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That was a bit of a struggle when I came here
because I didn't know what I wanted to do
and I thought I was really stressed about it.
And then when I joined this General Sciences and Arts,
I realized it's OK.
It's completely OK not to know what you want to do.
I knew I had a focus towards like biology or something
like that, but I wasn't completely sure.
Being in the General Sciences program,
it really opened my eyes to what you can do
when you want to go that route.
The students can opt to come to Michigan Tech in the General
Sciences and Arts program.
So you can come in undecided and take a class.
It's called the Exploring Majors class.
And in that class, I invite students
from all different majors all over campus.
And they talk about what their major's
like, what their department's like, why they chose it.
And by the end of the semester, we
may have seen 30 guest speakers, 30 different majors.
I really enjoyed how kids came and presented every class
period.
So at the end of the semester, I remember
I looked back on all of them and said, oh, you liked this one
or you didn't like this one.
What would you like to take a class in further?
And then I really liked the personality tests.
I think that helped a lot too.
Once I got done with it, I realized
I wanted to be more of a management person
or something more of that type.
I think that helped a lot.
I really enjoyed the Exploring Majors class.
It was really helpful for me to think about all
of the different things that I wanted to be doing.
You got to talk to students that are actually
doing the major right now and you
got to see what they liked about their major,
what they didn't like.
I asked you to bring in one sentence from your work view.
Besides that, we're thinking about who we are
and what's important to us-- our values, our goals,
our interests, our skills.
When we think about majors and what
careers they'll lead to in so many different ways,
it's not only do I have students who come in undecided,
they're mixed in with students who
realize they chose the wrong major to begin with.
So I started my studies here at Michigan Tech
in the engineering department.
And in the first week, I really knew, for a fact,
it wasn't the right fit for me.
I went to talk to my advisor at the time
for biomedical engineering and I told him
that I didn't want to be an engineer anymore.
And he said that wasn't really in his wheelhouse
and he gave me Sylvia Matthews' email.
I even have some seniors who are taking the class.
Probably not going to change their major,
but they're getting ready to go out into the world
and get a job.
And they find that it's really helping
them to think about what kind of job they want,
where they want to work, and make that big career decision.
I love sharing my story with other students
because I feel like I make a large difference with people
who are even vaguely questioning.
It is fun to talk to freshmen that
don't know what they're going to do and then I'd be like,
I was in that position.
I totally understand.
Are you taking Exploring Majors?
You should take that class.
Being enrolled in the Exploring Majors class
was even the first step to feel supported as a student here
and to know that it's OK to question what you're studying,
what you're doing, and if that's the right fit for you.
I scheduled a meeting with Sylvia Matthews
and I ended up sitting down and just talking about all
of my different interests.
And she pulled up a website and was like,
look, we have a social science department
and there's anthropology.
I ended up having that.
And that was a very monumental moment for me at college.
In the long run, you're going to graduate and have a degree
and it's going to be all on you to use it.
And if you're in a career that you really don't want,
you're not going to be inspiring joy
and really making a difference in other people's lives.
I know that this course helped me a lot.
I don't think I would have chose the major
that I had without this class.
I love it and I would not want any other major.
I think it's a perfect suit for me.
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