A few weeks before my high school graduation, I found myself in the counselor’s office bawling my eyes out. Why? Well I was questioning my choice of being a psychology major. The only reason I choose psych was because my best friend was doing psych as well. However, something in my gut was telling me I would not succeed in it. Being at the top of my class, I received confirmation that I would do just fine. But here I am, ending my junior year of college off as a communication major. I don’t regret it, but it has been a long journey.
I went to a technical high school and studied graphic design. I was so sure I would be going to art school, but I punked out. I’d heard so much negativity surrounding being an art major so I was so scared of failure. Yet after freshman year, I figured out that I could not continue being a psych major. I decided to apply to the art school. Unfortunately, I did not get in and I began to panic. Sophomore year came and I had no idea what I would major in. I considered art history, family studies, marketing, human rights etc. Finally, I decided to major in communication. How’d I end up here? Well, looking at the classes offered at UConn for communication, I decided it would be the next best thing to majoring in art for me. There’s advertising class, fundamentals of digital production, marketing communication, visual communications, and digital video production. I did not get into the program I wanted to, but I adjusted and I wouldn’t want it to have happened any other way.
TIps for choosing your major:
- Try a variety of classes.
- Eliminate things you don’t enjoy.
- Focus on activities that inspire you.
- Don’t be afraid to change your major more than once.
- Join different clubs to get some experience of different majors.
- Meet with advisors and faculty for any majors you are considering.
Here are some stories of my fellow collegiettes and how they figured out what was the perfect major for them:
Emily W.: “I came to UConn dead set on their undergrad Diagnostic Genetic Sciences program. It is a competitive two-year program, meaning I would have to go into it as one major, then apply into DGS at the end of my sophomore year, so I came in as Molecular and Cell Biology, with a minor in Human Development and Family Studies. I wanted to work in a hospital being a genetic counselor after college, and I was sure this was the path to get me there. I wasn’t getting anything near the high grades that my friends were getting, and I just couldn’t get a break from hearing about how upset they were over a B+. Now remember, I live in WiMSE (the Women in Math, Science, and Engineering learning community), so I’m surrounded by my classmates 24/7. Grades were all they talked about, and I was under a lot of pressure. It was really hard to come to terms with the fact that science just wasn’t my thing, especially since I came to UConn for a specific program I now knew I wouldn’t get into. Still wanting to work in a hospital, I looked into professional options under my minor’s website. I found a career being a child life specialist, where you work with hospitalized children to understand their illness and procedures, as well as decrease their anxieties about it, and it was then that I switched my minor to my major. I adore working with children, knew I wanted to be in a medical setting, and saw this career as a way to make a difference in someone’s life. If I could make just one patient’s day a little bit better, or a procedure little bit less scary, I would call it a victory.”
Jackie N.: “I chose journalism when I realized that I wanted to write but did not want to be an English major. I toyed with the idea of switching to English for a long time, but then I realized one day how much value there was to learning to think like a journalist (i.e. neutrally and fairly, despite what your personal opinions are). Then the department turned a lot of its focus to teaching us how to fact check and recognize when things are true or false and how to identify fake news sources. I think these skills, regardless of what I end up doing in the future, are unbelievably important for everyone to have. After this year, I would recommend journalism to anyone who wasn’t sure what they wanted to study. Communication has also been awesome because I’m such a heavy media consumer that it’s amazing to learn about media effects and how media actually works.”
Sam J.: “I originally went to school not knowing what I wanted to do. At all. I took a few gen-eds at the first college I went to and nothing was really clicking with me. I couldn’t afford more than four years of college, so I needed to figure something out fast. I figured business would be a good fall-back. After transferring to a community college, I decided to take a few business courses and although they were super boring, I did well. I should’ve realized that business wasn’t for me when I realized they pretty much handed As out and held your hand the entire time. When I got to UConn my sophomore year, things went south really fast. I ended up taking those weed out classes for the business school and, well, let’s just say they weeded me out pretty well. Next semester, I needed easy classes to boost my GPA. I decided to take a few communication courses after hearing how easy they were. Lo and behold, I actually loved communication! I’ve been a communication major ever since and am so glad I found it.”
Tiffany T.: “When I went into the college application process, I was content on taking general bio. However, when I was applying to UConn, I was scrolling through the majors list and I could not find “general biology” for the life of me. Ultimately, ‘molecular and cell biology’ was the first biology major I saw on the list, and I thought, ‘Alright, I’ll get with it.’ Thinking back, it’s pretty funny how I came to be an MCB major, but man, I’m super glad that I picked it.”
Isha M.: “I came into UConn undecided with no clue what I wanted to do with my life or major in. I looked at my interests and realized that I love creativity and helping people. I thought that marketing would be a good fit, but by the time I came to this realization, I would have to stay an extra year or semester to get all the requirements necessary to be a part of the business school and graduate with a marketing degree. At the time, I was taking a human rights class and loved it. After deciding to make it a minor, I realized with just three more classes, I could add it as another major. After all of that, I am officially a psychology and human rights double major. At the end of the day, I chose majors that intrigued me and made me grow as a person as well as helped in my career.”
Chelsea K.: ” When I went into college I was a bio major, and ended up switching to pathobiology for a minor reason, and I found myself struggling immensely compared to my peers. I mean, I was getting really low grades while my friends in the same classes were getting As. I knew I had to change, but had no idea what to pick because I always wanted to be a physician’s assistant. But, I had a passion doing Photoshop projects and photography, and I have worked in marketing and really enjoyed it. So, I decided to apply to the School of Fine Arts here as a digital media and design major with a concentration in business strategies and a minor in communication to make my profession more well-rounded. Now, I’ve met more friends than ever before in my DMD classes, I’ve gotten straight As for the first time since freshman year, and I’m ultimately happy with what I’m doing. Even if I have to take another semester to catch up with my major, I’m not looking back and I’m so, so excited to do this kind of stuff for a career. Moral: it’s not too late to change majors if it’ll make you happy and successful.“
Erica B.: “I almost came in as a psychology major as a freshman just for the sake of having a major (and because I liked psych), but decided to go in undecided instead, which was great because in the ACES (exploratory) program I got to dabble in a bunch of different classes to figure out what I liked. I took a bunch of art classes and considered majoring in fine arts, which I came close to doing, but unfortunately the stigma around art majors and their job opportunities got to me, so I just kept taking classes I enjoyed. It wasn’t until my sophomore year that I started taking more English-heavy classes and, even though I’d been good in English classes in high school, realized this could be a perfect major for me. So I declared and missed the arts so much I declared a minor in that too. Now I’ve got the best of both worlds as well as an upper hand in the job market, plus I love what I learn and do.”