by Michael Willson
Choosing your major can make you want to pull the hair out of your head. It will determine what classes you take, who your adviser is, and most importantly, what type of job you have after you graduate. While some students come with a passion for a specific course of study and know exactly what they want to do in life, for others it is a complete mystery. Some come in absolutely certain what their major will be, only to change their minds a year later.
Changing your major is one of the most stressful and frustrating ordeals that you will ever have to go through. It means starting all over again. You have to get a new adviser, make a new plan, and in some cases, make a brand-new schedule. But this should not discourage you from making a change.
At the beginning of the semester, I made the difficult decision to change my major. I went from being a history and social science and secondary education major to a communication and political science major overnight. Over the last summer, I found myself having second thoughts about being a history teacher. I decided that what I really wanted to be was a columnist. On the first day of the semester, I discussed it with my adviser. He told me that I had to change my major as soon as possible. This meant I had to change half of my schedule and find two new advisers at the last minute. It was incredibly overwhelming. Would my life have been easier if I had not changed my major? Absolutely! But it was the right thing to do for what I want to do with my life.
Many students avoid changing their majors because they are under the impression that dropping their original plan would make them quitters. Let me make something perfectly clear: dropping your original major does not make you a quitter. Giving up on your dreams makes you a quitter. If what you are majoring in is not what you want to do with your life, then you need to change it. It will be in your best interest to do it as soon as possible. Here at Virginia Wesleyan, you must declare a major by the end of your sophomore year. If you decide to change majors afterwards, you might not be able to graduate on time, and that can get expensive. The cost of tuition goes up for each additional semester you attend. It is not as if our school is cheap to begin with.
So if you are a freshman or sophomore who is having second thoughts about your major, then you might want to talk to your adviser about switching. I did, and I feel that it was one of the best decisions I have made in my college career. If you are happy with your major, however, then by all means keep it. Choose a major that will hold your interest once college is over. It is a major decision.
