On Making The Big (arguably, Jumbo) Decision
Anyone that knows me knows that my worst flaw is my indecisiveness. Be it what to eat for dinner, what movie to watch, or what jeans to put on in the morning… I can never choose. I am the person that will deliberate for a little too long which ice cream to pick on an insignificant Buzzfeed personality quiz. I am the person that will always send the annoyingly unhelpful “Both work for me!” text… so imagine how absolutely distressed I was when confronted with the decision of college.
This time last year, I suffered from one of the greatest moments of uncertainty I had ever faced. Did I want a big school or a small one? A school in the city, like where I am from, or one in the middle of nowhere for a new experience? A school with a liberal arts philosophy or one with strong pre-professional emphasis? WIth so many questions to answer, deciding where to go to school seemed almost too big an ask. And moving away from home felt like such a big commitment to make.
At just 18, how am I supposed to have everything figured out? If this sounds like you, then I’m here to tell you that you don’t need to have your life plan all worked out.
While college is an important decision and a major stepping stone into the next chapter of your life, it is really just that! College is not an end-it-be-all, but rather a building block. This rings especially true as an Arts & Sciences student at a school like Tufts, where you’re given nearly two years to explore different fields before declaring your major. And your distribution requirements force you to really take advantage of all those credits!
My schedule this semester spans so many different subjects, beginning with computer science in the morning and ending with 20th century feminist literature in the afternoon! I’ve been given so much room to explore and let my interests evolve. All this is to say that if you’re indecisive, the good news is that you don’t need to decide everything right now! For me, the choice to commit to Tufts was the choice to keep my options open.
In fact, a large part of college is being willing to embrace change. Maybe you’ve decided on a tentative major when you first applied to Tufts, but who knows what will happen in a few months time?
As uncertain as most things probably feel right now, the one certain and inevitable thing that I know to be true is that change will happen.