Pick major and minor wisely before attending USD

When I was first applying to USD in 2013, I had my mind set on being a creative writing major, with a minor in media and journalism.

Luckily for me, I was able to realize what I really wanted to do and flipped those two completely.

It’s important to know for sure what major you want to pursue in college, because it’s what could potentially determine your life when graduation comes.

USD has many options when it comes to majors and minors, so it’s not difficult to find one that you’ll find interests you.

With that, however, comes the important question of if the major is the right fit.

It happens — sometimes, what you want just completely flops and you’re stuck in that limbo of major-picking.

It’s definitely tough trying to weigh options. In my case, creative writing and journalism are pretty similar in a writing sense, but creative writing is something I’ve done longer than journalism.

It was a difficult decision to make, but I had to realize that my major is something that’s a gateway to my career, and to me, journalism has many more learning opportunities, because I already know how to write creatively.

Find a major that will benefit you as a learner indefinitely. There’s no point in sticking with a major unless you’re going to love learning about the different aspects of it, because it’ll just be wasting time, money and your sanity.

The best part about choosing the journalism major has definitely been the learning aspect. I’ve learned so many different things associated with media and journalism, regardless if I want to pursue those certain fields or not.

Find something that will challenge you and make you fall in love with what important decision you’re making, because the more you learn, the more you benefit.

If you need that extra help, and you want to fully immerse in USD before committing to a major, I’d suggest registering as undefined or choosing something you might want, take a few classes to get the feel of what other classes might be like or talk to your academic adviser if you’re really struggling.

Depending on what department you’re deciding on, get to know the different professors, or, even better, students and get advice from them.

Adding onto that, make connections early on so you know who you’ll have classes with, find a great advisor in your major that you’ll love working with and know what to expect from the required classes.

Study the potential career options associated with different majors, too.

Think about what interests you, what makes great money and what you’d be content doing for a really long time.

Of course, if you’re juggling between two options, double majoring is also an option, besides having just a major and minor.

Choosing a major is one of the things I never really learned about in high school, but I’m happy I was able to find my calling early on, because I joined the newspaper, I took journalism classes that I never had available for me in high school and I was committed to studying and learning about media and journalism.

Find your calling and make sure it’s something you want, because it’s one of the biggest decisions of your life to know what you want and what you’ll love doing, something you won’t regret.