Many students struggle with choosing a major. You’re basically forced to choose what you want to do for the rest of your life when you’re only 17. I remember when I was a senior in high school and they made me take one of those “what career would best suit you” tests. My results ranged from journalism to becoming a secretary.
Now, everyone who knows me knows that I love to write. So that’s the choice I went with. At first, I wanted to be a journalist so badly. I came to CMU in the first place because I knew that they had a great journalism program.
There are many great journalists here, but once I took a few classes, I knew it wasn’t the right career choice for me. Yeah, I love to write, but I really didn’t want to spend the rest of my life reporting and writing news. It just wasn’t for me.
At the time I signed my journalism major, I was already in my 4th year of college. It was a hard choice, but I still knew I didn’t want to stick with journalism. My advisors told me to just stay with it because I was almost done. I didn’t want to follow their advice, I wanted to do what I wanted to do.
I thought about it for a long time. I was almost done with college and I wanted to find a job. We all want to be done as soon as we can. But that’s not what life had in store for me.
I thought it over. I thought of doing psychology, advertising, pre-vet, and others. I decided to do some research and I found the integrative public relations program. I signed my major to IPR last Fall, and I’m so happy I did. I found a major that I enjoy, and I look forward to. I don’t dread going to class every day now.
Now, I changed my major in my 6th year of college, but that’s okay. It only added one more year to my college life. I may be 25 by the time I get my bachelors degree, but I’ve accepted it. I’m happy that I chose a major that I enjoy. If it takes me more time, then so be it.
Sometimes we need to take care of ourselves. Even if others are telling you otherwise. It’s okay to change your major if you don’t like your current one. It’s okay to change it your junior year. It’s okay to change your major to something your parents don’t approve of. Take care of YOU.