In every college student’s life, there comes a point when that student asks, am I in the right major? It makes complete sense that as we gain independence and realize how much a college education has to offer, we would change our “when I grow up” resolutions made in high school to an experimental “all’s well that ends well” ideology. There are others, including myself, who know exactly what they are going to study, what they are going to major in and subsequently, what they are going to do in the big world. The “when I grow up” resolution is very much still alive and in some ways stands as a testament to how committed and passionate we are to reaching that end goal.
As a three-week-old first-year student, I do not have the experience or the wherewithal to make an argument with great conviction on whether or not changing one’s major is a brilliant or hasty idea. Instead, I turn to statistics, and more importantly, first hand accounts from fellow Rhody Rams.
The U.S. Department of Education conducted a survey analysis of about 25,000 students who were freshmen in the 2011-2012 school year in order to get a perspective of major changes within the first three years of enrollment. They found that about 20 percent of undergraduates who had an intended major had changed at least once before senior year. In the survey, they also found that one-third of students taking a bachelor’s degree program changed their major. There was a higher percentage of students changing majors in STEM programs than in the liberal arts. All of this data tells us that changing to a different major is not an anomaly. Rather, it is a popular approach to finding the right fit.
I had the pleasure of speaking with two fellow students on the URI campus about this topic. Jessica Scitcawich is a freshman and even though she is on the fence declaring a major so early into the year, she has reignited her passion for psychology and is debating whether or not to declare. She emphasised the fact that she takes great weight in the advice of her academic mentor and says taking different classes has given her a perspective of the many offered choices.
“Take time to figure out what you actually want to do for sure and go from there,” Scitcawich said.
Talking to her I got the sense that even though this is a rather overwhelming time for any freshman as long as one considers all options and takes the time to reflect and choose carefully there will be an inevitable happy ending.
Cat Eno is a sophomore and is double majoring in ocean engineering and marine biology. She said that while there were some points in her freshman year that she felt overwhelmed and overworked, by keeping an end goal in mind and pushing through she was able to maintain the double major aspect. She also mentioned, and I can personally relate, that because she declared a double major so early in the game, there was a heightened expectation that she would be an overachieving, diligent student.
Cat confessed that “the hardest part was the transition was the amount of work and I put too much on my plate. I think it is best to take a break, step back and figure out what you really want. Know your stamina and plan it with your activity.”
This wisdom can be practiced in so many different aspects of a person’s life but particularly in changing majors. Seeing all sides of the situation, talking to an advisor, weighing the pros and cons will ensure a confident and positive choice.
Even though Jessica and Cat are on two different sides of this spectrum of committed and uncertain, both approached changing majors not as a difficult decision to make full of complex elements and problems, but rather as a rite of passage to be taken by those who are not entirely sure about their chosen field.
Each one of us at some point in our college career will find ourselves questioning our intended plan of study. We will turn to friends, to family, to advisors