As students go about their day completing homework, taking tests, and building up extra-curriculars, plans for the future remain in the back of their minds. While still exploring interests and learning about themselves, many students are able to decide their career paths early in their lives. However, other students find it much more difficult to hone in on one area of interest.

It should not be expected that students will step onto the college campus and suddenly have their lives figured out. Lives, growth, and life events happen at varying times in each teenager’s life, inevitably paving the way for differing decisions at differing times.

This is why Patricia Woods, Assistant Director of The Lazarus Center for Career Development at Smith College, says, “There is no ‘typical process’ for a student…at Smith College.” At Smith, majors are declared before junior year, but students are encouraged to work with the Lazarus Center “as early as their first semester on campus.”

Woods says most students, in her experience, are undecided when they begin working with the career center. “This is very normal!” she reassures.

At UMass Amherst, some 50% of students choose their major in the second or third year of college, according to Nessim Watson, Assistant Director of Career Planning at UMass Career Services. Watson says, “Many students don’t know their major coming in.” At UMass, Career Services uses personality tests and online tools to help students narrow down their interests and choices.

Dr. Fritz Grupe, creator of MyMajors.com told The New York Times that the “biggest mistake” students make “is failing to research what’s required of the major and the profession.”

With the majority of students attending liberal arts colleges or universities with a variety of course offerings, deciding on your future during high school is not absolutely necessary.

Misconceptions about choosing their majors and their relevancy to the job market can sometimes cause unnecessary stress among high school seniors worried about checking off “undecided” on their Common App.

The job market is unpredictable and most majors don’t immediately translate into specific careers.

“Your major won’t get you in the door,” Woods advises. “It’s your ability to communicate your experience and desire to want to work and to want to learn.”

Michele Campagna, Executive Director of the Center for Advising and Student Transitions at Montclair State told The New York Times, “Four years from now, freshman will be applying for jobs that don’t even exist today.”

At 18, both indecisiveness and decisiveness can cause worry for the future, minds change and time passes quickly. However, an abundance of choices can feel liberating if we allow ourselves to surpass our fears for the future.