When you tell people you’re a college student, I guarantee the first thing they’ll ask you is what your major is. They may ask about your future career path or what led you to decide your area of study. This can honestly be intimidating if you’re anything like me and have no idea what you want to do with your life. Luckily at UMass, there are 90 areas of study for you to choose from!

When I applied to UMass on the Common Application, I was asked to choose three subjects that I would like to potentially major in. I had no idea what to say, so I put three of the most unrelated and broad majors I could think of (communication being one of them). It worked out in my favor, as I was accepted into the program I wanted. However, I had no idea what I was in for. The majority of my friends will all be nurses; they attend their clinicals and study anatomy, all with a guaranteed, high-paying job awaiting them at the end of their undergraduate program. For me, my fate was not as well-sorted. I didn’t know what career I wanted, if I wanted to go to a post-graduate program (if I could even afford it), and how much I was willing to let my salary dictate my choice of degree. I had so many questions about what major to choose, but luckily my mother (a communication student from Boston College) was able to help me decide what would be a good fit for me.

What led me to choose communication as my primary major is the fact I knew that in the future, I want to work with people. Though I am not quite sure what exactly I want to do, I know I want to make difference in social justice, speaking for others who are unable to speak for themselves. I thought no better way in doing so than studying literally how people communicate. I feel as though a degree in communication would allow me to do what I aim for, due to its multifaceted areas of research. I added journalism kind of on a whim: one day in my first semester of freshman year I just woke up and thought it would be a good focal point for me, so I added it as my secondary major. It’s that easy here to study what you want. Plus, if you find yourself in a major that you don’t love, you always have the availability to switch it. UMass wants you to be happy with your studies here and encourages you to explore.