Susan Bonicillo Columnist

"So, what's your major?"

Next to "What's your name?" and "Where do you come from?" that previous question is one of the things that you'll hear fairly often in college as one of your basic getting-to-know-you pleasantries.

Yet, as simple as the answer to this question may be, deciding on a major is a potentially irksome and harrowing decision that you will have to make on your own.

Undoubtedly, you've got friends and family telling you what you should study in college. An aunt notices you've got a knack with fixing things and pushes you to get a degree in engineering, or your mother is goading you to take pre-law since she thinks that your propensity for arguing with her about everything under the sun makes you especially apt for a career in the judicial system.

As well meaning as their suggestions may be, this decision to declare a major is ultimately your own. It's a huge decision that has implications for you in both your academic and future career goals.

However, don't feel compelled to pick a major just because it seems like everyone else around you in your freshman class seems to already have a five-year plan while you don't have any idea what you'll be doing in the next five days. For many, picking a major and the matching educational pathway serves as a great way to prepare for a future career. Undoubtedly, this is one of the greatest contributions your college career will give you in making you ready for what you truly want to do in life.

On the other hand, such a mentality can be taken to the extreme. College becomes less of a place to learn and more of a job placement program. Rather than treating a college career as a time to grow intellectually, there is a growing tendency to treat college like a trade school.

Understandably, you should be concerned with your future. After all, college is a huge investment of both time and money, and you do need to take these things seriously.

Yet at the same time, college can also be one of the most fun times that you can have in your life and a major part of this fun is in exploring different avenues of learning that you never thought to investigate.

College is a time for being experimental, and being fixed to a major before even entering your first year of college can severely limit you from finding a course of study that is probably better suited for your own individual needs and expertise.

If I had it my way, I would make it so that all freshmen would come in undeclared. There are definitely a multitude of interests one can pursue before settling down on a course of study. Though many people may gripe about them, general-education requirements are an excellent way to explore your options. Don't think about gen-eds as something that you have to suffer through to finish.

The point of gen-ed requirements is not just to get them over with but also to explore interests. That class you may have to take to fulfill some requirement, like the Renaissance Art of Northern Europe, may actually be one of the more enjoyable classes that you'll take.

Then again, if you're really gung-ho about your major then by all means, go ahead. Just remember that you don't have to feel bound to this decision that you make. People change majors all the time, though there is some degree of reservation that you must take into account and you may have to take an extra semester in college to make up for classes that your new major may require.

Take advantage of utilizing the various college advisers on campus. Also don't be afraid of taking a class you never would have thought to take. Especially for the first year, you'll have to finish gen-eds and pre-requirements anyway, so take your freshman year as a good way to explore your options.

Susan Bonicillo is a senior majoring in English and creative writing who originally started off as an aerospace engineering major. She can be reached at letters@wildcat.arizona.edu.