Many college students have been there: at almost every university you attend, you will have to take an introductory course that details the kinds of jobs you can get with your chosen major. Pair this information with multiple little personality-type tests that analyze what kind of person you are and how you work best, and in about eight short weeks you should then be able to determine whether the major you've selected is the right major for you. I didn’t pay attention to all the warning signs that I wasn’t in the right major until after the fact. Now here I am, in classes that stress me out beyond reason, learning things that I would not want to assign to myself for the rest of my life.
If you’re starting to think you might be in this situation, my first piece of advice is this: pay attention to your introduction to the major seminar that you’re required to take, and really do your research when you’re asked to do research on a career you might be interested in. You’ll be able to tell early in the game whether you should switch your major or not. If you’re past the point of that introductory class and already in your major classes, pay attention to yourself and look for these seven warning signs that you are in the wrong major.
1. You put off the work you are required to do in your major classes.
I did this in my first ever "hands-on experience" major class. It wasn’t a simple matter of a college student being lazy or a matter of having so much to do that the work of a once-a-week class somehow slipped through the cracks. No, I just lacked the passion to approach the work, and when I finally got around to doing it just to get caught up with the class, it felt like a chore rather than something I was excited to do. You'll have busy days and sometimes that may cause you to forget work that you are normally excited for, but if you have ample time to complete an assignment in your major classes and you have zero motivation to do it, you’re probably in the wrong major.
2. You get more excited about classes that are unrelated to your major.
It’s okay to really like your general electives. In fact, having diverse interests beyond your major is awesome and could prove very useful one day, but if you’re getting excited about things that don’t fit the focuses of your major and never getting excited about your actual major, you just might be in the wrong major.
3. Your major is stressful to you.
College will be stressful from time to time. That is a given. Between a full schedule of classes, work, and extra curricular activities, it's a bit unrealistic to assume that you should never be stressed out with school just because you might like your classes. However, if you dread coming into class every day and the work of your major classes always stresses you out, there's a chance you're in the wrong major.
4. You constantly struggle to keep your grades up in your major classes.
College is not supposed to be a breeze. It is supposed to challenge you and encourage you to think because even if you might have a natural talent for something, you won't do well in your major by sliding by and trying to get away with not putting effort into your work. Challenge is good, and working hard for nice grades is also good. It's also true that GPA is not everything, and that your future is not going to be determined by how well you perform on a test, but if you are working hard and not doing well in any of your major classes despite your best efforts, you may be in the wrong major.
5. You're in your major only because it sounds "practical."
Some majors are more practical than others, and some have a broad range of uses while others prepare you for a very specific field. However, taking something just because it sounds "practical" does not guarantee that it will get you a job. You have to have the motivation to do it and you have to do well in it; your success in the application of your studies will prove to be more useful than whether or not your degree sounds "practical." Majors that sound "practical" are useful when you know you will do well in those fields and successfully apply what you have learned to real-life work experiences. In other words, "practical" is okay when you're driven to be so, but if you're majoring something just because it sounds like it will get you a job rather than because you know you do well in the field than you might want to rethink your major.
6. Your major classes are boring to you.
Of course, it's a given that you might not be in love with every single class you have to take. Some classes are just required for your major, and you'll have to take them even if you feel that they won't be the most applicable to the field you want to go into after graduation. There is also always the possibility of that one professor who just doesn't make a subject sound exciting, even if you were initially psyched for it. If you get excited and stay excited about all of your major classes, that is awesome! However, if all of your major classes feel boring to you, that could be a sign that you're in the wrong major.
7. You are constantly asking yourself and others if you should change your major.
This should be the biggest tell of all. Every college student has days where they get exhausted and probably dramatically claim that they want to drop out or change their majors. Asking yourself early on if you should change your major isn’t necessarily a dead giveaway; in fact, it’s healthy. You can’t stay in school forever, and your major often prepares you for a very specific field. Knowing you want to do something doesn’t always make the thought of a permanent career any less scary, so if every once in a while you ask yourself if you really want to study that one subject for the next few years, don’t freak out. Do, however, take that thought seriously. If you find yourself wondering constantly if you’re not studying what you really want to study, you are likely in the wrong major.
These were the signs for me personally, but there are multiple ways to tell if the major you're in is the right one for you. If you find other tells that you’re in the wrong major that aren’t on this list, take them into consideration. Your major does not determine your forever career, but it does gear you towards certain jobs. What you study now is just the prelude for what you will be working with in the "real world", so it's important that you are doing what you do because you want to do it, not because you feel like you have no other choice.
