You just turned 18. Now considered to be an adult, it’s time to make the biggest decision of your life: What do you want to do for the rest of your life?

No big deal. It’s been a continuous debate for the last ten years or so. Be an actress or a famous football player: unrealistic. Be an astronaut, a firefighter or maybe even a teacher: a little more serious.

Then mom said, “Just make sure you can afford to buy a house, a car, the three dogs you said you want and maybe even a kid or two.” No problem. Be a lawyer or doctor: now back to stage one still falling under the unrealistic category.

Don’t worry, chances are your mind will change again.

University of Wisconsin- Whitewater and many other colleges have a certain way of going about the undecided career situation. Freshmen year, every student is required to take certain courses (science, art, etc.). As a result students get exposed to the different types of majors and don’t miss out on something they may end up really enjoying.

According to a study done at University of La Verne, 50%-70% of college students change their majors at least once. So what is the rush?

The rush is deciding on which college is best for your major. Should you go to a journalism school or a medical school? Each college is known for certain majors, so what if you choose to go to one, and then you change your career and that specific college doesn’t have a good program for the career you want to switch into? There is always the choice to transfer, but a year has passed and so many friends have been made. Now you have a new question: “Do I transfer?” Yet another extremely hard decision in the same year, all because teens have to decide their career at 18.

According to New York Times, one in three students transfer colleges in a year.

How does someone avoid being the one in three? As an 18 year old, it shouldn’t be up to you to figure it out. Teachers and parents should take a better responsibility to make sure teens are on the right track and don’t end up hating their lives because they were forced into a job they hate when time ran out.

Instead of requiring four years of core classes, student’s choices should expand. No class should be forced on a student. High school should be about discovering who you are, and what you want to do. Finding out what you’re good and bad at is something kids find out in middle school by taking the core classes.

The most surprising fact is that only 27 percent of college graduates have a job related to their major according to the Washington Post. Students waste four plus years in college trying to graduate with a certain major. Now, you don’t even need that major? If only students were better prepared for the decision of a lifetime.

By allowing a wider variety of classes to take in high school and not pushing classes on students, 18 year olds would be able to come to an easier conclusion on what to do with their future. Isn’t that the goal of high school anyway, to become college and career ready? By the time students finish the long four years of high school, they should be able to jump into college and immediately start on the road to a successful future.

As long as schools don’t take up some of the responsibilities of helping decide a career, try a career assesment quiz. Sometimes hearing what you don’t want to do helps narrow down to things you do want to do. Even if you can’t narrow down to just one, think ahead and go to a college that has more than one of your majors.