How do I know if I should change my major?
By Jamie Wu ‘18
College is a crazy 4 years full of new experiences, new friends and new memories. However, it’s definitely not a smooth ride. It’s a roller coaster filled with ups and downs, nights of laughter and nights of crying. Among the important decisions that can make or break your college experience is deciding what you should major in. And although another one of our bloggers Jonathon talks about it in his video, another big decision is deciding whether you should change your major. I’m going to pose 4 questions for you and hopefully that’ll guide you along the way.
1. Do you like your classes?
Like honestly. Do you like the homework, group projects and the material that you’re actually learning? Or do you hate your statistic and theater classes? Now, I know that in most majors, there are core requirements such as physics, ochem and calculus you just have to get through. But once you’re done with those, take a look at if you enjoy learning in your upper division classes. If not, find classes you do enjoy and see if they fall into another major.
2. If you know what career you want, is this the only major you can have to achieve that career?
A lot of people end up working in fields that are completely different than their majors. I know people who have ended up in patent law and studied chemistry or people who went into consulting and studied biomedical engineering. So know that your major might not directly correlate to your career. So if you know you want to be a consultant, ask yourself what majors can lead you into that career? It doesn’t have to be business. It can be international relations, Spanish, engineering or even theater. And yes it’ll be easier with an engineering or business degree but landing that career has more to do with how you interview than with what you study. So write out all the majors you think will give you the necessary skills to be a consultant and pick the one you like!
3. Is your major helping you learn outside of the classroom?
Is being a ____ major giving you opportunities to do case competitions, get involved in research, study abroad or find an internship? Is it helping you make important connections with your classmates and professors? Often times after college, people don’t remember exactly what they learned in the actual classroom but they remember the relationships they’ve built. And it’s really this network of relationships that helps them land different jobs and create new opportunities. And as cliche as it sounds, it’s really about who you know and not what you know. So it’s important you make these important connections.
For example, being a business major gives you access to Marshall’s online databases that companies pay thousands of dollars to use each year. But it’s free for Marshall students. You also get to interact with some of the brightest and most successful entrepreneurs in a classroom setting. They teach at USC and you can meet with them for free to talk about your start-up ideas. Similarly, being a Communications major gives you free access to the Adobe Creative Suite. And this is a big deal if you know you want to go into digital media! So. Is your major helping you grow beyond the classroom?
4. Do you like the type of people in your classes?
Similar minded people go into similar fields. And if you go into a major with certain people, it can give you a glimpse into the type of people you’ll be working with in the future. So take a look around you and assess whether you like the people in your classes. I’m not saying judge them and say they’re bad/annoying people but discern if you vibe with them or not. For example, theater classes tend to have people who are more expressive and can play different characters. Are you an expressive person? Would you like interacting in that kind of environment?
I hope these questions will get you thinking about if you should change your major or not! It’s a scary decision but know you’re not alone. 50%-70% of college students change their major at least once and most will change it 3 times before they graduate. Many people aren’t sure if they’re in the right major and it’s okay not to be. Focus on enjoying your classes and making lasting relationships with the people in them. And somewhere along the way, you’ll figure out what career you want. College is a process, not a destination. So don’t put so much pressure on something that might not even have anything to do with your career!
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