I’ve been tutoring introductory physics for two years now, and there are many questions I have been asked every single year, often repeatedly.

“What is the difference between static and kinetic friction?”

“Why do I have to include gravity as a force?”

“Are the electric potential and electric potential energy the same?”

But there has been no question I have had to answer more often than any other.

“Why did you choose to be a physics major?”

(sigh.) I wanted to be a scientist. I don’t really know why, I just did. Maybe it was because my dad was a engineer. Maybe it was because science was such a respected subject in my family. Maybe it wasn’t so much that I wanted to be a scientist as it was that I stared up at the stars and wanted to walk among them. If you want the practical answer: I decided in high school I wanted to be an astronomer, and physics is possibly the single best undergraduate major to set someone up for a career in astronomy or astrophysics. So physics it was.

Until I realized I really didn’t like being in a lab. Or on a computer. Or analyzing reams and reams of data. So here I was, a year from graduation and pretty much done with my physics degree, no longer wanting to be any kind of scientist. Looking back it seems so ridiculous that it took me this long to realize that lab work is not for me. The signs were all there; I loved reading, writing, and all things creative. I almost never went to outside lectures, or had science discussions outside of class. I loved debating humanities, philosophy, and social science topics. But I was determined that I wanted to be a scientist.

In the end, I think that four years is not possibly enough time to decide what to do with your life. I spent my four years at Scripps exploring all sorts of things I thought I might be interested in. I confirmed some topics to be interests, discarded other topics, and barely scratched the surface of all I wanted to experience. And as strange as it sounds, my major was one of the things that was “discarded” as an interest. That doesn’t mean physics isn’t a great major, or that I didn’t learn a LOT about the world by taking this major, it just means that I tried it, and I won’t be trying it again.

Unfortunately, that does leave me with another whole year, including a thesis, and no way to switch now. More often than not I find myself sitting in front of my computer regretting every decision I’ve ever made. It’s at those moments that I have to remind myself of how much knowledge and experience and perspective on the world that physics gave me. Physics has shaped me with a very specific point of view which I will bring to whatever career I end up choosing. It was important for me to choose physics as a major, because if I had not, I would not be the person I am today. There would be a great deal I would never have known about myself, and I always would have wondered what would have happened.

So I have some very simple advice for anyone trying to declare a major: go with what you enjoy. Go with what you want to experience. Don’t think about money, or time, or the future, because you might change your mind completely in four years. What people do in graduate school or their jobs is often significantly different from what they did in college. Ask the people around you what they majored in as an undergraduate. You may be surprised. Many people take years to find their calling, and took many different and unusual paths to get there. So in the end what matters most is exploring anything and everything that may be of interest to you. You’ll be a well rounded student and have a broad perspective to take with you when you do discover what it is you are truly meant to do.