The Story of How I Chose My Business Major 📁📸

First Gen pressures and finding a career I love

By: Darlin Ortega

When I was 10, I thought I had all the time in the world to choose my path.

Then suddenly, it was my senior year of High School. At 18, I realized that the clock had been ticking all along.

As a First-Generation student, I was under the impression that applying to colleges meant simply enrolling in the school. It did, but it also meant choosing a major.

In that moment I felt like I was back to square one, where 10-year-old me was freaking out and trying to figure it out.

Challenges of picking a Major:

I was freaking out about choosing the right major because I made a promise to my parents from a young age that I was going to go to college and become successful in life.

The pressure of choosing a major felt monumental.

If I chose wrong — then I wouldn’t be as successful in life.

If I wasn’t successful — then I would let my parents down and everything that they have done.

My Dad is the one taking the photo

As a First-Generation student, I was told the same story of how I should become a Doctor, Teacher, Engineer, and the president of the United States.

Since I didn’t have a sense of direction — I looked into it all. I looked into the careers and worked my way backward to figure out majors.

A doctor requires 4 years of undergrad, 4 years in medical school, and 4 years of residency before becoming a doctor. I thought maybe, but then I looked at the numbers and unfortunately, my parents didn’t even have the funds to put me through college. I also wasn’t sure if I wanted to pick a hard major since I felt that college was going to be hard.

A teacher, at least in the state of Arizona, wasn’t getting paid enough and I wanted a career that wouldn’t let me question if I have enough funds.

For engineering, it was math-heavy. I love math, so I thought this was meant for me. I looked up engineering degrees for the school I was planning to attend and even pulled up the course catalog. Then I noticed something that stopped me in my tracks — Physics. I struggled with physics my junior year of high school and no amount of videos allowed me to understand the material. The one course I never managed to understand. Engineering was on the back burner for sure because of it.

Being the president of the United States for me meant understanding the politics of things more and as an 18-year-old I wasn’t interested in that.

I thought about my obsession with Law and Order and Criminal Minds, and debated going into Criminology and Criminal Justice; however, I was so wishy-washy about it. I didn’t want to be a year in and figure I was not too fond of it.

People did tell me that if I truly didn’t know that it would be okay because everyone at least changed their major once during their time in college.

However, some degrees require you to be fully ready to hit the ground running your first year compared to others that are filled with electives.

I felt that I didn’t have the time or the money to be at school for longer than 4 years.

At least for me, it meant I had to pick the right major from the beginning.

Another thing I kept in mind is that if I start something I need to finish it.

At least those are the words my parents told me as I told them about my struggles to pick a major.

• That I don’t have to necessarily have to like it just that I should complete it.
• That knowledge is forever, and the degree won’t be something that will confine me.

Knowing how indecisive I am, I wanted something that didn’t make me feel like that, and for me that landed me with Business.

Exploring my options

A few degrees offered at the W.A. Franke College of Business are Economics, Business Administration, Marketing, Accounting, Finance, and Business Analytics to name a few.

Off the bat simply reading the few offered Finance and Economics were out of the question for me because they didn’t sound interesting, and, I wanted to be interested in them if it was going to be my major.

At the time, Business Analytics wasn’t a major I could choose so that wasn’t an option for me.

Accounting meant I could only be an accountant and all I could envision was tax season, which was boring to me because my dad would have me help with his taxes. I didn’t want to do that for a career for the rest of my life, and the degree was limited if I went that route and wanted to change later on.

The two left were Business Administration and Marketing. Both fit my criteria: flexible degrees with pathways to diverse careers if I ever change my mind.

Finding a way to do what you love

I learned from high school that for a career I wanted my work days to be different. I hated the mundaneness of my school days. I also wanted something creative because I felt that most of my time was spent thinking critically which made me want a change.

I found myself during my last two years of high school enjoying projects, where we did have to get poster board. I spent more time on those than I needed — but it really was because I enjoyed it.

College me found that Marketing was the answer. It lets me use my passion for social media and graphic design. For my career, I could do UX/IX design, social media manager, writer, blogger, product ads, product manager, market research analyst, and even an event planner.

This is a picture of a project I did for Marketing 334. We had to create a customer profile and an Instagram post about a new app feature that our consumer would feel drawn to.

The idea of endless options and it being my own choosing made me feel at ease.

There would be a place in the workforce where I could find a position, and do the job remotely if something were to happen, or if I considered traveling, and I was interested in learning more about it.

It also helped that despite the running joke being that business majors are easy, I was looking for something on the easy side because I owed that to myself after all the AP courses I took in high school. However, some courses as a business student are hard, so don’t let that fool you.

Advice for fellow Lumberjacks

It’s a journey, for sure, and it’s your journey.

No one can tell you what to pick; you just have to make a decision that suits you and feels right to you.

• One idea is probably to work backward as I did, think about where you want to end up and figure out what majors can help you get there.
• I also took online quizzes to see what would suit me and fit my interests. I just wanted ideas and this can help if that is what you want, something to guide your search.
• If you have a chance — ask those who are already in the workforce. They can give you insight as they have also gone through the process.
• Try out as many different types of elective classes as possible because perhaps along the way, you will find something that interests you. In high school, I considered becoming an OB-GYN, so I took a public health class. I found out real quick that I didn’t want to go that route through the class.
• Attend guest speakers or workshops offered through campus resources. In college, I am utilizing these resources to figure out what career may interest me post-grad; however, I can definitely see how you can utilize it for helping with guiding you during your major decision-making.

In the end, the biggest takeaway that I got from this journey, is that it is not about choosing the “perfect” major. It’s about how you plan to get to where you want to end up.