Major search for path in life

By SARAH KNAACK
Scene Reporter

You can’t tell it by looking at her. With a bookbag on her back and an assignment book in her hand, Felicia White appears to be like any other student at Creighton. But if you ask her to finish the sentence, “I’m a freshmen from Iowa and I’m majoring in _______,” you will get a smile and a shrug of the shoulders.

White is part of the College of Arts and Sciences, but originally thought she would follow the pre-pharmacy track. When she decided that wasn’t her thing, she was left searching for the right department. “I feel like I should know like, right away. Just me, individually,” White said.

White is not the only student with the major question on her mind. Freshmen, sophomores, and even some juniors all across the country are undeclared.

Student sometimes feel pressure to quickly choose a major from their parents or just because everyone else seems to know. Jim Bretl, director of Creighton’s Career Center, said students shouldn’t be in a hurry. “Rather, stay in the deciding mode instead of jumping around.”

When students learn more about various careers and majors, “One of two things happen, you get more interested or you get less interested,” Bretl said. He encourages students to take initiative to learn what subjects get them excited. “Make yourself do something, go visit a faculty member or the career center and take an aptitude test…try a class or two.”
Undeclared students might find the Education 101 class helpful, in which they receive three credits to get to know their personalities, explore occupations, and talk to Creighton alums.

To students staring at the list of core classes plus major classes, they feel to not waste time with courses you don’t “need.” Students want to graduate on time, but Bretl said,
“There’s lots of legroom built into the curriculum. We can help
you plan for your four years.”

For students who are still really undecided, Bretl also offers several other suggestions to help kickstart their search for a major. Talk to department representatives at the annual major/minor exploration fair, come into the Career Center and get a referral to talk to faculty or just browse their career book library. The Career Center also offers several tests that can act as guidelines to help students learn about themselves. Focus and the Campbell Interest and Skill Survey (CISS) tests are free for all Creighton students.

Bretl said one resource students shouldn’t rely too heavily on to guide their decision is their academic advisor. An advisor’s job is not to help students pick a career, but to make sure they graduate on time, are on the right track to fulfill core, are taking classes in the right sequence and not stacking classes that are too difficult together. For more formal guidance, he recommends the Career Center. “We’re here to help,” Bretl said.

Sophomore Tim Barth knew he wanted to be a psychology major since high school, but now he’s not so sure. When Barth was encouraged to find an internship in psychology to get some hands-on experience, but he realized he wasn’t interested in any of those jobs. “I didn’t think that I’d ever be the person to change my major,” he said.

Barth’s advisor said to look at a career he wanted to go into rather than a major. “It’s [psychology] something I thought that I’d be really good at, but...maybe I wouldn’t want to do it.”

Without a clear-cut plan, White was faced with deciding if Creighton is where she wanted to stay. After three of her friends transferred at semester, “I thought about transferring for program reasons,” she said. But White is staying and will be attending the University of Bristol in England for her entire sophomore year. “The opportunity to study abroad seemed like a great opportunity to experience something new,” she said.

If students do decide on a major that Creighton can’t accommodate, that’s OK, Bretl said. “It’s [Creighton’s] job to figure out what’s best for the student, certainly we want to keep them here…the whole idea is to make that first or second year here, whether they finish here, even if they don’t finish here, a good experience so they can transfer properly.”

Even though declaring a major is an important and vital decision to any student’s academic life, Bretl wants to remind students that there are many more jobs that simply require a college degree rather than jobs that require a specific degree.
He said to do what you love and there will be available jobs.
Barth is using this advice and said, “I’m really interested in psychology, but…I don’t see myself being a psychologist. But maybe I can use that degree for teaching.”

After White finishes this semester, she will start getting ready for her year-long departure studying in England. Declared or undeclared, she said the best advice she has received is, “Do what ever..makes you happy or what you think will make you happy.”