Up until the end of last semester, I was a suffering HNFE major. I entered college with high hopes of becoming a doctor or a physicians assistant. It's a common belief that Human Nutrition Foods and Exercise may sound super easy and is “just food and exercise classes,” and “how hard can it be?” Yeah, that’s not accurate. From General Chemistry to Anatomy, I hated life. I can’t even begin to tell you how awful last semester was for me and how constantly stressed out and unhappy I was. I thought once I got the tough “weed out” classes out of the way it would be smooth sailing on out. Then, I realized grad school would be those classes again, but harder. And then, I would have to use that knowledge to pass qualifying exams and use it in real life everyday.
Pretty much everyday since getting my first C ever freshman year (I’m talking ever.) I kept thinking how I needed to change my major because I hated it so much. At the beginning, I think it was because it didn’t come super easy to me and didn’t feel like I was succeeding. I wanted to be the best at something and this major wasn’t it. Don’t get me wrong, I loved the exercise and health classes but most of the required classes really made me work for it.
After shadowing in a hospital I really started to have doubts. I realized I’m too emotional to deal with the sadness involved in the health world and know I would not be able to handle it. However, I did not want to give up and wanted to prove to myself I could do it. After putting myself through six hour nights at the Empo basically every night of sophomore year, it finally hit me: this isn’t for me. I didn’t even know specifically what I wanted to do. I wasn’t one of those people who was like “I want to go to _____ med school and work _____ and be a ____ doctor”. Everyone else was so passionate and my reasoning once I got to Virginia Tech was that I liked chemistry in high school and did really well in biology so I thought I would be good at health.
L-O freakin’- L.
I started to look at other majors and had no idea what I wanted to do. I can be very indecisive and really did not know what I want to do after college. I remember I threw out the idea of switching to Communication and doing PR to some friends in my major the beginning of last year. Everyone laughed at me and was like “Wow you’re really giving up huh?” and “Have fun with your Mrs. Degree.”
That really hurt at the time because I thought I could be really good at PR and would be something I would actually enjoy. Let people think whatever they want, I’m going to do what is going to make me happy. I revisited the idea last semester and I was like you know what? I’m going to do this. It really is now or never. It’s not like I didn’t try. I worked so hard the past two years and sometimes you just gotta know when it’s time to give something up. I wasn’t happy and did not want to suffer two more years undergrad, four or more years in grad school and doing it everyday for the rest of my life. I totally admire the people who have stuck with it and excel in this field, but health really is not for me.
I am now officially a Communication Major. This year has been so different and even though it’s so early in the semester I love my classes. It’s the first semester I haven’t dreaded going to class and am actually excited about them. It’s definitely a 180 going from all science classes to classes that deal with using Photoshop and writing papers. I took a summer class that was all papers and I was like oh my gosh I haven’t written a paper since AP English 12 in high school. Despite that, I am so much happier so far in my new major. Changing midway through college is pretty difficult because now I’m not sure if I can get all the new required classes in on time. Older people would always say how everyone changes their major in college and I never thought I would do it but I’m so glad I finally did. And if I have to stay another semester, what’s wrong with another football season and getting to stay longer in your favorite place ever? (Sorry, Mom!)
If you’re in a major you love, college is so much different and you’re very lucky to know exactly what you want to do. If you were like me and really was unhappy and unsure, look around at other possibilities because honestly I do not regret changing my major at all. If you’re spending thousands of dollars to end up something that you don’t love, it really isn’t worth it. Do more of what makes you happy.
