You may never again be at the same crossroads as when you graduated high school. Whether or not you’re 18 already, you’re on the edge of your adolescent years. Reality is that it’s time to grow up and be an adult. Yes, it’s scary, and that is why deciding on what your academic path will be is very important.

Talk to Your Advisor

The point of having an academic advisor in high school is that he or she can help you figure out which path is the best for you. If you’ve already been accepted into a college, chances are that you’ve already spoken with them about your plans. Choosing a college, however, is one thing. Choosing what you want to do once you’re there, though, is a whole other story.

You should also take into consideration that you will most likely have an advisor available to you at the college you’ll be attending. Find out what their email is and start asking them questions. They should be able to direct you to faculty members who you might be interested in talking to about your interests to help you gage what your academic path should be.

Consider a Career Assessment

Once you have a strong interest inventory test (or career assessment) done, you’ll be able to see clearly what your interests are and what careers you should consider because of them. The assessment is easy to take, but keep in mind that the results are not absolute. Just because it says that you’d probably make a really good firefighter doesn’t mean that you can’t go into business. It is just meant to be another tool that you can use while making your decision about which path you should choose.

Shadow Everyone You Can

If you have several ideas of what you may like to do after college in terms of a career, consider shadowing individuals who work in those fields. This will help you be better able to see yourself in those positions. If one peeks your interest the most, then you might want to consider gearing your major towards that field. If you shadowed someone who was a social media marketer, for example, then start looking into the prerequisites that the school you’re going to requires for students to get into the business program.

Realize That You Don’t Need to Make a Decision Now

Although the above tips are definitely things to consider to help you get to know more about what your interests are and what you might want to do, realize that you don’t have to decide now. As long as you have a basic idea of what you want to do in your life, you can wait on some of the bigger decisions. In fact, 25% of all college students wait to declare their major. You probably don’t want to put it off for too long, though, because you might miss out on valuable classes you could be taking—such as prerequisites that are needed to get into a certain major.

Just don’t put too much pressure on yourself right from the start. Do keep in mind, however, that you should keep up your grades during the first two years of your college years so that you won’t be limited in your program decisions—so be prepared for lots of studying!

Having an idea of what you want to do after college is important, because it’ll help you know what academic path you should take. You don’t need to make those decisions right now, though. The above tips, however, will help you start to form some ideas.

Meghan Belnap is a freelance writer who enjoys spending time with her family. She loves being in the outdoors and exploring new opportunities whenever they arise. Meghan finds happiness in researching new topics that help to expand her horizons. You can often find her buried in a good book or out looking for an adventure. You can connect with her on Facebook right here and Twitter right here.