My plan when I started at Claremont McKenna College was straightforward. I would major in International Relations and then move back to D.C.. There, I would work on Capitol Hill in Foreign Services, earning a six-figure salary. Ideally, this would offer me both stability and financial success, two goals that I desperately clung onto.
Almost immediately, shit hit the fan.
My government classes were dull, and while my classmates attentively listened to my esteemed professors with an inspired gleam in their eyes, I couldn’t help but feel like I was wasting my time in classes where I had to actively work to keep my head up off the table. I felt myself languishing in my freshman year major as the spark that once kept my love of learning aflame threatened to engulf me in a raging blaze of ennui.
I needed to extinguish the dumpster fire that was my academic lethargy. The only problem was that the future my true passion could offer me was as unstable as a supernova. I can fly through life burning the fuel of creative fulfillment that writing affords me, but am I destined to eventually burst into a choking cloud of unmet dreams?
“Almost immediately, shit hit the fan. “
Nevertheless, to my parents’ dismay, I’m not one to listen to rational warnings.
My heart told me to major off-campus at Scripps, and so I requested permission to cross-audit as a Writing and Rhetoric Major. There, I met dozens of other aspiring writers who, like me, preferred to spend their days typing out a new story, coffee mug in hand.
Following my passion in choosing my major has stoked the embers of my past love for learning and reignited my drive to fight for my future.
I no longer dread attending class. The classes in my major engage me, and I look forward to my professors’ critiques, ready to face any challenges head-on. As for my other pre-requisite or General Education classes, the inspiration my major provides me with motivates me to get my work done in classes I may not be as interested in.
The euphoria that the Writing and Rhetoric major gives me is a far prettier picture than the one of professional success that I had in mind when I entered freshman year. While stability and financial success are goals that I still need to keep in mind, I decided that the excitement I should feel when I come to class each morning matters just as much. Although majoring in Writing and Rhetoric may lead me on a meandering path, I know that my life becomes more vibrant as I accept the kind of student that I was meant to be.
There are various pressures many students face when committing to a major: an uncertain job market and economy, parental pressure, family legacies, financial instability. While I may not fully grasp the gravity of many of these pressures, I can certainly empathize. My parents would feel much more secure if they knew I was going into investment banking, as my future bank account is wholly dependent on my income rather than generational wealth.
When I arrived at college, I felt like I needed to rely on my two goals of stability and economic success. After all, these were the two values my parents instilled in me from a young age. It felt safer to choose a path that they had already forged than to tread the road not taken.
Picking a major is one of the first real choices we make without our parents. If I hated my major, then I would have an excuse to fall back on if I ended up failing. My parents pressured me to become an International Relations major, and so I thought I could fool myself into thinking that the blame would lie with them instead of just me.
By deciding to be a Writing and Rhetoric major, my failures will be fully my own, but so will my accomplishments. After all, I don’t believe that stability and money are more valuable than my own happiness. I alone possess the pen that can write my own definition of success — which I’m sure will continue to evolve.
I encourage you to reflect on your goals, but also to remind yourself of your personal autonomy and fight back against external pressures. As we grow into adults, we are the only ones with the definitive power to mold our futures, and choosing a major that you love is just the first of many tough decisions.
Fortunately, in the wake of internal conflict comes the freedom to mature into the people who we aspire to be.
Norah Mannle CM ’27 hails from the suburbs of Washington DC. In her free time she enjoys long walks, critiquing new coffee shops and skiing.
Facebook Comments