DAVID COOK / OPINION EDITOR

When students are getting ready to go to college, people love to offer the same comforting advice: “Don’t worry if you don’t know what you want to do yet. That’s what college is for.”

I get why people say it. No one wants to put even more pressure on an 18-year-old who is already trying to pick a school, move away from home and adjust to a completely new life. The advice is well-intentioned, but I think it is now outdated.

The problem isn’t that every freshman needs to show up on campus with a perfect career plan. I graduate in less than a month, and can’t even tell you what I’ll be doing then. Most people barely know who they are at 18, let alone what they want to do for the next 40 years. I certainly didn’t.

College should still be a place where students can change their minds, take different classes and figure out what actually interests them. But there is a difference between exploring options and idly waiting.

Students are often told they have plenty of time to figure things out, but the job market doesn’t work that way anymore. A degree by itself does not carry the same weight it once did. Employers want experience and proof that you are already prepared for the field you want to enter.

That creates a strange situation for students. They are told not to worry too much about their future when you get to college, but by the time they start applying for jobs, even entry-level positions often expect internships or direct experience. It is hard to call something entry-level when one already needs to have entered the field to be considered.

This is where the timeline gets tricky. In many industries, junior year is not when you should start thinking about experience, but now, it’s when you are supposed to already have some. A freshman-year club can lead to a sophomore-year internship, which can lead to a better junior-year internship, which can eventually lead to a job offer after graduation. That does not mean every student needs to know their exact path right away. It just means waiting until later has consequences.

The cost of being undecided is also higher than people admit. Changing your mind is normal and often necessary, but switching majors late can mean extra classes, more stress and more money. Students should not be scared into choosing a major before they are ready, but they should be given a clearer picture of what different majors actually lead to.

Too often, students are encouraged to follow their interests without being told what that decision might look like after graduation. That does not mean everyone should choose the most practical major possible or ignore what they care about. But students deserve to know what skills they need, what internships matter and what career paths are realistic with the degree they are pursuing.

That is why colleges need to be more honest with students from the beginning. The message should not be that you need to have your entire life planned before your first semester. That’s unrealistic and honestly, unfair. But students should be pushed harder to ask better questions earlier.

What careers connect to this major? What skills do employers actually want? What internships should I be looking for? What does a strong resume look like by sophomore year? What happens if I wait too long? These questions should not be saved for senior year, when students are already panicking about graduation. They should be part of the freshman-year experience.

Some could argue that this advice mostly applies to students pursuing traditional white-collar careers. For students interested in blue-collar work, the timeline may look different. Many trade careers do not require four years of college, and in some cases, apprenticeships, certifications or direct work experience may be more valuable than a degree. The larger issue is not just whether students are choosing a major early enough, but whether they are being shown all their options early enough. College is certainly not the only path to a stable career, and students should not be pushed into a four-year degree if a trade, technical program or apprenticeship would better fit their goals.

The better advice is not “figure out your whole life now.” It is “start testing things early.” If you have even an inkling of an idea about your career, put your all into it as soon as you can.

Take the class, join the club or talk to the professor. Email someone who works in the field. Apply for the internship, even if you feel underqualified. Try things while there is still time to adjust.

The clarity students seek usually does not come from sitting around and waiting for your future to suddenly make sense. It comes from realizing what you like, what you hate and what you’re actually good at.

College can still be a time to explore, and it should be. But the idea that students can wait for direction to appear is no longer realistic. Students do not need to have everything figured out at 18, but they do need to understand that the clock starts earlier than they think.