This is the part where I have to write about myself, tell you my goals, ambitions, dream date, all that good stuff. My degree will be in journalism (didn’t see that one coming) when I graduate this coming spring.

I hope to one day become a professional website or magazine writer, more specifically, for websites and magazines covering nerdy topics like video games, anime, cartoons, and graphic novels.

I wrote for The Flor-Ala the entirety of my junior year of college. I got to know the people, and fell in love with reporting. Writing, however, is where I strive to shine. This is why I wanted to be, and obviously became, the life editor.

My section of the paper gets a lot more freedom when it comes to the topics covered, which allows my imagination and sense of literary adventure room to wander. This is all a slick ploy to gather more loyal writers for my section, but let’s continue with more information about me and the valuable advice I’m about to lay on you.

I say all of this to make one point: follow your heart. The career path I have chosen is competitive, demanding, and practically impossible to get rich in. I started UNA as an accounting major (no offense to our wonderful business department, but that lasted a good year before I basically developed hives from the lack of creative release). After a life-changing advising moment with Dr. Greg Pitts, my current department chair, where he filled out my change of major form right there in front of me, I was a new journalism undergrad.

Don’t pick a major because it will bring in the moolah, don’t pick a major to follow in your parent’s footsteps, and for the love of all that is holy, don’t randomly pick a major using a frowned-upon method such as eeny-meeny-miney-mo. You have two years to figure out which major you want, anyway: soak it all in.

Pick your major because your heart told you to. It is the real brains of the operation, after all.

Now after having a little “mom” moment, let me give you some more advice on how to become successful when you finally do pick the major of your dreams.

Study hard, make friends of all types, and become friends with your professors. If they like you, if you can prove to them you are worth their interest, they will bring opportunities faster than a career fair. Be polite, never mean, and live your life with dignity.

Good luck, fellow UNA peeps, I hope you enjoy our paper each week, and remember: it is up to you to make your college experience worth the ungodly amount of money you are paying for it.