changing

On Wednesday during class, professor asked me about how many students came into Stony Brook with pre-med in mind, and then how many actually carried through with that goal. It really got me thinking about how a lot of students actually change their mind throughout their undergraduate careers. I think that the average person chooses 3 or 4 majors before they finally settle down on something that they want (or get forced into something they don't want). It's just really astonishing that such a large number of people do this.

It's really not a bad thing though if you think about it. After all, what is college for anyways. If someone asked me that question, I would probably say that it's supposed to prepare you for what's ahead. And although that answer is vague, it's done so intentionally. What's ahead for me is different than what's ahead for someone else.

So the fact that people change their minds 3 or 4 times during their collegiate years is not that surprising at all if you think about it. People try different things and latch on to certain areas and repel to others. I guess it's a good thing that Stony Brook has this whole DEC (diversified education curriculum). It introduces you to topics and areas that you may not have otherwise tried if these requirements weren't requirements. For example, a large number of Stony Brook students are pre-med and may only want to focus on things related to medicine. This whole DEC system requires them to try something different, say architecture for example. They may realize that architecture is something that just interests them a lot more and that may be the road they go down. Change is not a bad thing at all.