When you enter college at 18 years old (for me, 17 years old), you probably have an idea of what career you’d like to go into. If you don’t, NO STRESS – this article might still help.
To reiterate, as a freshman in college, you probably had or have a little direction of what you want to be “when you grow up”. For many of us, college is a time of growth and learned experiences. Your ideas of what you thought you’d like to do as a career after college, CHANGE, just like your hairstyles, your study habits, your perspectives on life, etc. Is it wrong to feel awkward changing your major as an underclassman? Upperclassman? NO. Continue reading if you feel like you might be in the same position I was in.
“My GPA is Plummeting Hard. HELP.”
I started off as a Pre-Med, Biology major student. I quickly realized the harsh realities of my major; failing my beginning Chemistry class and attending my Intro. to Biology class ONLY on the exam days. I did not like the material that was being taught to me. It was showing in my GPA that I was not interested in the classes. I reached out to my friends and got some more facts about other majors offered on campus. One of my gal pals told me to go to a career advisor and this is where I began to find my passion.
“Why do I have to take SO many electives in addition to my major specified classes?”
Every major has a requirement to take electives. How else would you find out that you loved the Women Studies Sex Education course or that you longed every day for your ceramics lesson? This is how you find your passions. For me, I took a beginning Sociology 100 course and this was my eye-opener. It was not just because I got an A out of the class at the end of the semester, I actually longed to learn more! (Which is what education is supposed to be about anyway!)
“My friends and family will think I’m a failure if I change from a major like Pre-Med, Pre-Law, Architecture, Accounting…etc. to something else.”
If your friends and family really think that way, they are not being supportive to you and that’s not very nice. You need to feel confident in your life choices and if that means changing your major to what you TRULY love, then the only person that needs to believe in you is yourself. It can be really difficult to find the courage to change your major. I have a big ego, and I did not want my family and friends to think that because I changed from Pre-Med to Sociology, that it was because I was not “smart” enough. Hunny, I’m smart and I know that you are too. I believe that everyone has the capability to become a doctor or a lawyer, but if you don’t enjoy taking the classes – then it’s not for you and that’s nothing personal to your strengths or weaknesses.
Be confident in your major change.
It does not matter if you switch as a Freshman or even as a Junior. Life is too short to figure out that 20 years later, you had a “what if” epiphany, wishing you had joined film school or wished you would have switched to Psychology. DO YOU and BE CONFIDENT IN YOUR LIFE CHOICES. Don’t be a sheep and get scared of judgment or change. BE YOUR OWN SHEPARD.