Let's face it—when you apply to college, you're probably seventeen years old with no idea what you want to do when you grow up. Those two words are daunting to begin with! On the application, you're required to select your intended major because, obviously, mindless teenagers who sit in school for eight hours a day know what they want to study. (Standardized tests and white brick walls really are the gateway to the outside world, don't you know?)
Out of a list of African Studies all the way down to Theater, I settled on Pre-Speech Pathology. The idea of it sounded almost like a dream: teaching the young, the old, the impaired, the needy, the sick, and even the every day average Joe. I had the world at my fingertips! It was a combination of neurology, special education, teaching, and linguistics--essentially what my brain was made of and was ready to tackle. I could have my own private practice or work at schools or hospitals. The starting salary was close to fifty grand. Perfect.
My freshman year was full of core classes, and my sophomore year allowed me to dip my toes in the water by taking some education-based classes, which I really enjoyed. Then I was faced with a math class that, no matter what, I just couldn't pass. Tutoring, office hours, all-nighters, and buckets of tears couldn't save me. In most cases, you'd drop the class and take another, right? No big deal.
Wrong.
I couldn't move on to my major classes without it! I was faced with either failing the class or withdrawing only to take that single class the following semester. One single, stupid, insignificant class was stalling my college career and I felt like my career was about to jump off a cliff.
My dreams of being a speech pathologist/neurologist/jack of all trades seemed to narrow down in the tunnel vision that was the rest of my semester. It was beyond disheartening to have to let go of one dream and trade it out for an unexpected one. I always brushed it off when my family told me I'd change my major at least once; if you love the idea of the future, you'll stick with it, right? (Not always.)
Starting from ground zero, I picked Psychology with a focus in Neurology. I could take Spanish classes to fulfill requirements--perfect, considering Spanish is my second language. A lot of the major classes revolved around the psychology of sexuality and gender, the science of synapses, and the integration of thought into action. I thought about what I could do with it: with a neurology focus, I could understand the brain. And graduate school brought many options: divorce counseling, elementary setting, special education diagnostics, and even more.
Sure, I still think of how cool it would have been to go through college without having changed my major. It felt like an I told you so! from my family, but then I learned my parents had gone through the exact same thing I did, also because of impossible (and un-passable) math classes. Your academic weakness doesn't define you, and while it seems like it defines your future, you have the power to pick a major that suits you better.
You get to sculpt your future into what you want it to be.
