✍︎ Angel Nicole Alima
“What course are you taking?”
“Where do you see yourself in five years?”
“What’s your plan after graduation?”
These sound like normal questions—things people ask out of curiosity or concern. But for many students, they carry a different weight. They feel like tests, ones that expect clear and confident answers. A plan. A direction. A future already mapped out.
Students today are often expected to decide early. As early as senior high school, they are already choosing strands that are supposed to shape their future careers. By college, the expectations become heavier: stick to your course, know your goals, don’t waste time. There is this idea that everything should already be figured out, as if life follows a fixed timeline. But the truth is, not everyone figures things out at the same pace.
Many students are still trying to understand themselves—what they enjoy, what they’re good at, and what kind of life they want to build. Some choose courses based on passion, while others decide based on practicality, family expectations, or limited options. And along the way, doubts naturally arise. You start questioning yourself: Is this path really for me?
The pressure to have a clear life path can be overwhelming. Instead of exploring and learning, students begin to fear making mistakes. They feel like one wrong decision will ruin everything. But life doesn’t work that way. There is no single path, no perfect timeline. Sometimes, it involves trying, failing, and starting again. And that doesn’t mean you’re lost—it simply means you’re learning.
Maybe the problem isn’t that students don’t have answers. Maybe it’s that they’re expected to have them too soon. There should be more understanding when they say they are still learning, still trying, still unsure.
Because that honesty reflects something real.Because sometimes, the most honest answer is: “I’m still figuring it out.”
