As going back to school approaches, a wave of feelings approaches. For college students, those feelings usually include mixtures of relief, stress, excitement, and anxiety. We get to go back to independence and friends and partying, but we know that we will be very stressed very soon with school.

However, some students may be feeling confusion. Feelings of not knowing what our future really holds for us, not knowing if we even like what we are studying, and feeling like we are wasting our time arise multiple times in college.

These are the feelings that stray students into bad habits and wrong directions. When you feel like you don’t enjoy your classes, you pay less attention to them, start skipping them, and lose balance between school and social life. This, in itself causes students to be wasting their time and money while ruining their GPA. But, I’m here to remind you that feeling these things is okay, and it will get better.

I am one of the few students who has never switched their major. I started college as a Criminal Justice major, and my second semester I added a second major of pre-business (which is now Accounting) and a Spanish minor. I’ve kept both majors and my minor and love what I’m studying, which is definitely unusual for most college students.

I have, however, watched friends struggle from the outside with college and their majors, so I’m able to understand that I am the minority.

Students struggle all the time with these issues, and it’s important to understand that college is all about you and what you want to do, not what your parents/society/money convince you to do. If you’re studying something that you don’t enjoy, you aren’t going to enjoy your future either.

My freshman year roommate (bless her soul for being trapped in the smallest dorm room ever with me for a whole year) started her college career as an engineering major, then switched to a neuroscience major with a minor in Spanish, with hopes of doing research in a hospital setting. But by the end of the first semester, she realized that she hated being in the college of science and decided to switch her major, again.

I was adding my major in pre-business at the same time, and despite recognizing that her future salary could be diminished by a lot, she decided that maybe a business major would be good for her too. She also decided to switch her minor to photography because it’s something she is super passionate about, but figured business would be a more solid background for her future than to just do photo.

We are both now happily in the Eller College of Management studying business and she is super successful.

Not everyone is that successful with a major switch, though. Some students realize very late in the game, like my current roommate and some of our good friends. That becomes more of a struggle, and really tests you as a person and what you want with your existence.

My current roommate was a speech major, in the college of science for the past two years, (we are both juniors in college now) and was planning to work with children who have had trauma or speech impediments. She does so well, especially with kids that have special needs, so she added a special education minor this past year and loves it.

However, she started struggling in her speech classes and was feeling like she did not want to major in something she wasn’t good at. She decided to switch to Occupational Therapy, but struggled internally with switching from the college of science to the college of education, thinking it would make her look dumb, because her education classes are so much easier.

What she needed to remember is that she actually made the perfect decision. It isn’t that the college of education is easier, it is that it’s easier for her. People might be switching out of education because they don’t do well in those classes, and science is easier for them.

That is one lesson that all college students learn; college is not easy, no matter what your major is. If you want to go and be an English major, don’t let your nursing-major friend tell you that your major is too easy, because it’s not. In fact, English would probably be very hard for them if it’s not what they enjoy.

I’ve had multiple friends switch majors three times and end up dropping out of college because they just can’t figure it out right now, which is also totally fine. College isn’t for everyone, and is especially a huge waste of money if you don’t know what you want.

I’ve also had friends choose a ridiculous major because it will make them rich one day or it provides good job security for their future, and practically die of stress and hate what their doing.

All in all, switching majors is a good thing. And, college is a really really bad thing if you aren’t doing what you love.

My advice would be to ignore the voice in your head that tells you how much money you could make doing something you don’t like. If you’re in one of those sticky situations where your parents will only pay for college if you major in pre-med, suffer the loans and study what you want instead.

Switch your major, and then switch it again. Besides, going to undergrad for five years is the new norm now. And don’t listen to what society says you should do, if college isn’t for you DON’T GO. According to the US Census Bureau, less than 40% of Americans have a degree, anyways.