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Well, it turns out she's not getting married and luckily, the engineer saw her cousin first and liked what he saw and now they're getting married, but life is still not well. To understand why, a snippet of Sarah is required.

Sarah used to be a pre-medicine major who was going to be dentist but discovered she had no affinity for chemistry. So she switched to a business/marketing major but when she discovered that she had to take an extra year's worth of classes, she dropped that too. Then, she toyed with the idea of becoming a pharmacist, but then she remembered how bad she did in chemistry. Someone suggested economics, and she found out that graphs and scarcity just gave her acidity. Now she's set on a finance and accounting major, but she's taking biology classes (just in case). Anyway, for two hours she complained that she has no time for herself and that she's always tired and depressed.

In reality, Sarah wants to do something creative like writing novels and making movies, and if she had her way, she would major in English or Film. But why doesn't she do that? The same reasons why many of us are afraid to do the things we really want: we fear ridicule, we fear our parents and extended family, we fear of poverty, we fear our ability to do well, and we fear countless other things that stop our passions from becoming a reality.

Therefore, we take the safe, beaten paths like in commerce or science that the majority of people take because in reality, we are all either chicken, lazy, unsure, indifferent, or maybe we actually enjoy the safe, beaten paths.

So what can we do to solve this dilemma?

Don't ask me. I haven't completely figured it out either. I recently settled on two majors I found interesting. (In fact, I was just as bad as Sarah now one can see why we're friends).

However, I did come to certain understandings.

My major does not determine my life. My major is only a tiny factor of my life. Besides, many people major in one thing but end up doing different things.

In addition, it is possible to pursue both a beaten path and a passion. My own roommate, for example, was a pre-medicine and a painting major. It took her a little bit of work to manage her schedule, but in the end, she did really well.

But for those of us who just don't have the time to do two majors, the passion can be pursued as an extracurricular or even after one graduates from college (trust me, you'll still be young).

Most importantly, college is more than your major. I believe it is really about you. It's about perfecting your mind, interacting with interesting people, creating your own voice and personality, discovering how to deal with diverse situations, learning how to learn, and finding ways of contributing.

So, that's the advice I gave Sarah. At least for the time being, it helps us sleep better at night and makes us feel optimistic in our dry calculus classes.

(Student of University of Virginia Economics/South Asian Studies)