Major Decisions
By Rajvee Sanghavi
As college students facing the competitiveness of the real world, many of us are contemplating important decisions that come with lasting consequences. We are faced with the dilemma of choosing a career path for monetary gain versus choosing a path that we are genuinely interested in. I would like to assess the question: should economics be the dominant factor in determining a major?
The most obvious answer to this question is that majoring in something that you do not like may land you a job that you do not enjoy. Ultimately, what is the purpose of it all if you are not happy at your job, and the only happiness comes from the material spending of your hard-earned salary? As “mushy” as this may sound, happiness does matter.
On another note, let us think about the example that we would be setting for someone who looks up to us–like a child or a sibling, for instance. Doing something simply for economic gain sends a message that it is okay to be greedy, and that we do not always have to stay true to our hearts. If we choose to work solely for economic gain, we are not striving to achieve our dreams and putting forth the effort to achieve; we are instead dismantling them and constructing false goals in their place.
Perhaps economics should not be the dominant factor in determining a major, but it should certainly be considered. It is important to be practical about job prospects, because blindly following one’s passions can lead to an uncertain future. Moreover, it is becoming increasingly difficult to scrape by with little earnings. In today’s consumer-dependent economy, all of our basic needs come with a price tag attached to them.
It is difficult to find a clear-cut answer to the question of majoring for the job or majoring for your passion and risking the stability of a good job—but perhaps what this all comes down to is figuring out the kind of life you want to have. Some individuals prefer to sacrifice their passions for a job that will help them become better providers—whether that is for themselves or their family. Yet there are others who would be happier searching for success in the field they are passionate about, even if that might mean barely scraping by with poor earnings. There also exist those who are lucky enough to make a good salary while working a job they absolutely love. It is a matter of sorting out priorities and what values are important to us.
