First it was Political Science then it was International Relations now it’s International Business. Since starting my Freshman year at Canisius, I have already switched my major three times. I remember in high school when I was so set on being a Political Scientist and planned to head in the direction of Diplomacy in the world. One of my teachers told me to look into it because I was a “people person” and I gave a “ friendly yet stern” performance when I gave public speeches. I didn’t really understand what he meant at the time, but I thought why not? I had always been interested in helping people and I knew if I entered any sort of government position, I could definitely do that. So, I put all my focus on government politics. My dreams of Psychology long gone as I looked further into what I could do in Political Science. International Affairs. I was always interested in politics abroad and you go to college to do things you’re interested in, right? Forget money, the pay that would be coming for the major was well deserved for someone who planned to go to school as long as I did. I was never worried about how much my job paid. I was only ever worried about if I was going to love the job I went into. So, I went in to my first couple weeks at Canisius as a Political Science major.

I had always been interested in other countries. The people, the cultures, the food. It always excited me to try something cultured. Maybe it was parents doing, but I loved trying new things when it came to learning something about a different country or culture I wasn’t already familiar with. So, in the first week of school, I changed my major to International Relations. My Advisor had told me that I had applied under major of Political Science and minor of International Relations and I had quickly decided to just keep International Relations. I made the conscience decision to focus myself primarily on International Relations. This is what I wanted to do. I hadn’t know that this could be a stand alone major on its own, so I was perfectly fine with the switch. Along with culture came the language though. I had learned snippets of words and phrases from different languages but didn’t everyone? I was just interested in finally mastering a language fully. I had family that spoke fluent German, Spanish, and Italian, but all I could say was, “Hi, my name is Jazmine. How are you?” in all three. I knew a little Chinese because of my family's interest in old Chinese fighting films and I knew some Japanese from when I use to take Karate. I tried to learn Korean for the sake of it and to become acquainted with the major East Asian countries and was successful to a degree. I attempted Russian, but that was a lost cause. So, when I heard that I could take a language here at college, I was ready to hop on board! I tried to sign up for Chinese, but once I switched my major, my Advisor told me I couldn’t. Something about the major only offering three different languages for me to have the requirement by graduation for the major. I was pissed. The only language I had interest in and I couldn’t take. I had already had a plan for it too. I was going to learn and master the language as best I could so when I went into job interviews, I would have an upper hand if I said I knew Chinese to the best of ability. I would at least have an upper hand over some of the applicants if I learned it. But nope. I was stuck with either German, French, or Spanish. I had always thought that Spanish and French were pretty basic so, I signed up for German that day.

Do I wish I got to take Chinese?

Yes!

Do I regret taking German?

Hell no! My German teacher may seem insane, but I’ve learned more in my two months of German than I learned in my three years of French. Nothing to the teacher, but I just wasn’t interested in the language. It never drew me in like German does. Plus, I have a German cousin. Sure, she knows English, but it would be cool to go live with her or talk to her in her native language when she visits. The major even requires me to study abroad and I’ve already planned to go live in Germany with her for half a year. I had finally found something I was interested in, or so I thought.

One month in and I hate it. I really do. It’s not that I hate my professor or I hate the material, I’m just not interested in it anymore. I still love the idea of travelling and helping people, but the politics of the whole situation didn’t interesting me anymore. I had realized I was more interested in just learning German and the plans I had for studying abroad. I was no longer interested in learning about how this one event in international history affected this other event that happened. I didn’t really care. I mean, I will never say it wasn’t helpful to learn. It even helped in one of the other classess I’m taking at the moment. But just being in that class for almost two whole months made me realize that this life wasn’t for me. Everyone else in the class was always so involved and interested and passionate and I was just moderately entertained by everything. I did my homework and took notes, but I didn’t like it. But what was something I did like? Business.

I had done things involving Business since my Freshman year of high school. I had generally liked the idea of going to Future Business Leaders of America meetings and I had liked the idea of being apart of the business world. It was where I got most of my confidence from when it came to public speaking and how to be friendly yet firm in certain situations. I had remembered that I wasn’t very good at public speaking when I didn’t really know about the topic, but when I knew about it, boy did I do well. I never won any compositions, but I was never last in them. I would get good comments back on all of my tests and I loved it. I originally took business classes in high school because I couldn’t draw and I was bad in tech classes. “Those who can’t draw, take technology classes. Those who aren’t tech creative, take business classes.” I use to say that all the time because it was true. I couldn’t draw, and I sucked at doing everything in technology classes. So, I signed up for a business class and I loved it. It was something I was good at and I always got good grades in, so why not take more right? The only reason I never thought about it when I was applying for college was because I automatically assumed I had to go into accounting. That’s one thing the school is known for and one thing my business teacher emphasized in high school. I hated the idea of working with other people’s numbers for the rest of my life. I had known to balance a checkbook since freshman year and if I had to do that for other people for the rest of my life, I would hate it. If I wanted to teach others how to work with their numbers, I would’ve signed up to be a Math and Education major, and I wasn’t going anywhere near that anytime soon. Plus I wanted to travel. Where was I going to travel with a accounting degree? No where I wanted to go! So, I let anything business slip away. I hadn’t even known that International Business was a thing until I talked to my advisor about switching to nursing. He had asked me if I had any other idea of a major I wanted to look into. If I did nursing, I would’ve had to transfer and I wasn’t really looking to move anytime soon. I like it here. I had friends and I loved the town. I didn’t want to go anywhere else but Canisius. Canisius was my number one and my dream school, I didn’t plan on leaving until graduation. So, I looked further into International Business. I liked the idea. I could be a management analyst or go into international business management. Both sounded great and something I was good at anyway. I had taken business management and it was one of competitions at FBLA competitions. I had finally found it. Something that interested me, I understood, and I was good at it!

So this is where I am now. An International Business major with a minor in Philosophy. I never really thought I would end up here actually. If you would’ve asked me which major I would’ve been in in June, I would’ve told you with a giant smile that I was without a doubt a Political Science major.

My mother always told me that the average College Freshman will switch their major about five times. Well, I’m on three. But I hope this one doesn’t change. ATTENTION CLASS OF 2017: When applying for colleges, take into account what makes you happy. I know everyone will tell you about the hell that is College Loans and how you should find a job that helps you pay those off as soon as possible. But please, don’t listen to them. I came into college with the wrong idea about what I wanted because someone told me I was good at something. Political Science never made me happy. In fact, it angered me in so many ways. I wasn’t interested in it at all. I just happened to have some traits of someone who would be good in this field. It didn’t take me long to figure out my strengths could be used in a field that I liked as well. I thought at first that I could only use those traits I had for Political Science only, but I soon learned that I could use them in other fields. Better ones, ones I liked, loved even. It took me about five years to realize how much those business classes affected me and how much I loved taking them. (Thank you Mrs.Hourihan!) But really, when you are filling out applications, if you haven’t already started, please look into majors that you enjoy. Don’t just do it because it will pay well or someone told you you would be good at it. In reality, anyone would rather be happy at a lower paying job, than miserable at the highest paying job. At least that’s how I look at it. GOOD LUCK SENIORS!