After much debate, you finally decide what college you’re going to attend after high school. Next step: figure out what you want to do for the rest of your life. Scary, right? If that isn’t enough pressure, your parents, high school teachers, friends and everyone else in the world is going to be asking you constantly, “What will you be studying?” and “Where will that degree take you?” Coming from someone who thought she knew what she wanted to do and then changed her mind 10 times (yes, I literally declared 10 different majors), everything will be just fine. Here are five reasons why it is OK to change your major:
1. For the most part, nobody knows what they want to do for the rest of their life at 18 years old.
You are not alone. There are plenty of people out there going through the same struggle as you. Some very lucky people out there might have a clue what direction they want their life to go in, but there is no reason to panic if you do not. Take a deep breath, enjoy your first weeks of college, and start figuring out who you are as a person. You will never be happy with the decisions you make until you are happy with yourself.
2. You will change from high school to college.
No matter how many times "You rock, don’t change" is written in your senior year yearbook, change is inevitable, and that is OK! College demands you to grow up and go through some tough situations that will mold you into the person you were intended to be. People fear change, but change is not necessarily a bad thing.
3. Contrary to popular belief, it will be okay if you have to take a victory lap.
Although the fear of being a fifth-year senior is instilled in you from your first day of college, taking another semester or year to finish your degree is not as uncommon as people would have you believe. If it takes you a little while longer than the “norm” to find something you love to do, then the extra time is worth it.
4. Finding something you are passionate about takes time.
“Our willingness to wait reveals the value we place on what we’re waiting for,” Charles Stanley said. Deciding what you want to have a career in, what you want to do every day possibly for the rest of your life, should not be a rash decision. Everyone is different, and everyone has their own timeline, but if your timeline is a little bit longer than your friends', there is no need to worry. For some of us, it takes a little longer to find our passion.
5. You learn more about yourself exploring different majors.
This is possibly the most important point. I grew as a person and found out more about myself through the 10 different major changes I went through. For instance, I knew how little patience I had when I decided to try pre-med for a month or two. I do not regret trying new and different things, because it taught me exactly what I knew I didn’t want to be doing, which is extremely beneficial. Sometimes, people have regrets after graduation and wished they chose a different degree path. For me, because I tried so many different majors, I don’t think that’s going to be an issue.
So, as you see, changing your major is not as bad as people make it seem. For the record, elementary education, special education, psychology, biology, pre-med, computer science, pre-law, marketing, advertising and public relations are all great majors. But public relations is definitely the best... For me, at least.
