Second semester: Emotional Uncertainty, The Fear of Taking Action, and The Art of Finding One’s Career Path
By Ben Hughes UA’29 and Jim Stellar
BH and JS are still talking in the second semester of his freshman year. JS just asked BH if his interests are still the same as a Business and Psychology double major. He said “yes” but …
I think one of the more challenging emotions college students may begin to feel, as I currently am, is this constant weight that some of the decisions they are beginning to make may set their course for the rest of their life. I (BH) feel this is what has made decisions about my major so difficult. Despite the great amounts of advice I’ve received explaining that many people will change their major and or career plans, and that that’s okay, It is still quite daunting to take that action.
Once enrolled in The University at Albany I positioned myself as a business major with a psychology minor. Despite it being my minor I knew psychology was what I was interested in. I was even in the Psychology Living-Learning Community (How I met JS). The selection of my initial majors is a great example of the concern I mentioned in the previous paragraph.
I had no connection to business but I put it as a major as I was afraid of being stuck in the field of psychology, I didn’t want to close any doors too soon. As time went on this year, and up until now, I have transitioned into a double major in both psychology and business, and am now ultimately considering changing into just a psychology major. This story is a fantastic empirical lens into how my passions seem to overwhelm any other ideas I attempt to force within my life.
I want my options open. In one of our most previous meetings I, through speaking with (JS), came across a belief I think I have had about myself but just haven’t been able to see as clearly up until this point. The educational freedom I have now is what appears to be most valuable to myself; even beyond any one specific field of study. From my perspective, most career paths and fields of study require one to funnel themselves and put heavy focus on just one specific concept. This unintentionally defeats the educational freedom in which I enjoy. I believe it’s this mental framework which has made the question of career so daunting and seemingly unfair for myself.
Through conversations with JS and through reflection of my time so far at SUNY Albany, It’s become clear that at least for myself true success can only be achieved through working with my natural passion of educational freedom, not through fighting it. Whilst writing this blog I have learned that It is necessary to have a minor if a student is only a Psychology major. I once again initially felt the pressure of having to select a field of study. I felt this way until realizing the formula that I have now learned works for myself. I based my decision off of one piece of criteria. “Does this minor support my natural desire for educational freedom?” In using this mental framework I have now chosen two minors which both support my aspirations within psychology while also fulfilling my criteria. I chose sociology and english. I feel quite confident in this trio of studies as I feel they are both effective in application as well as in creation of excitement for myself. Psychology and sociology have a very natural pairing as they form a micro/macro relationship as it retains the study of human behavior, and the analytical and interpretive elements from English are the foundation of, well learning itself.
I (JS) suggest that maybe now is the time to expand that inquiry into a new place in the future when you have a career, and you can do that now with an internship. Let’s make that the next step in our conversation. I remember during my 22 years at Northeastern University, a cooperative education school where students alternated full-time, paid employment for 6 months with 6 months of college classes that one very common reason for changing one’s major was a work-place employment experience in which the student now did not see themselves. I am not suggesting something like that and we do not have the infrastructure in a non-cooperative education school to support it. But an internship could be interesting. And you have time as you are headed into your sophomore year.
I (BH) agree that this is the best course of action for myself going forwards. Participating in an internship not only increases my knowledge and overall experience within psychology, but it allows me to see which aspects of the field are what I find most valuable.
Maybe that is our next blog.
