While some students were satisfied with their decisions, others faced existential crises as Columbia College’s major declaration period came to an end Thursday.
All students must officially choose their majors by the middle of the spring semester of their sophomore year, but selecting a major—and finally committing to it—proved a different experience for each.
“I declared a major on the first day of major declaration,” said math major Atanas Atanasov, CC ’10, who chose the field prior to coming to Columbia. Like others, he felt that the process was anti-climactic. “It turned out to be a very routine operation. I logged in, selected my major, and clicked.”
Ion Mihailescu, CC ’10, had trouble trying to come to a solid decision about his future academic career. “For me, declaring a major was a bit of a pain,” he said. Originally, Mihailescu had intended to major in physics, history, and math. “I wanted to be a triple major so I sent my advisor an e-mail asking ... if she can make me an exception for this and she said no. ... She said be happy with two [majors].”
Administrators confirmed that such concerns are quite common. Although Barnard students have until April 2 to declare their majors, the process is similar. According to Vivian Taylor, a Barnard sophomore dean for 14 years, sophomores often have trouble discovering where their interests lie.
Some students “have so many interests that it’s tough for them to pick just one,” Taylor said. “Then I have students who feel they don’t have enough information or haven’t taken enough classes to make a decision. We try to give them as much information as possible.”
Other University officials also sympathized. “I think it’s really hard to be passionate about an academic area when you are 20,” said Karen Blank, dean of studies at Barnard. Blank said that students should not think of a major as indicative of his or her entire future. “A major doesn’t define one’s life,” she said.
Taylor said that students often agonize over the effects that their choice will have on their future. “It’s always been a source of anxiety,” Taylor said. “It goes with the rite of passage of becoming a sophomore. The struggle with doing something meaningful. ...
It may have gotten more intense over the years because students have so many things they are trying to do in sophomore year with study abroad, finding an internship and taking more difficult courses.”
Still, students like Matthew Kudelka, CC ’10, do not consider the procedure as daunting.
“It [the major] doesn’t mean much in terms of future goals or careers,” Kudelka said.
“Right now I am just trying to follow my interests and unfortunately, perhaps, I have a lot of those.”
Deans discourage students from undertaking majors that will, in Taylor’s words, “make me successful rather than something I’m passionate about.”
Adjua Starks-Allen, assistant dean for preprofessional programs at Barnard, agreed that choosing a major solely based on the fact that it might help one in graduate-school admissions can be detrimental, saying, “That lack of interest often comes through in your application, and you’re also spending time that may not be contributing to your academic and intellectual growth.”
Graduate schools “want to see that you have chosen a major that you are passionate about and that you are not simply choosing a major that you think they prefer,” she said.