A Note To Sophomores: It is going to be okay.

“What are you doing next year?”

Personally, I just laugh when people ask me. A seemingly friendly question I’ve gotten all too often this year by someone who is genuinely interested in my plans for the coming year never fails to stress me to the point of laughter. Simply because the answer all year has been, “I don’t know yet.”

Hesston was a great option because I didn’t need to declare a major coming in, and it promised to give me opportunities to explore my interests. Here I am in the final semester of my sophomore year, still without a major, and now needing to pick a school to transfer to on top of that.

Surprisingly I am not alone in my indecision. According to Gerry Selzer, Hesston College registrar, of the students set to graduate this spring, 22 of them “are coded as ‘general studies,’”or undecided.

But not even those other sophomores who have declared a major have everything figured out. An education major, Quinn Kathrineberg is still uncertain. But, despite being surrounded by stress and confusion, Quinn remains positive and hopeful that, even though “the decision will be hard… everything is going to work out.”

Luckily for Quinn and other sophomore students, there is good reason to be positive.

Resident Director Steph Swartzendruber is proof that a final semester major selection can end up successful. Out of the four semesters Steph spent at Hesston, she only had a declared major during one of those. After talking with friends and dealing with the stress, Steph settled on what she found most interesting: English and education.

After Hesston, Steph transferred to Goshen where she finished up her study of English education, and says that she doesn’t have any regrets. Steph was full of positivity and confident that “you can’t make a wrong decision; there’s going to be good things and bad things,” no matter what you choose.

Maybe this stress is all for naught. Maybe there isn’t a “perfect decision;” maybe it’s just going to come down to the goods outweighing the bads. The mid-college crisis is hitting hard right now, but at least you aren’t alone.

So sophomores, sit back and enjoy your last semester at Hesston. No one truly has life planned out.

What am I doing next year? *Laughing* I don’t know yet, but that’s just fine.