College students: How did you decide the course/ degree that you want to study?

This is gonna sound really cliche, but I just had a sudden realization that I wanted to become a psychologist, so that's why I am currently majoring in psychology. I definitely went through the same thing that you did because all my life I wanted to become a pediatrician, and then some time in my freshman year of high school I suddenly realized that becoming a pediatrician just did not feel right to me anymore. I instead felt passionate about psychology, so I went and pursued that. That's how things happened for me.

Having said all that, it is absolutely okay to feel confused as to what you want to do in your life. It is not an easy thing to figure out and a lot of people still don't know the answer to that question. So, if you are feeling confused, don't think that it's a major crisis because you're definitely not alone. I think the best advice that I can give you, and anyone, is if you have the opportunity or chance to do exactly what you want to do, go for it. Take the time to really think about what you want to do, and when you figure it out, find out how you can reach that goal. The reason why I am saying this is because there are some people who don't really have the opportunity to make a choice about their future, so if you have that opportunity, take advantage of it. It's okay if it takes some time for you to figure it out. Like I said, it's not a total crisis. If you change your mind along the way, that's fine too. Just make sure that you're always making good use of your time.

I hope that I've helped you out in some way. Best of luck!

If it helps, I can tell you you're not alone! I think it's completely unreasonable to expect anyone in their teens to know what they want to do with their lives - heck, many 40-year-olds still don't know! I know a guy who is a surgeon, but owns and runs a series of holiday resorts; and another who studied anthropology and now runs a PR consultancy; and I myself studied law and never worked for one day as a lawyer! Or put it this way: I'm almost 50, and I've had three quite different careers so far, and I'm about to start my fourth, and none of them have much to do with what I studied.

But that doesn't mean you shouldn't think about it all, and once you get some idea of what your ideal career is, just go after that, that's the best you can do for now. Yes, you may change your mind later (or change it several times, like I did), but you will then come up with a way to change your game plan, and in the meantime you're at least giving you current plan a go rather than sitting on your hands umming and ahhing and not doing anything for fear of making the wrong decision.