The Student Success Center is a resource for students in the exploratory program. Photo by Jonathan Wang.
ELIANA PRELLWITZ | OPINION COLUMNIST | eprellwitz@butler.edu
When you were applying for college in high school, did you freeze when it got to the question about your major? Deep down, did you know the right answer to put? Did you know what to do for the rest of your life? And even if you thought you did, did you end up changing your mind anyways?
Some people are extremely passionate about their future academic pursuits, and know that going into college. But most students aren’t like that and barely have an idea of what they want to do, ending up picking a random one because they don’t know what else to do.
When I applied to colleges, in my application for each of them I picked a different major because I did not know what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. But why should I know? I was 17! I was making huge life changing decisions, and then suddenly I also had to know my career path along with all the drama of high school … Seriously?
Sophomore environmental studies major Brooke Hay expressed the pressures of declaring a major.
“Psychology was just something that I fell back on, because I knew that there were so many areas you can go into, not really even thinking about my future, like grad school,” Hay said. “I just know there were different options. My friends and family told me I would make a good therapist. But I was never really sure what I wanted to do. I felt anxious and unsure when I was putting psychology down as my major when applying to schools.”
Anxious, stressed, insecure, overwhelmed — all ways to describe the feelings associated with the college application process. What version of me would schools like the most? How can I be the best of me to secure a yes? How can I pick a major that they want me to study? What does my family want me to major in?
First-year exploratory major Molly Waggener shared her anxieties about having to declare a major, and how the exploratory program helped ease that.
“I came into school and I was really worried about everything in general,” said Waggner. “I had no idea what I wanted to do. I really liked the [exploratory] class because we went through every college and individual majors. You got to learn surface level stuff about everything and I really enjoyed that, instead of just having to figure it out on my own.”
I didn’t feel nervous applying to Butler. I didn’t have to pick a random interest that seemed prestigious enough for a school to want me to study. I simply had to be myself and embrace not knowing everything yet. One of the reasons I went to Butler was because of their exploratory program. More students who weren’t in the program should have been; because like me, they felt lost when picking a career as a teenager.
Being an exploratory student lets you try out different hats, ask questions, talk to professors and take classes that benefit you to get you where you want to be. Whether you are trying to figure out what health care field you want to work in, or which of Butler’s six colleges is best for you, the program will help you get to your personalized goals. No matter how broad or narrow your search is, they will help.
Brecken Grashuis, first-year science, technology and society and environmental studies double major discussed her success in the program.
“I had a lot of guidance from my advisor,” Grashuis said. “I love Catie Triplet, she helped me a lot. It was laid out in front of me, and there were a lot of different avenues I knew I could take.”
Having the opportunity to choose and look at all the options is what helped Grashuis declare a major, and it’s what got me to declare a major. Talking with my advisor, Triplet, shadowing classes, talking to people in different departments and taking all the intrapersonal quizzes helped Grashuis, me and so many exploratory students find a home with a department.
The exploratory department and their guidance saved me. Like Waggener, Grashuis and Hay, trying to figure out careers and majors on their own was overwhelming and exhausting. The exploratory class was specifically designed to learn about majors, careers and yourself, which made the entire process easier.
Maybe instead of forcing students at any campus to have their life figured out before they even graduate high school, we should provide them with a year to take a breath, look around, ask questions and understand themselves enough to make the right decision.
