Everyone always told me that I would go to college and end up changing my major, and for that reason I was determined to stay a Pre-Pharm student. After suffering from numerous mental breakdowns and heightening my anxiety, I knew it was time for a change. But these reasons got me through...
1) Your mental health comes first.
Putting yourself through the level of suffering that goes along with college, let alone in a major that you don't enjoy is NOT worth it. The long hours put into reading, doing homework, and studying for a topic that you do not want to be learning and could not care less about strains your mental health, leading to a strain on your physical health.
2) It will just lower your GPA.
While you're slacking off in doing all of the work necessary to get a 4.0 GPA because you don't want to put in the work for the classes that you don't care about, not only is your health suffering but so is your GPA. If a class stresses you out to the point where you have to put your book down after looking at it for 15 minutes, there is no way you're going to be able to put in the needed effort, resulting in a GPA that won't help you get into grad school.
3) Sometimes you're not naturally good at certain things.
While all of our brains have the same basic function, no two work exactly the same. Some people have photographic memories and never have to study, while some people have to study the same flashcard for two hours to get it right. Some people are naturally gifted in the maths and sciences while others can write forever and give full history lessons like they are telling you their name. You have to find what you're good at and pursue that, because your natural abilities do matter.
4) In the money vs. passion fight, passion should always win.
While having a salary larger than the net worth of Geno Auriemma would be worth multiple years of schooling and working incredibly hard for, if you don't enjoy what you're doing it will lessen your quality of life. I was initially a pharmacy major mostly for the money aspect, but I realized that I would rather have a lower income than have to drag myself to work every morning.
5) It's your life.
No matter what pressures people put on you, it is your life. The only thing that truly matters in your life at this point is your own happiness. As young adults we need not to worry about spouses or children of our own, with a few exceptions of course, so what we should truly be focusing on is bettering ourselves and our futures. After all, isn't that why we're putting ourselves in thousands of dollars worth of debt?
If I learned anything in my first year of college, it's that staying in something that you do not want to do isn't worth it. If I could go back and tell my 13 year old self anything, it would be to continue to pursue my passion for law, rather than "loving" pharmacy in order to fit in with the rest of the top 5 at my high school.
