Dear my beautiful and naive freshman,
If I had to guess, you probably graduated in the top 10% of your high school class. While you saw your friends struggle with the ACT or SAT, you pulled incredibly high marks without having to try too hard, maybe leafing through a practice test the night before. All of your teachers kept warning you about how college is going to humble you, how it's a completely different ballgame, and how you'll no longer be 'the smart one' but instead incredibly average. But, you didn't think this applied to you. They must be referring to the other students in the classroom, because that's what your middle school teachers said right before high school and you still graduated with a 4.5 GPA. You're so used to being at the top, that you cannot fathom what the middle or even bottom would look like. You're cocky, and for good reason, given the academic experience you've had thus far.
My younger brother took the ACT for the first time this weekend, so my current roommates and I inquired about each others scores. Two of them uttered "33" in sync, while my genius mechanical engineering roommate nonchalantly said "34". I got a 30 on the ACT, therefore making me the "dumbest" in the room, relatively. At my high school, getting a score in the 30's was rare and a cause for celebration. Everyone knew the names of the few people that made it into the coveted 30's range. But this is Purdue, everyone here scored that high or higher. All it takes is a casual conversation to remind you that everyone here is extremely intelligent. Purdue knows this, and is not going to let you graduate without learning what it means to academically struggle.
So the question I pose to you is, what makes your blood boil? What are you passionate about in life? What career is going to make you get up every morning with a sense of purpose? Life is too short to work a job that you don't love. As much as you'd like to believe that you can change your career path farther down the road, no one really does. There are some success stories, people sick of their dead-end retail job starting their own wildly successful business, but this (statistically speaking) will not happen for you. You get these four years to train for what you want to do for the rest of your life, so for the love of God, do not give up.
I've wanted to be a veterinarian since I was little, like most Pre-Vet majors. However, because there are fewer accredited veterinary schools than accredited medical schools, admission is more competitive for veterinary school than even medical school. There are 30 accredited Schools of Veterinary Medicine in the United States while there are 141 accredited Schools of Medicine. So, will I get in my first time applying? Most likely not. My GPA is not the best and, while it may look to some that I have an abundance animal experience, compared to my peers I'm once again average. But will I ever stop pursing my dream? Heck no. I do not care if I have to complete 4 graduate student programs, get a veterinary technology degree, or clean dirty cages at 9 internships before I get admitted, I will become a veterinarian someday.
I know how hard this school is. I know you've stayed up until 4am doing homework 6 out of the 7 days of the week. I know you started crying in Wetherill when you got handed your first Organic Chemistry exam because you didn't even know how to do the first problem. Whatever you do, do not give up. If you truly want to do something else, then by all means change your major but if you're considering changing your major simply because it's too hard, stop right where you are. Take a deep breath and visualize your life in 10 years, what are you doing? Have you joined Doctors without Borders? Are you a biomedical engineer creating prosthetics for a child that just lost a limb? Are you a mechanical engineer working for a big company like Ford? Are you a CEO? Are you saving the life of someone's beloved dog that ate something it should not have? Are you a psychiatrist counseling someone through the hardest time in their life? Or, are you working an office job that you hate because you switched your major to something 'easier'?
Lift your chin up and keep going. Keep faking it until you make it, and if you don't roll over and give up, I promise you will make it one day. It may be at the end of these 4 years or it may take a little longer. Either way, I hope this article can give you encouragement when you need it most because I'm telling you right now, you are not changing your major.
Sincerely,
Your Friend