I’ve been more than a little indecisive when it comes to my education.

I have a long-standing passion for environmental conservation, so of course I wanted my major and future career to reflect that. When I enrolled freshman year, I was going into the College of Natural Resources as an Environmental Studies and Agroscience major. Sophomore year, I changed to the College of Engineering as an environmental engineer. Halfway through the year, I was studying chemical engineering and had my credits lined up for a transfer to that school down the street in Ann Arbor. The engineering program and career resources there were very enticing, but I ended up backing out last minute to stay with the friends I made at MSU.

At the beginning of summer I had proudly declared my newfound concentration in biofuels on my Facebook wall, but last week I ended up turning it down.

My sister advised that I focus on opening my summers for internships and job experience, rather than clutter it with summer classes for my concentration. After much thought, I decided to turn down the concentration and opened up summer up for any job opportunities I might find.

Going into college, I definitely did not foresee the turmoil choosing a major would be. I had heard about students switching majors more than once but I never really thought it would apply to me. Knowing that I’m an incoming junior who still is unsure about his career definitely concerns me, but I couldn’t have gotten through the decisions I have made if it weren’t for the advice of my family, friends, and my helpful college advisers.

Asking questions from a variety of sources helped me gain a better perspective of what options I had. I was the youngest in my family, so those older than me gave me great advice based on their own personal experiences.

My sister was especially helpful in telling me what paths she and her friends took and what came from their decisions. She also helped me a great deal with building my resume and kept me proactive in my career search. Many of my friends have switched their majors as well, so they offered great advice on how they were managing their schedules and settling in with their chosen paths. They were also very supportive of my decisions and wanted the best for me, which was exactly what I needed during times of doubt. Last but not least, I’m very grateful for my college advisors. None of my current scheduling would have worked out if it wasn’t for their constant foresight on my ever-changing situation.

Having never expected any of these decisions coming into college, I definitely recommend to students out there to keep on asking questions about their majors.

This is a huge life decision that every student has to make, so there should be no reason to shy away from asking for advice. A lot of students need to explore and dabble in different areas before choosing what they will do for the rest of their lives. Family and friends will give you valuable insight from their experiences that may help cement your decision, and college advisors are there to guide you along the way. Having worked with many students to streamline their schedule and inform them of their options, they are probably the best, yet most underused resource on campus.

While you continue to enjoy summer, be sure to spend just a little time researching your major and make sure it’s the one for you. That way, you’ll get to enjoy the rest of your college summers instead of taking summer classes to make up for a change in direction.

Henry Pan is a chemical engineering sophomore. Reach him at panhenry@msu.edu.