Starting at a young age, some people figure out what they want to do for a career immediately. Others figure it out as they get older, and even still some people are unsure when they get accepted into college. I thought I knew what I wanted to do with my life. I was one of those people that in addition to having a Plan B, C, D, I also went a couple of letters beyond just as a “precaution.” Yet college seemed to take all of that preparation and throw it right out the window. As a freshman in college, my initial major involved me studying the sciences, because that’s all I’ve ever had a passion for. I literally couldn’t see myself doing anything else but working in the field of medicine. As part of my “life plan, ” I even went to make the effort of taking college level science courses during my junior and senior of high school, which prepared me well for what was yet to come. Believe me, I knew what I was about to get myself into when I registered as a biology major.
At first, the year went as to be expected: me multitasking between biology and chemistry lectures with the labs for both on the side. Those four courses were the primary focus; I didn’t want to take time to do my homework for any of the other classes that I had to take to fulfill my core requirements. I honestly felt like I was just taking those for fun at that point. But the year when on, and that’s when I started to accept some new norms. I found myself adapting to drinking three to four coffees a day so that I could finish my studies by at least 2:00am (you threw a small party for yourself if you finished by midnight). On the week of exams, staying up till three in the morning on some nights still didn’t even come as a shock. But that was just the “usual” as a science major. I, like so many before me, learned to just accept it.
Along the way in the midst of my studies in biology, I started to find myself taking a particular liking to the unit involving the brain. I didn’t know it then, but later I would realize that it became the idea that started me on a new path of discovery. Therefore, in the spring semester of freshman yea, I decided to take an introduction course on psychology. I knew I had wanted to minor in psychology anyway, so figured taking an overview class of the program would determine if I had an actual interest in the field of study. And boy could I have ever been more right because I absolutely loved the course. I actually looked forward going to class for a change. It was a different kind of hard in comparison to my science courses.
Once the year came to a close and everyone was out for the summer, I really started to reflect on the past year and how I felt about some of the classes I had taken. I was torn. Part of me felt like I should stick out biology because I wanted to prove to myself and others that I could stick it out and that I wasn’t leaving because it was “too hard.” Yet the other part me found myself becoming more and more drawn to the study of psychology. I was interested in the brain, and learning what makes us the human people that we are. I had been on the path to conquer the sciences for so long that to switch majors now it felt more like I would be letting people down. After all, I had only been pushing the idea of medical to my friends and family for the past 6 years of my life. So what could possibly go wrong?
After careful consideration, I decided to switch to being a psychology major. I had to be able to give myself my best chance if I wanted to succeed. It would be wrong for me to continue the next years of my college career in an area study that I was potentially losing interest in. I loved the sciences, and still do. I respect the program very much to this day because it’s not for the faint of heart. With colleges offering hundreds of majors to choose from, calling the process of picking one “overwhelming” is an understatement – especially when you’re fresh out of high school. Unsurprisingly, 80 percent of college students nationwide change their major at least once before graduating – and that’s O.K. Now a sophomore, I am a psychology major and currently loving it. It’s been a rewarding change thus far, and I look forward to what’s ahead. In the end, I learned that it’s ok to sometimes not know what you want to do in life, because part of me is still exploring my options too as a psychology major. You can’t plan everything out all the time because just when you think you have it all figured out, you realize that you actually didn’t. The continuous curveballs that life throws at you is actually what makes life just a little bit more meaningful. So I encourage you that should find yourself in position where you find that you may have a developing passion for something new, I say just go for it. You won’t know if you truly like it until you try.
