So you finally picked your college at the end of your senior year of high school before graduation and you cannot wait to go dorm shopping, find out who your roommate(s) is, and go to orientation. During that summer you get something extremely important: your fall schedule. You look at your five classes and one stands out from the rest: the first class of your major. When you see this, you get really excited because you know that this is the first of many classes you will take in your major that you only dreamed of. When the first day of classes rolls around and you walk into your first major class, it is nothing what you expected. You feel like everyone else in your class understands what is going on except you.
Jax : When I got accepted as a Computer Science major in the School of Engineering at school, I was super excited. I could not wait to embark on my new major. I always was told that companies are looking for females in the field since there are a lot of guys already in the field. When I got my fall schedule, my first two classes were the dreaded LCs (LC 5 what up?!): Philosophy 201 and Theology 201, followed by Pre-Calc, Chemistry, and my first class in my major: Introduction to Matlab. Going to the class I had no idea what to expect. It was much harder than I expected and I struggled. Me being stubborn at the time, I did not want to admit that I was having trouble and that I was in the wrong major. But at the end of freshmen year, I knew that I had to switch and be in another major and that was one of the best decisions of my college career.
Switching majors does not happen overnight. It is a lot of searching the different possible majors that are offered and narrowing down which ones look the most interesting to you. Also it is a lot of emailing, meeting with chairs, talking with parents and close friends among other things. It is looks at possible job outcomes after graduation as well as knowing if you need to get a Master’s or Ph.D. There is a lot of thought that goes into it. It is a lot to take in and talking to advisor can help you pick classes in different majors to expose you potential majors. That really helps narrow your choices and will help you pick the major that is right for you.
Freshman year was a learning experience for me. That year taught be how to be less stubborn and open to getting help and listening to others. I also learned how to look for other majors that interested me and how to get in contact the different departments. Looking at different majors taught me how to explore my different options and that it is okay Also I learned how to use Cardinal Station to look up different tracking sheets for majors that I was interested in to see what all my freshman year classes would fall. During the summer before sophomore year, I decided to switch from Computer Science to Exploratory in the School of Arts and Sciences. That summer I was taking summer classes at CUA and decided to switch to exploratory until I was able to pick a new major. I dropped my Computer Science courses and did a whole new schedule with two classes that were intro classes to two potential majors. Those classes were Intro to Social Work and General Psychology. I ended up picking the latter because that is what I felt more comfortable learning. I felt like that class and my teacher really helped me decide that psychology was the major that I want to pursue.
Thankfully all my classes transferred into the my major with the exception of my two credit chemistry lab. Plus I managed to pick up a minor in Media and Communications Studies, which I enjoy very much so. I became much more confident in my school work when I switched majors. Also I made so many so friends and had so many great professors. I know that switching majors can be hard and it can set you back. Sometimes when switching majors, you end up switching schools like I did and that makes credits hard to transfer. Sometimes that may put you behind a semester or two. If you are able to catch this early on when switching majors, try to take some summer classes. Most last five to six weeks and some start two weeks after final. These classes should end it late June/early July which will give you the rest of the summer to enjoy. Thankfully everything lined up for me to graduate on time.
Switching majors has taught me a lot about myself and allowed me to grow. I learned so many skills such as setting up meetings with chairs of different departments and how and where to reach out for help when I need to do my best academically. It showed me how to be let stubborn and that asking for help can help me succeed in the long run and reach my maximum potential.
Meghan: Since I was 8 years old I had my heart set on becoming an architect. I had this home design software and I would spend hours every day building different dream homes. In high school my art teacher specifically created a focus on architecture for me so that I could submit an AP Architecture Portfolio and toured only the top architecture colleges. Needless to say, I was set on my life plan and I had no intentions of straying from it. I could not have been more excited to start architecture school, and I soon made some of my best friends to this day during my first few weeks. One thing to note about this particular major: you get especially close to all your classmates, seeing as you spend more hours in that building than anywhere else in your life. We would have 4 am dance parties on the tables, watch movies or do karaoke in the auditorium, and just generally be weird people together every night of the week. After my second semester I began to have doubts about pursuing architecture.
One of the hardest parts of switching majors was leaving behind all the close friends I had made in the program. I was scared of missing out on all the fun and craziness we had in studio, and not being able to spend as much time with all of my friends.
Telling my parents that I was leaving the high paying field of architecture to pursue the uneasy world of journalism/ Media and Communication Studies also was not the most fun experience. I made up a pro/con list, and a list of all my potential career goals I could now reach with my new major and presented them to my parents, emphasizing that I may not always be financially secure, but I would be a much happier, less stressed person. Also, I would likely never have to pull 3 all-nighters in a row again like I was doing on a weekly basis in Architecture, which gave my mom peace of mind.
Through all of this I learned that the best option is usually not the one you are comfortable with. What really convinced me to change majors was my self- realization that the only reason I was pursing becoming an architect was because that was the life plan I had grown up around, and re-mapping out my entire life seemed too daunting.
I’m not one for cliche quotes, but I have to say “Life begins outside of your comfort zone” was one that was really spinning around my head during this whole process.
The first semester as a Media major my GPA went from a 2.5 to a 3.3. I got involved in 5 different organizations and I have held 3 internships in one year. These are opportunities I never would have had if I was still spending all of my time locked up in the architecture studio. I was able to work on things that I am passionate about, and dip my toes into so many different fields, broadening my resume and experiences.
My main advice would be to honestly follow what you enjoy doing most, even if it won’t be able to get you a nice BMW before the age of 30. Your true talent and purpose may very well be right outside your comfort zone, so don’t be afraid to reach out and find it.
(I actually hate how cheesy I sound with that last line and I hope it helps and you won’t judge me for it :p)