By Stephanie Stevens,Semesterz
During my undergraduate education, I changed my major a total of 4 times. My parents call me indecisive. Sometimes, my friends tell me I’m flaky. And basically, all of my ex-boyfriends have told me at one point or another that I need to learn how to make up mind. Regardless of outside opinion (and the various contexts they could easily be placed in), I only have one regret; not changing my major for a 5th time. It’s not fair to ask an 18-year-old to decide the course of their life by the age of 21. I had only just discovered what color hair I most preferred having and then, all of a sudden, I was shipped off to a tiny dorm room in Boca Raton, Florida and was told to start figuring it “all” out. The first major I chose was communications and media journalism. I believed I could be the next Oprah. The only problem was, I was still 18-years-old and had absolutely no idea what that meant. By the time my first year of college was complete, I had taken no courses in my chosen field of study because obviously, I was stuck in the age of general education courses.
[post_ads]I decided I no longer had a taste for talk shows and the inevitable fate of fetching coffee for people who were more talented than me for the rest of my life. Therefore, I switched my major to marine biology. I always had a fascination with deep sea creatures (the prehistoric megalodon, specifically) and perceived the water as the final frontier of Earth’s exploration. It wasn’t until I was halfway through Marine Biology 101 that I remembered, I’m really really bad at math. As it turns out, you need to be able to work with numbers to deal with the ocean’s depth and the mysteries it holds. You’re probably wondering how I could take such a foolish misdirection. Well, as I said before, I was young! I was 19 at this point and had only begun to discover what I needed in life to find purpose as an independent, well-functioning adult.
During my undergraduate education, I changed my major a total of 4 times. My parents call me indecisive. Sometimes, my friends tell me I’m flaky. And basically, all of my ex-boyfriends have told me at one point or another that I need to learn how to make up mind. Regardless of outside opinion (and the various contexts they could easily be placed in), I only have one regret; not changing my major for a 5th time. It’s not fair to ask an 18-year-old to decide the course of their life by the age of 21. I had only just discovered what color hair I most preferred having and then, all of a sudden, I was shipped off to a tiny dorm room in Boca Raton, Florida and was told to start figuring it “all” out. The first major I chose was communications and media journalism. I believed I could be the next Oprah. The only problem was, I was still 18-years-old and had absolutely no idea what that meant. By the time my first year of college was complete, I had taken no courses in my chosen field of study because obviously, I was stuck in the age of general education courses.
[post_ads]I decided I no longer had a taste for talk shows and the inevitable fate of fetching coffee for people who were more talented than me for the rest of my life. Therefore, I switched my major to marine biology. I always had a fascination with deep sea creatures (the prehistoric megalodon, specifically) and perceived the water as the final frontier of Earth’s exploration. It wasn’t until I was halfway through Marine Biology 101 that I remembered, I’m really really bad at math. As it turns out, you need to be able to work with numbers to deal with the ocean’s depth and the mysteries it holds. You’re probably wondering how I could take such a foolish misdirection. Well, as I said before, I was young! I was 19 at this point and had only begun to discover what I needed in life to find purpose as an independent, well-functioning adult.
When I changed my major for the 3rd time, it was to social work. With social work, I felt like I was on the right path. I’m a natural caretaker, especially when it comes to children, and helping people is something I sincerely enjoy. Once I realized the amount of case management and paperwork that goes into this field, which also significantly underpays its employees, I decided to get a little more hands-on and change my major to an area of study where I could exercise my curiosity; clinical psychology. To my own surprise, and my parents, I stuck with clinical psych and enrolled myself in accelerated courses so I could finish my degree faster and apply to grad school. I graduated after 6 years, not 4 like most students do. But you see, I don’t regret the extra time and money I spent on an education that ultimately allowed me to feel content with my certified specialty.
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I did mention that I have one regret; I wish I would have changed my major at least one last time to creative writing. Fortunately for me, having a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in psychology has gone hand in hand with my writing career and in the most unexpected of ways. In fact, changing my major so many times helped me cultivate a plethora of both useless and informative information in an eclectic range of subject topics. It’s okay to change you major more than once, or twice, and I recommend that you do it, as well. Explore your options and every interest that you have and you’ll be pleasantly surprised with what captures your heart, intrigues your mind, and where exactly you’ll end up 5 years from now.
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