Choosing your major can be extremely stressful. Maybe your parents really wanted you to be a doctor and you didn’t want to disappoint them, so you become a chemistry major when art is your true passion. Maybe you chose to be an engineering major because even though you hate math, you love money. Maybe you were like me: I chose creative writing as my major, because I thought it’d be fun and felt like it was the only thing I was good at. But as I started having to actually get graded on something I was so passionate about, the joy I felt dwindled.
Sometimes when you’re in college, things change— you change.
You get exposed to new things. Sometimes you take an intro class or an elective for fun and fall in love with it. Or you join a club and their philanthropy is something you want to become heavily involved with. For me, I realized that I wanted to write – just not creatively all the time, so I switched to journalism and haven’t regretted it once. Regardless of what triggers the need to change, your first major isn’t always the one that sticks. You grow into your own person and realize that maybe this isn’t what you really want.
Here is how to know when it’s time to change your major.
1. Your parents chose your major for you.
We all love our parents and want to make them proud but remember: you are getting an education for yourself, not them. You know that scene in every movie ever where the kid tells the parent: “It’s not my dream, it’s yours!”? It’s time for you to star in your scene. You have to stand up to your parents and make them realize you are an adult with your own life and they cannot control what you do. Your parents should love and support you in whatever you do and whatever decision you make. It’s your time to shine.
Figure1Source: Giphy
2. You’re always annoyed about the work you have to do.
If math makes you want to pull your hair out, why on earth are you an engineering major? Don’t torture yourself for a job you know you don’t want just for the promise of a paycheck. You should be excited to learn things for your major, not dreading deadlines and lectures because you’re deeply uninterested.
Figure2Source: Giphy
3. You chose your major, because you know it will pay well.
Yes, being financially stable is important but so is your happiness. Ten years from now you could be sitting in your office desk typing up reports for your boss, hating life because you’d rather be a teacher enriching people’s lives. But hey, at least you have a lot of money, right? Wrong. This cliché is completely true: Money doesn’t buy happiness.
Figure3Source Giphy
If reading this list provoked feelings of regret towards your current major, stand up, go to your advising office and switch to the major you deserve to be pursuing. Don’t settle for anything less than what you truly want to be learning. It may be scary to change your major, but it doesn’t hurt to explore your options if you feel that you need to make a change.