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The opportunity to go to college can be an exciting thing unless you have no say in what your career will be. Then, going to college can be dreadful. Parents, friends, and possibly even teachers telling you what your major should be make it difficult to follow your passions. A close friend of mine came across an issue like this during her senior year of high school. She didn’t quite know what to major in, but her mother and the rest of her family pressured her to go to college for physical therapy. After just one semester of college, she failed all of her classes and dropped out. If she had been able to pursue her passions and figure out what she wanted to do, her college experience would have been different. My personal experience is far different from hers. I am pursuing my passion for art and enjoying my educational experience. By following my dreams, I am constantly succeeding in all of my classes and always eager to learn new material. Others should be able to experience the same enjoyment as I while they are in college. People should not follow the pressure that others put on them but rather follow their passions to lead a successful and happy life. 

It is easy to lose sight of your passions when others are constantly telling you what to pursue as a career. Those around you might not accept your dream because it is not a safe job or not a good paying job or not what they want. Although these people believe they are helping you to pick a steady career, they fail to realize that they are doing more harm than good. Without inspiration or passion for a career, there is quite a bit of room for failure, whether it is when you are in college or once you get into the actual field. Either way, the effects of this can be detrimental. There is the possibility of dropping out of college or losing your job, but if you keep your passions in sight, this is less likely to occur. Learning about a career that you love always keeps you motivated to work hard and to look for new opportunities. 

There are many people in the world who will tell you that chasing your passions and dreams are not good enough, and that you should follow what gives you the most money instead. An author named Jonathan Clements once wrote:

When I talk to college students, I don’t tell them to follow their dreams. Instead, I tell them to focus on making and saving money. I even suggest they might deliberately opt for a less interesting but higher-paying job, so they can sock away serious sums of money (Clements, Career Advice to College students: Pursue Dollars, Not Dream).

He continues to tell college students it is better to have a job they don’t like but makes a lot of money than it is to have a job they do like but makes a little money. Clements claims that in the long run, it will make your life easier, but I believe that leading a life like this will make life harder and more miserable. You would never want to get up and go to work, and you would constantly complain about your job. There are not only short-term issues. In the long term, there are no promises that the job would continue to be high paying or that you would even make it to retirement to enjoy the funds you had saved. But if you follow your dreams and pursue your passion, you are more likely to live a happier life, to have successes within your career not based solely off of money, and never to wonder what could have happened if you had gone with your gut and followed your dreams. 

There are few who are actually encouraged to follow their dreams, and I am lucky enough to be granted an opportunity like this. Like previously stated, I am a first year art major. Almost every time someone hears my major, I get disappointed looks and questions as to why I don’t find a better career. There have been times when I have lost sight of my passion and have wanted to achieve a job of high stature. After the constant searching for a better career, I’ve found that I would be miserable if I had chosen a path other than art. Now that I am finishing up my first semester in college, I feel sorry for those who do not have the same opportunities. I see others who are constantly struggling to go to class and to get good grades, wishing that the people close to them would support their dreams rather than shut them down. 

Overall, everything we do is our choice. Therefore, what we go to college for should be our choice. No one should dictate to anyone else what a person should go to college for and what their career should be. Imagine lawyers not defending their clients properly because they don’t care. If we keep forcing people to major in certain careers just for a good salary, there will be a world full of people who do not care about what they are doing, and that will lead to a major downfall of everything. Instead, we should try supporting each other’s passions and watching what we say. Try not to put someone down just because you do not agree with their career, and instead try to see things from their perspective.