Student life can be full of different pressures: pressure to pick a major, to graduate in four years and to choose a career. For students who have not yet chosen a major, this pressure can make the early college years especially stressful.

But University advisers and current students advise freshmen and sophomores to be deliberate in selecting a major and to make sure it’s a good fit. The University also offers students with specific or little-studied interests the option to create their own major.

Dan McCarthy, academic adviser at the University Advising Center, has a sign in his office that reads, “Your major is not your career.” He said many students sought a major that would give them a well-paying job straight out of college. But he said that if students didn’t enjoy their classes, they were running a real risk.

“What I see as the real recipe for disaster is when students put themselves in majors that they can’t stand. Over time, when you work against your natural proclivities, it’ll wear you down,” McCarthy said.

McCarthy said that students’ perspectives and interests could change quickly in a short amount of time.

“Before coming to school, students are asked to just put something down as their major but from the time students fill out their application to the time they arrive at school, students make a lot of decisions,” McCarthy said.

On page 51 of the academic catalog, at the end of the list of majors offered at the University, is a quarter-page section describing the option to create a special major. This option allows students to group together courses, name their major and petition the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences for its approval as a degree.

Aaron Olsen, Overland Park graduate in biochemistry, took advantage of this option. He took several lower-level language courses, including Spanish, German and French, along with his biochemistry curriculum during his freshman and sophomore years. When he found out about the special major option, he listed them, along with upper-level courses in anthropology and sociology, and submitted it to the college. He called his special major “Languages in Humanitarian Aid.”

“People usually find something very specific,” Olsen said. “It’s usually something the University should offer but doesn’t. Usually, you use it as a second major, because the first major adds legitimacy.”

To apply for a special major, students must submit an endorsement from one or more of the college departments involved, along with a petition and a list of classes they wish to include in the major, to a Committee on Undergraduate Studies and Advising. If the committee accepts the petition and the student fulfills the 30 credit-hour requirement for a major, the student will receive a Special Major degree at graduation.

Students who select a major early in their college careers can sometimes find themselves changing their minds later. Bevin Fath, Fort Wayne, Ind., graduate student, said she knew exactly what she wanted to do when she started her undergraduate studies at Syracuse University. She said she loved working for the student newspaper in high school.

“I knew I wanted to go to communications school, so I took a journalism major,” Fath said.

But after graduating and finding work in public relations, she realized it was not the career she wanted. Thinking back on her undergraduate involvement in student organizations, she decided to apply to graduate school in higher education and was accepted at the University.

She said it was best for undergraduates not to stress too much about picking their majors early.

“It’s hard to know when you’re 18, 19 years old, what you most want to do with the rest of your life,” she said. “People who are 30 or 40 still don’t know that. I think they should keep an open mind, and try classes that interest them.”

David Gaston, director of the University Career Center, said students with real-world experience had a better idea of what classes to take at the University.

“Students need to think about what they want to do with their lives and work back from there,” Gaston said. “If they find a path they’ll be happy with, they’ll have the best careers.”

He said the UCC offered aid for undecided students to explore their interests. He advised students to visit the Career Center Web site to learn more about internship opportunities, student interest surveys and networking events.

For more information on the special major option, visit the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences office in 109 Strong Hall.

— <p>­­— Edited by Brenna M. T. Daldorph </p>