If I announced my wedding right now, as an 18-year-old, I would be met with a slew of disapprovals. People would tell me, “You don’t know what you want,” and “You’re bound to change your mind.” And they’d be right. I don’t know what I want out of my life just yet, and I shouldn’t need to.

Many people hold this same sentiment when it comes to a college major. As someone who has been unsure of my major since day one, I’ve been told countless times that I “don’t need to have it figured out yet,” and I “have plenty of time.” Unfortunately, that’s just not true when it comes to the Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, under which the exploratory program falls.

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USC has hefty general education requirements for its students. Assuming someone comes in with no transfer credit or foreign language proficiency, they must take 40 units of general education classes and eight units of writing. Students in Dornsife and the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism require an additional 12 units of a foreign language. Altogether, this totals 60 units for Dornsife students — almost half of the 128 required for graduation.

These classes often overlap with major requirements, but for many students, it doesn’t make a difference. A Bachelor of Science in chemistry, for example, leaves its students with zero free electives. That means if someone wants to switch into a class-heavy bachelor’s degree after their first semester, they will not graduate on time without taking extra units, much less have the ability to pursue a minor. 

Not knowing what you want right off the bat heavily limits the classes and programs you will be able to explore at USC. But it doesn’t have to be this way.

Instead of the needlessly hefty and specific GE requirements, every class should have a GE designation of some kind so that students can explore their interests while still fulfilling their requirements. This would allow more room for exploration according to a student’s interests — not according to the University.

There should also be fewer requirements. The general education program should be cut down to 20 units by requiring one humanities/social science course instead of four, one natural/physical science course instead of two and one diversity course instead of two. “Advanced Writing” should be eliminated; “Writing and Critical Reasoning–Thematic Approaches” is sufficient on its own.

The language requirement should be transformed into a global perspectives requirement, which can be filled by a language or foreign culture class. Students should not have to take three semesters of a language that they are bound to forget without consistent practice. 

By reducing the GE requirement, students can explore early on with more flexibility of how they use their units, lessening the chance of a late major switch that would require staying an extra semester.

USC also needs a more comprehensive program for undecided freshmen. While USC does have an exploratory program, its website does not advertise much beyond what is already available to the general student population: advising, the Career Fair and the Dornsife Major and Minor Fair. 

In my experience, advising did not give me any groundbreaking insight. I was told to look through the major requirements and see what interested me, which I had already done a hundred times. Instead, USC should take notes from schools like Northeastern University and Duke University.

The Northeastern Explore Program is carefully designed to provide undeclared students with unique opportunities. Participants take a first-year seminar with other undeclared students taught by an “Explore advisor.” They have major fairs, career fairs and alumni networking events available only to them. Most importantly, they work with program-specific advisers to create class schedules that will give them the most insight into prospective majors. 

Duke has a similar philosophy: You cannot declare your major until sophomore year, and their website reads, “Your first year at Duke should be a time of academic exploration and discovery, and you should not feel pressured to complete graduation or major requirements.” 

Encouraging exploration and open-mindedness instead of putting pressure on students to complete their general education or major requirements is a spirit USC should adopt to best support its students.

College should be a place of academic exploration for young people. To truly embody the Renaissance Ideal that USC touts, the University needs to encourage its students to take fun classes, study “unnecessary” subjects and give all of their interests careful consideration. After all, settling on a major is a bit like getting married: It’s good to date around and get a feel for what’s out there. You never know who or what is going to be the one.