#i think we put an undue amount of stock in choosing a college major

[official-linguistics-post]

Hi! I love your blog, it always makes me so extremely happy when I find new linguistics blogs! Currently a lot of your post are sitting in my unspeakably long queue. Anyways, after seeing that freshman anon that wants to study linguistics in the future I thought that I might as well pop in and ask you my question about pursuing linguistics in college. I’m a high school senior that should (knock on wood) be starting college next year majoring in linguistics. I absolutely love linguistics and love the idea of studying it, but I’m worried that I won’t be able to actually get a decent job with it. I’m currently planning on becoming a researcher in applied linguistics, but I’m worried that that’s a bit of an unrealistic(?) plan, and I don’t know what else I’d do with linguistics if that didn’t work out for any reason. I’m just worried about putting all of my eggs into one basket I guess. Sorry that this is a bit of a vague ask that doesn’t really have a direct question, whatever insight you can give would be greatly appreciated, thank you. 

my advice is: keep your goal in mind, but don't be alarmed if/when it changes.

i planned to study linguistics from about freshman or sophomore year of high school, but i was interested in neuro- or psycholinguistics. once i got to college, i took a few courses in that direction, but the psychology part just didn't capture my attention in the same way (and let's be real i didn't want to take organic chemistry). by the time i was planning my undergrad thesis, it had pivoted to bilingual education research, and then in senior year i took one random course that skewed my trajectory completely into historical linguistics (after i finished the bilingual ed thesis, at least). i went to graduate school for that subfield—masters and phd—but now i'm burnt out on academia so i'm pivoting into public education.

it's very hard to feel like you've invested so much time in one direction that may not work out in the end, i won't lie to you. but at this very early stage in your possible future career, i encourage you to enjoy the ride where you can. take classes that sound interesting. get to know a variety of people working in the field. and explore topics off your beaten path! i've ended up working closely with archaeologists, which is very fun but also confirms that i don't want to be an archaeologist.

even if you decide not to stick with linguistics—even if you're forced out by a lack of jobs, which is not uncommon—you'll still have the experience of research and critical thinking behind you. also, linguists are fun friends.