In the fall, I will be starting classes at a new school, and will start my major in English, with a concentration in Creative Writing. Anyone who knows me today knows that it's an obvious match, but it took me up until these past few months to realize it.
It has been my goal since my senior year of high school to eventually become a marketing major in a business school because one of the areas I was interested in going into was book marketing, and I thought having a marketing degree would give me the best chance. Unfortunately I did not take the required calculus class in high school, since, as I was placed in lower level math due to poor grades in middle school, it was impossible for me to take even precalc when I was still in high school. I tried taking a precalc class in community college after my freshman year. Someone my mom knew warned her about the fast pace of summer community college classes, and how her son failed one because of that. But I was determined to get it done so I could take the calculus class in the fall and have it over with. Unfortunately, the class' pace was too fast for me, and if it were an area I was strong in, such as the humanities, I would handled it easily, but since it was a subject I already struggled with, not to mention I was also taking an Introduction to Chemistry class at the same time, I could not manage a C, even with hours of tutoring each day. I decided I didn't want to do this again come fall, and knew that I also didn't want to take the multiple accounting intro classes that being a business major required.
I did some research and decided to switch to Communications, since I would still be learning marketing, along with advertising, public relations, and media analysis, which really interested me. Plus Communications majors didn't have a daunting list of math requirements to enter it, which relieved me immensely.
Since I didn't apply to the school that I will be attending until very late in the game, the deadline to apply for the Advertising/Public Relations (their version of Communications) had passed. However it seemed like I was eligible to enroll as most of the other majors. Including English.
Earlier this spring, I had attended an English department coffee social for perspective students, even though I was planning to transfer out. I just really wanted to talk about books with people, and BookCon wasn't for another month and a half. I ended up having really interesting conversations with professors, having one of my poems read by one, discussing which genres are popular nowadays, and expressing my opinions on the classics. I was told that it's good that I was planning on majoring in English, because I was already writing in my spare time, which means I have a genuine passion for it. I also learned that a lot of someone's students, despite being English majors, don't like reading and don't read for fun. That to me was appalling. How do you major in English and not like to read? I love it and wasn't even intending to be a major yet. One of the professors, who was my New Student Seminar professor my freshman year told me I really impressed his colleagues, which meant a lot to me.
In the end, I'm grateful the Communication major was closed, because now I get to explore what I love.
