My Undeclared Journey
When I committed to attending Northeastern, I was so undeclared that I didn’t even know if I was really going there. That same day, I also “committed” to UCLA. I had a dorm room at both schools until the end of June!
Looking back at that moment nearly ten years ago, I’m amazed by how much I’ve changed and grown. Today, I have a career that I’m proud of. I’ve spent seven years doing communications for mission-driven organizations. I’ve worked in two languages, on three continents, and in four cities. I’ve met inspiring people, told stories that made a difference, and learned more than I would have ever thought was possible.
When I started college as an undeclared student, I felt confused and intimidated. I worried that my undeclared status would impede my ability to succeed in college and beyond. In the end, the opposite happened. With the support of the Explore Program, I was able to turn a potential challenge into my greatest strength.
When I chose to attend Northeastern as an undeclared student, I only knew two things about my future path: I wanted to travel, and I didn’t want to do math. That narrowed my choices down to… about 45 possible majors. Not great, but hey, it was a start!
My next clues came from my first semester of classes. To fulfill a requirement for the Honors Program, I enrolled in an Honors Freshman Seminar called “Introduction to Social Entrepreneurship” with Professor Dennis Shaughnessy. I had never heard of social entrepreneurship, but the Honors Program recommended the course and it was delightfully math-free. I was sold!
In this course, I learned about different ways that businesses around the world achieved positive social impact while creating jobs and turning a profit. I was addicted. I quickly signed up for Professor Shaughnessy’s Dialogue of Civilizations to the Dominican Republic and Cuba, fulfilling my desires both to travel and to learn more about this topic. Just a few months after I returned, I declared a dual degree in International Affairs and Human Services, determined to learn more about mission-driven organizations around the world.
However, a few weeks into my introductory courses, something began to feel slightly off. When I had run degree audits with my Explore Program advisor and peer mentor, I had felt so excited by the endless possibilities offered by the International Affairs degree. It seemed like I could take any class in CSSH and still fulfill the degree requirements; it felt like the perfect match for my undeclared heart. But once I combined that degree with another, those possibilities began to dwindle. There was nothing wrong with the Human Services courses I was taking; I just missed the freedom that an International Affairs degree provided.
Fortunately, even though I was no longer technically undeclared, the Explore Program welcomed me with open arms. While I initially felt guilty about leaving Human Services behind, the Explore Program team helped me realize that my feelings were normal and that my rationale made sense. With their support, I switched my major to an International Affairs degree. It ended up being the perfect decision. I took classes in Anthropology, History, Sociology, and Political Science—all of which wound up counting for my major. I did three international co-ops—two for an environmental organization in South Africa, and one for a gap year program in Ecuador. And I ended up graduating a semester early—I had found so many interesting classes in my major that I hardly spent any credits on electives.
So many of my friends came to Northeastern for the opposite reasons that I did. When they started in September, they knew exactly what they wanted to do. They stuck with their majors all the way through, did great co-ops in their chosen fields, and graduated with impressive resumes and job offers in hand.
My story was a little bit different. When I started, I felt worried that Northeastern’s focus on career development would be wasted on a student that didn’t know what he wanted to do.
Thankfully, I was wrong. I was able to experiment with different majors, different careers, and even different countries—meaning that when I graduated, I had meaningful experience and knew exactly what I wanted to do. Supports like the co-op program and the Explore Program gave me the freedom I needed to chart my own path.
Since I started at Northeastern, I’ve learned that exploration doesn’t stop when you declare a major—or even when you graduate. In the five years since I graduated, I’ve switched careers from nonprofit communications to philanthropy. I’ve picked up a couple of side hustles as a freelance grant writer and a barista. I turned down one offer to move to Portland, Oregon, and accepted another to move to Chicago.
All of these felt like big, risky life changes—and they were. But in the end, I was excited about taking them on. I credit that feeling of excitement to the time I spent with the Explore Program. There, I learned to be comfortable with uncertainty, and to embrace the unknown. That confidence has served me well for years, and I know it will help me keep exploring for years to come.
