For many, entering college with a desired major may come with no problems at all. You may have set yourself up to wanting to pursue your dream major for years on end. With the right major, you are more likely to be linked with professors with outstanding experience, internships, and the job that you always wanted. I wish that I could feel the same way (back then, at least).
Despite the whole fiasco of having to enroll into another school before the first week of my freshman year, I knew that I wanted to be a music major. Music has always been a big part of my life and I wanted to further this into college. The joy that music gave me reminded me that a musical career is in sight for me. I will admit, the audition process that I did for many of the schools that I applied to was not easy. It ranged from me doing vocal, clarinet, and an interview as the last step (the interview part was for the school that I was originally enrolled at). In the back of my head, I thought that I wouldn’t make it and I barely did for most. At the current school that I’m at now, my audition wasn’t good enough to become a music major. So, I decided to become a music minor.
Deep down, it affected me mentally, because I felt like years of practice and hard work was sent down the drain. Not only that, but I felt like I was giving up on my dreams. I remember having these conversations with my parents about having to find a new major and they were disappointed just as much as I was. I knew that it was okay to audition to become a music major, but the damage was already done. During the first two months in college, I changed my major twice. I entered as a human resources management major after doing some research behind the business concentration. Looking back now, I honestly don’t know what went through my head when I picked the HR concentration. Not only that it didn’t make sense to me, but I couldn’t bring myself to admit that I liked the major, when I knew that I didn’t. Since I was taking a macroeconomics class during my first semester, I decided to change my major to marketing. Unlike HR, marketing felt like something that I could see myself doing after college, since the field is versatile among other fields. Again, freshman me didn’t fully understand the concept of syllabi and course catalogs. After I had an appointment with my then-advisor at the time, she suggested that I switch my major to communications.
I remember telling her about how much I love to write and voice opinions. She told me that I should look into the PR concentration of mass communications. At the time, the only thing I knew about PR was when a celebrity experienced bad publicity. But, I knew that PR was much deeper than that (and better). I researched the field of public relations and I witnessed some similarities to the marketing field. However, public relations is more “audience-focused”, thus wanting to build positive relationships between organizations and the public. Like marketing, there is involvement in campaigns, but with PR, you act as the voice of a company or individual in order to help gain publicity for it. From audience analysis to writing, public relations seemed to be the right major that I was looking for. Something that was right for me.
I will admit, not being a music major did suck at times. After I changed my major to PR towards the end of my first semester of freshman year, I was still having doubts about it. Since I have a strong relationship, I was nowhere near close to wanting to give up on my dreams of working in the music industry one day. That all changed when I had a conversation about music and journalism with my now-advisor earlier this year. She stated that PR is heavily needed within the entertainment field, specifically the music industry. And, she also suggested that I use my communication electives to take journalism classes, since she knew about my love for writing. I kept what she told in mind and I have decided to let go of the doubtful feeling.
In college, there are many things that everyone will come across. For me, my first year was about finding the right major for me and adapting within a new environment. As a sophomore with a junior standing status, I can say that the first year was not the brightest. There are scenarios that I wish I could go back and fix. But, I am grateful that I found something that I know will be willing to help me in the long run and promise me to further my career into the music business. Also, I am grateful that I am pursuing journalism as a side gig and furthering my love for writing (which is how I found out about HerCampus). To anyone reading this, if you’re just starting out or about to reach the finish line, don’t be afraid to explore new tastes and experiment outside of your comfort zone. If you feel like something is not right for you, I suggest you discover something new and see if it’ll be right for you.