When attending college, it can be easy or difficult to choose a major that suits you. Some people know straight off the bat what major they want to pursue and the future career they desire, while others come in undeclared and have to test out classes from different disciplines to figure out what they are interested in. Despite this variance in decision making along with the vast diversity of majors offered at colleges today, students decide what major they want to pursue in different ways. Here is my story of how I chose my major and minor.
When I first got accepted into the college I am attending, I was accepted as a Business Management Economics major. However, I knew this was not a major I would be willing to pursue for all four years of my undergraduate career, so I switched to Human Biology. However, after looking at the curriculum for this major (which is an intense, heavily loaded course of science courses), I scared myself out of pursuing this major, and settled on Anthropology, having no idea what this discipline entailed. However, after taking my lower divisions my freshman year, I fell in love with the major, and am now an Anthropology major. I am currently taking and loving my upper division Anthropology classes, which further supports my good decision in choosing this specific major to pursue.
I have met many people here on campus of a variety of majors such as: Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Politics, Legal Studies, Business Management Economics, Human Biology, Biology, Anthropology, Physics, Psychology, Sociology, and so on. Hearing the stories these people tell about how they chose their major has made me reflect on the decisions I made regarding my own major as well. I do not regret choosing Anthropology, yet I regret doubting myself about my biology minor. Anthropology is a social science so I still get to take classes focusing on biological and medicalized topics as well as cultural and archaeological ones which I love, yet I regret the decisions I have made about not pursuing my interests in biology earlier on. My entire freshman year I was too scared to take Chemistry and Biology, not only because both of my roommates were Human Biology majors and struggled in these two subjects, but also because I was afraid I was going to struggle and fail and completely lose hope in myself. However, this quarter I pushed myself to acknowledge the fact I desperately wanted to pursue a biology minor, and to actually pursue it.
This quarter I am taking my first of three quarters of chemistry, and I absolutely love it. My Chemistry professor is fantastic, and I always look forward to his lectures because of my newfound love for the subject. Chemistry is difficult for myself and I study incredibly hard to keep up with the class, but my love for the subject and desire to do well encourages me to attend lecture, do all the homework assignments, go to office hours, etc. Finally being able to begin pursuing my biology minor is a dream come true, and I am glad I moved past my fear to take a risk and enroll in a class I have been passionate about for so long.
The overall take home message of this post is that if there is a college major or minor you are passionate about, do not scare yourself away from pursuing it. I switched a lot between majors and finally settled on one I love, but I repressed my desire to be a biology minor for over a year which I regret, since I am so happy with the minor classes I am taking right now. If you are reluctant to pursue a major or minor because you believe you are not smart enough to pursue it, because it is too intensive, because you do not know what a degree in that will give you, etc. yet are super passionate about it, go pursue that subject. Personally, I was too scared to take on the biology minor because I heard so many stories of people struggling in the required classes and I thought I was not smart enough to succeed in the minor, but I forced myself to move past my fears and take the classes needed. If you put enough effort into a class, dedicate your time to the class and understanding the material, and seek extra help if needed, you can succeed. I feel like a decent amount of people major in something for no reason, because it sounds impressive, or because there's nothing else they really want to pursue, and because of these reasons, they can easily become unhappy with their major but never seek to find anything in another discipline that they may actually love. The fact that there are individuals who are unhappy with their major is terrible, and I believe that everyone should find a major that suits their interests, because college is about discovering who you are, what you love, and what you want to pursue in the future.
When I first got accepted into the college I am attending, I was accepted as a Business Management Economics major. However, I knew this was not a major I would be willing to pursue for all four years of my undergraduate career, so I switched to Human Biology. However, after looking at the curriculum for this major (which is an intense, heavily loaded course of science courses), I scared myself out of pursuing this major, and settled on Anthropology, having no idea what this discipline entailed. However, after taking my lower divisions my freshman year, I fell in love with the major, and am now an Anthropology major. I am currently taking and loving my upper division Anthropology classes, which further supports my good decision in choosing this specific major to pursue.
I have met many people here on campus of a variety of majors such as: Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Politics, Legal Studies, Business Management Economics, Human Biology, Biology, Anthropology, Physics, Psychology, Sociology, and so on. Hearing the stories these people tell about how they chose their major has made me reflect on the decisions I made regarding my own major as well. I do not regret choosing Anthropology, yet I regret doubting myself about my biology minor. Anthropology is a social science so I still get to take classes focusing on biological and medicalized topics as well as cultural and archaeological ones which I love, yet I regret the decisions I have made about not pursuing my interests in biology earlier on. My entire freshman year I was too scared to take Chemistry and Biology, not only because both of my roommates were Human Biology majors and struggled in these two subjects, but also because I was afraid I was going to struggle and fail and completely lose hope in myself. However, this quarter I pushed myself to acknowledge the fact I desperately wanted to pursue a biology minor, and to actually pursue it.
This quarter I am taking my first of three quarters of chemistry, and I absolutely love it. My Chemistry professor is fantastic, and I always look forward to his lectures because of my newfound love for the subject. Chemistry is difficult for myself and I study incredibly hard to keep up with the class, but my love for the subject and desire to do well encourages me to attend lecture, do all the homework assignments, go to office hours, etc. Finally being able to begin pursuing my biology minor is a dream come true, and I am glad I moved past my fear to take a risk and enroll in a class I have been passionate about for so long.
The overall take home message of this post is that if there is a college major or minor you are passionate about, do not scare yourself away from pursuing it. I switched a lot between majors and finally settled on one I love, but I repressed my desire to be a biology minor for over a year which I regret, since I am so happy with the minor classes I am taking right now. If you are reluctant to pursue a major or minor because you believe you are not smart enough to pursue it, because it is too intensive, because you do not know what a degree in that will give you, etc. yet are super passionate about it, go pursue that subject. Personally, I was too scared to take on the biology minor because I heard so many stories of people struggling in the required classes and I thought I was not smart enough to succeed in the minor, but I forced myself to move past my fears and take the classes needed. If you put enough effort into a class, dedicate your time to the class and understanding the material, and seek extra help if needed, you can succeed. I feel like a decent amount of people major in something for no reason, because it sounds impressive, or because there's nothing else they really want to pursue, and because of these reasons, they can easily become unhappy with their major but never seek to find anything in another discipline that they may actually love. The fact that there are individuals who are unhappy with their major is terrible, and I believe that everyone should find a major that suits their interests, because college is about discovering who you are, what you love, and what you want to pursue in the future.