When you first enter college, people tell you all the time that there is "no pressure" to decide what to major in right away. Although this is somewhat true, what they don't tell you is that if you plan to get out in four years, you might need to decide ASAP. Disclosure: I am not trying to scare anyone into thinking that your life is over if you don't know what to major in (it's not, I promise, you're okay), and every college is different. But from my own experience, switching my major has been a bit more stressful than people originally let on.
I was never one of those people that knew from the moment they were seven years old what they wanted to do with the rest of their lives. I envy those people, but it is what it is. For whatever reason, I was just not meant to have a clear idea of what my future career would turn out to be. Oh well, I'm over it. But for a while, I was ridiculously stressed over the fact that everyone else seemed to have a purpose in their head that they were very confident in whereas I might as well have written "undecided" across my forehead. If you are anything like this, I completely understand your struggle, and you are not alone. In fact, a lot of people have no idea what they want to do with their lives, they just pretend they do. Fake it 'til you make it, right?
I went into my freshman year not knowing what in the world I was going to major in, so I picked the subject that I found to be the least boring in high school: psychology. The more psychology I learned, the more I loved it, so I decided, why not major in it and see where life takes me? Well, life took me to a dead end, with a big sign that read "are you sure you want to take this path?" in giant letters. I questioned every second of my time as a psychology major. Yeah I loved learning about it, but could I see myself doing it as a career?
No. I couldn't. So I finished my freshman year and started panicking. I always thought that I would be one of those people who would have their future career knocking at their door saying "hey, you ready? I've been waiting for you your whole life." But as my first year of college came to an end, I confirmed that I was not one of those people. At least, not yet. But I had to come to terms with the idea that I may just have to settle for something that sounds somewhat interesting and hope that it leads me somewhere spectacular.
My father always told me that business was a safe option, so I began exploring it. But as I looked deeper, I realized that it would mean switching from the College of Arts and Sciences to the College of Business, which would basically mean that my entire freshman year was a waste of my time. I would have to go to school for four more years—or at the very least take summer classes—in order to graduate on time. But wait, I thought to myself, didn't everyone say that I had time to switch my major?
In that case, no I did not. See, once you pick a major, your options for switching become a bit more limited. If you're okay going to school a little longer, or working a little harder with more credits or summer classes, then yes, you have plenty of time to switch colleges within your university. But I wanted to be out in four years to save money (and I'm lazy), so that wasn't going to work for me.
Well, what did I do then? I sighed and once again got over it. There wasn't much that I could do, so I looked at my options within the same college as psychology. And aha! It hit me: Public Relations. The more I researched it, the more I seemed to fit the role of a PR major. It wasn't something that I had ever thought about previously, but I definitely found enough information in the major to be excited about, so I decided to switch to it. And, because I still loved psychology (I didn't want to lose all of my hard-earned psych credits I already had under my belt, either) I took on a minor in psychology too.
So here's the truth: switching your major is a difficult decision (and a whole lot of paperwork), and if you don't know exactly what you want to do with your life, it can be even more stressful. But, at the end of the day, if you even have so much as a shred of confidence in the major you're switching to, then it is 100 percent worth it. People are right when they say that you have time to figure out what you want to do, they just don't always point out the hassle of it. But think of it this way: even the people that seem like they have their whole life figured out will still have dozens of curve balls thrown their way. Life is unexpected whether you think you know what you want to do or not. Although it can be stressful, try to remember that it's not about the destination—it's about the journey. Make the most of what you have going on right now. Switch your major as many times as you need to, no matter how annoying it may be. Take chances. This is your time to figure out who you are, so take a deep breath: you'll get there.
