One in five first-year students at Ithaca is undecided about a major when college starts.

Related Fuse Story

• Finding My Path: How the Exploratory Program led me to my major

Want to learn more?

Check out the Exploratory Program website for more information.

• Exploratory Program

Curious about some of the other departments and organizations that Alana mentions?

• Department of Television-Radio
• Department of Occupational Therapy
• Ithaca College Chorus
• The Ithacan
• Student Alliance for Israel
• Study Abroad

I already felt I was a step behind when I first began looking at colleges. Most everyone I knew had a focus and goals to achieve. In short, they knew what they wanted to major in. I felt blank without a clear aspiration. Even after high school graduation, I still couldn't answer the question we're all asked throughout childhood: what do you want to be when you grow up? Not knowing what I wanted to study in college, I began to panic and sought a major I thought I could fit into. After some struggle, I decided to study broadcasting and minor in music. 

I visited Ithaca College for the first time on a cold, rainy day in April of my junior year. My mom and I got stuck in traffic and missed the last campus tour. Slightly grumpy from the six-hour drive, we sat in the admission office perusing some of the literature. My mom began pointing out all of the assets of the School of Health Sciences and Human Performance, and I suddenly began to feel overwhelmed and inexplicably upset. “I want to be in the communications school! Don't you know anything about me?” I told her. Listening to myself, I realized that I was overreacting. I wanted so much to have a clear path in front of me. I believed that being definitive about a course of study would allow me to envision my future. 

I had always had an interest in health science studies and caring for people but had eliminated it from my academic choices because I felt daunted by the required science courses. While trying to decide on a major, I wanted to pull together all the advice I had heard about finding a lifelong career that would bring me success and happiness. I wanted to find something I was good at that truly interested me. In that moment, browsing the Ithaca College brochures, I realized I really didn't know if the perfect career existed, or, if it did exist, whether I would find it.When I began the application process several months later, I remembered that moment in the admission office. And I remembered something else: I had read about the College’s Exploratory Program, which would give me two years to take classes across a variety of subjects to gauge my interests before deciding on a major. So I nixed my television-radio major and checked the box for exploratory. 

Checking that box was both scary and exciting. Those feelings persisted when I was accepted and decided to attend Ithaca College. I had always been a goal-oriented and focused person, so the idea of starting college without a major was terrifying. 

I still remember my first academic orientation session with Kathy Lucas, the assistant dean in the School of Humanities and Sciences, which is home to the Exploratory Program. She made me realize my undecided academic identity was an opportunity to explore academic curiosities. I felt encouraged and immediately registered for a variety of classes. I took biology and social science courses, added a music ensemble to my schedule, and joined the Ithacan as an advertising representative.The Exploratory Program enabled me to get a better sense of my academic identity and explore the wide variety of disciplines available at IC. And the benefits couldn't be beat:

• Exploratory students are among the first to register for classes, giving them limitless opportunities to study several different subjects.
• My adviser worked with me one-on-one, helping me choose classes and making the transition to college easier. 
• The Exploratory Program fostered a sense of support and guidance and at the same time gave me independence. 

In this program I had the best of both worlds. Not only did I discover my passion for my eventual major -- occupational therapy -- but I was able to sample a wide range of academic areas as well. When I declared OT as my major, I was certain that it was the right program for me, as it captured my love of science, art, and medicine. 

Currently I am my second year of the OT program, a full-time volunteer at the adult OT clinic, and still pursing my interest in music as a member of the chorus. In addition, I serve on the editorial board for the Ithacan, and I am a member of Ithaca’s Student Alliance for Israel. Come spring I plan to study abroad in Sweden.

I would absolutely recommend the Exploratory Program to incoming students. I believe there’s too much pressure to choose majors right away, especially when you're uncertain about what you want to pursue as a career. The Exploratory Program helps by taking away the pressure of having to know exactly what you want to do by they time you fill out your college applications. Starting college was stressful, but the Exploratory Program certainly eased that stress for me. I received excellent guidance from my adviser during my transition to college and had a chance to discover a career path that truly suited me.