision, and the plain truth is that it just isn’t being handled correctly. Almost every student that was unsure about their career path also never heard of the PDF I mentioned above. And even if that may be for the better, as I feel it didn’t do its job in the first place, this is still a problem. How have so many students never even heard of this PDF? It’s the main one being pushed by the University, but still fails in reaching its target audience. There needs to be more of a marketing campaign, that way incoming students know there is a place to go if they are unsure. That is the second step. If people know where to find help, then this community of undecided college students can slowly become obsolete. The same way clubs and organizations advertised around campus and during orientation, it’s necessary that incoming students know specifically where to go if they feel unsure. This decision is extremely important, and I can’t stress that enough. Although most students have somewhat of an idea about what career path they want to follow, that decision must come with careful thinking and calculation. Well once students understand where they can go for help, it’s equally as important that the how they will receive help is efficient too. I say out with the old, and in with the new. There’s no need to still have a fill in the blank PDF as the only form of documentation online that can service students. It’s quite outdated, and almost kindergarten-like that we even are asking legal adults to write their feelings about “what a happy life includes”. That is a real thing. Its 2017, and with $20,000 in tuition money coming from about 40,000 students, shouldn’t there be a better method of going about this?

Here is my pitch. When you first decide to start the admission process for FSU, one of the first questions they ask you is “what is your projected major?” Yes, before you even officially enroll into the University of your Choice, you are already expected to have a major in mind. I remember seeing this when I first started my enrolling process, and felt like I was already being put under a magnifying glass. Why was I being forced to make this choice so soon? Does this affect me being admitted? Will they accept me partially on what major I choose, or was I just overthinking it? Maybe I was, but I must have stared at that screen longer then the time I spent writing the essay. There seemed to be hundreds of majors, how could I possibly know which one to choose if I couldn’t even decide on where to eat lunch that day, let alone pick what I wanted to study for the next four years. I feel there should be a different approach, and one a little less blatant. Instead of just asking these incoming freshmen what major they want and moving on, let’s start the process of making a smart choice for those who haven’t already. Since most students will be enrolling online, this can make things a lot easier. In the same way that organizations like Carfax collect data and help consumers find a car, why can’t we translate that same intuition towards students trying to find a major? Every enrollee is forced to send in their transcript, so half of the data is already there. If you compile each student’s grades over the last four years of high school and through SAT scores, I believe that would be a good source of information to find what subjects that person is good at. Whether they excel at English more or Math less, this should be noted in the process of finding what major would be good for them. Note that I said this would be half of the information needed. The other half will involve personal information from the student to find what that person finds a passion in. Create an algorithm that asks a variety of questions concerning what you find an interest in. Whether it be drawing on your homework in between class, or the fact that you love watching YouTube videos can all be translated into helping information in finding a type of study that specifically interests you. After the student answers many different questions about them self, the computer collects all the data and sees what overlaps. The difference between this and my beloved FSU PDF is that now there is no bias. Since the PDF requires you to write out your own answers, and categorize it based what you think; there is a lot of room for error. You might believe you are an artistic person, but that’s mostly based of your mother’s appraisal of the hand turkey you made in the third grade. The questions from the PDF are also quite general, and only achieve in categorizing you as one thing or the other. This online questionnaire would work completely unbiased, and works solely in finding the specific things you like based on how you answer each specific question. Once the algorithm knows what subjects you are good at, and what things you enjoy, it can then compile this information and categorize it into a list of what the best major would be for you. Not only would you see a list of things that you might enjoy studying, but based on your transcript it could also predict what you would be successful at. This encompasses both sides of the coin, in that it’s important that one’s career choice be something they find a passion in and are equally as good at it. Now this may seem like an extremely long process to go about, but the good thing about using a computer is that it does all the work in matter of seconds. Students will no longer have to print out a PDF, and acquire cramps in their hand writing about “what inspires them”. The faster and more efficient one can came to a complete answer, the better. All of this can be completed before an enrollee even begins to start writing their essay. With an idea of what majors would suite you, it’s important that adequate information concerning each major is provided too. The situation with me and becoming an engineer was that I just didn’t know enough about the major itself, and when I did I decided that it wasn’t for me. Most people only have a surface level base of information about what career path they want to pursue. It’s a necessity that each presented major coincided with a list of full details about the road map, salary, level of difficulty, etc. This way students can feel even more prepared that the decision they are making is the right one. Once all of that is presented, the rest of the work lies in the hands of the student. This way once students decide to either jump straight into the work force, or declare for a college: they can be confident coming in that their career path is the right one.

There is no “right” choice, but there is a smart one. For those people who knew what they wanted to be when they grew up from the age of 5…kudos to you. But the reality is that that isn’t the case for everyone. People like me and many others were cautious approaching that decision, as it’s the first real decision that potentially will stick with you for life. There is a large community of people who feel they need a little bit more guidance on what to do, and are just seeking to become part of that group of students whose plan is set. It’s an uneasy feeling when your best friend is set on becoming a veterinarian, but every time you are asked what you want to be the answer is always “I don’t know yet”. Indecision is an okay thing, but there comes a time when you need to find something that’s right for you. There needs to be more help available, and an unknown PDF under that FSU admissions page just isn’t cutting it. Especially if students barely even know it exists. Maybe one day my ideas will come into fruition, and help in preparing students in making a choice that they are comfortable with in the long run. The point I’m trying to make isn’t an impossible one. A lot is expected of an 18 year old coming out of high school, because that is the year of decisions for most. The same research and planning that goes into picking a college should translate to picking a major, and even more than that for that matter. Deciding on a college is something that sticks with you on average for four years. Picking the road to your career is a decision that holds much more weight. And I know I keep beating this idea over the head, but the truth is invaluable. This needs to be talked about more, that way our future students don’t have to go through the same doubt as we did.

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