Is Changing Your Major the End of the World?

Picture this: you’re a junior in high school and you feel like you’ve FINALLY found yourself--you have passion for something and it genuinely hits that this, this, is what you want to do for the rest of your life. When senior year comes around, you apply for college with the major you want, get accepted, and everything seems like it’s going to be great!

Fast forward to your first semester and everything goes great (for the most part, it’s your first semester, after all, there were bound to be road bumps.) Your second semester is even better since you know how to navigate your school now.

But then at some point, something changes. Whether it be you or something in your world, something changes and, suddenly, all the things you were so sure about are filled with uncertainty:

You want to change your major.

But can you? Is it worth it? You’ve already spent so much time and money in the major you’re in; you’ve invested SO much--and wasn’t this what you wanted to do for years? You took so much pride in telling people your major and now you want to change it? You’re about to be in your third year and--

What you read is me! (With a bit of dramatics added, but I digress.)

Many reasons exist for why someone would want to change their major, in my case, it wasn’t necessarily a loss of passion, rather I realized that it isn’t for me right now. And that’s fine. At first, it didn’t seem fine, and it really did feel like my world was ending. I had dedicated so much time and effort and just myself to my major, it felt like I didn’t understand myself anymore.

When that happens, you have so many resources to turn to for help in trying to understand everything--CAPS, your professors, your advisors, etc. I, however, did not use any of those resources, which I really regret, but what’s done is done (don’t make the same mistake as me! Go talk to someone, it will help. A bit off-topic, but I recently utilized CAPS and it was a lot less scary than I thought it to be, so go get that help!)

All it took was one phone call.

One phone call. One appointment. One conversation. And then my major was changed.

I’m in my third year of college, but honestly, I feel like I’m in my first year since I’m still pretty new to my major. And that’s okay. Sure, I won’t be graduating ‘on time’ and I will end up spending a bit more than I originally thought (that’s the part that really sucks, BUT, I’m making it work), and sure, sometimes it really doesn’t feel okay, but it is.

Is changing your major the end of the world?

No...but it might feel like it is.

This is just a really quick overview of my feelings throughout the matter. Everyone is different with different circumstances and reasons.

The main thing I want anyone reading this to get out of it is that it's okay to feel unsure and have doubts. Logistically it will suck, and it is a ‘thing’ to end up not changing your major just because of how far into it you already are, despite how much you want to, but here’s what I have to say to that: time will pass regardless, it’s just a concept, it’s the same no matter what, SO knowing that make the change you want.

It’s going to be okay! Good luck.

By: Jainely Vallejo, Orientation Leader