Around this time last year I wrote a piece for Her Campus VCU about trying to find extracurricular activities in college after being super involved in organizations during high school. I concluded that finding a place here at VCU is a journey, but a fun journey, like a road trip with grades and stuff. Well it’s been a year now and as I’m finishing up my second year here I’ve realized that my college journey is far from over. After spending a miserable fall semester trying to figure out what I was doing with my life, I came to the conclusion that I needed to change my major.
Flashback to tiny pre-freshman Emily circa spring 2013. Sitting in my parents’ car on the way back from VCU’s preview day, I wondered out loud why so many people decide to change their major in college. To pre-freshman Emily, the idea of not knowing what type of career you wanted to have by your late teens or early twenties was ridiculous! Pre-freshman Emily knew exactly what she wanted to do: be a journalist who got to travel and interview cool people and she would outgrow her creative artsy side by the time she moved into her residence hall. Like many high school seniors I was living in a world where graduation was going to transform me into exactly who I was meant to be. In my mind I had already completed the journey and was going to be at the final destination as soon as I moved to Richmond. Obviously now that I’m here I know a little bit better.
I really wish that tiny pre-freshman me had realized that almost everyone at least considers changing their major in college, because it’s natural to feel like you have everything figured out one day and then realize that you don’t the next day. Maybe you feel bogged down by the coursework, or you’re meeting tons of people who are passionate about their major in ways you never have been (and know you never will be), or maybe you just fell out of love with the major you initially chose. For me it was kind of a combination of all these things when it came to my decision. Like I said, this is a totally natural thing that most college folk experience. From the stories I’ve heard and my own personal experience, whether the change is drastic, like going from business to photography, or very minimal such as realizing you have enough credits to add a GSWS minor onto your degree, at some point in a college career an alteration is made to the degree you set out to attain.
I was a month into my freshman year when I realized that I was still the same basic person who had graduated from high school. I was maturing obviously, but the naïve expectation I had had that all my life-long dreams and quirky creative side would dissolve overnight just because I was an adult didn’t happen. As the months went on I felt more and more like I was simply playing the role of a journalism student instead of actually being one.
This past fall when I talked to my intern advisor, she looked confused as I tried to explain that I didn’t want to intern at any traditional news outlets, because my ultimate career goal was to be something completely outside of what I was majoring in. When people asked me what I was majoring in, I would say something along the lines of, “Well, journalism, but my dream job involves more creative writing like scripts or short fiction.” I think the whole dream job part is what helped me finally realize that I wasn’t in the right place major-wise. The further I got into the degree coursework the more I dreaded going to class and the more time I spent inside my imagination coming up with scenarios where I was a post-grad working in a field entirely outside of what I was studying. I realized that if I wanted to try and make my dreams a reality, I had to actually pursue them.
I decided to change my major to English in December and it should be officially changed on my transcripts by the end of this semester. I’m sure tiny pre-freshman Emily would freak out if she heard she had join the thousands upon thousands of college students who make this decision, but what does she know? She doesn’t even exist anymore! If college really is like a road trip, then changing your major is like realizing that trail on the map (GPS doesn’t exist in this analogy) you’ve been following was actually magic marker. You’ll have to re-navigate, but once you do you’ll feel relieved because you’re finally on your way to the destination. I’m still not a hundred percent sure what the destination is for me yet, but at least I’m back on an actual path.