Isn’t it funny how much one’s life can change in the span of one year? Looking back at myself from one year ago, I certainly did not see myself where I am now. I pictured a successful college woman with a great GPA, involved with an organization, part of a close friend circle, in a major that she thoroughly enjoyed and was motivated to work hard towards, and having a generally better time than those four painful years of high school. College is supposed to be the time of one’s life, right?
As it turns out, this is mostly a facade put on display by social media. College friends definitely come and go, organizations are exclusive, and freshman year classes are weed-outs. In accepting admittance to Texas A&M University, I chose to be a part of the huge (and might I add, well-renowned) engineering school, and honestly, I had no idea what I was getting myself into.
Just when I thought I had my life mapped out before me, classes began to escalate in difficulty until I found myself drowning in coursework and constantly playing catch-up with the material.
The question stands: Is it normal to question one’s major every day of college life? I found myself doing this all too often. I thought I knew what I wanted to do with my life and career, but in reality, the scope of possible career paths is huge. Every time I met someone new and asked what their major was, and it wasn’t engineering, I would feel legitimate jealousy.
People would ask, “Why did you choose engineering?” and I could no longer muster up a believable answer. I only enjoyed one class I took that semester, and it wasn’t even major-related coursework.
Life is too short to hate one’s career. My second semester at Texas A&M, I finally decided to take the necessary steps towards switching majors. I was in meetings with advisors for multiple days a week, took personality and career aptitude tests (see the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and Strong Interest Inventory) through the counseling center, and even exchanged twenty-something emails with the advisor for my new major just to choose classes for my sophomore year.
In the end, though, I have chosen a major that I know I will enjoy and thrive in, and I couldn’t be more excited to begin again in the fall. One’s own happiness and fulfillment are more important than anything else in college. If one does not like the direction in which they are headed, they hold all of the power to choose their own path.
