Since changing majors, I have suddenly found myself in an odd situation. For three years when I would tell people I was an education major, no one would object to it or question it.

Telling people would gain exclamations of "that's so neat" or "I had this awesome teacher..." or "you totally look like a teacher!" The only negative thing most people had to say centered around how little money I would make teaching high school.

Now that I've switched to a history major, I've found that a lot of that supportiveness has evaporated and been replaced by a large amount of negativity.

Yes, I realized fairly late that teaching grade school wasn't for me and that changing majors after three years is unusual. Yes, I realize there is a teacher shortage and it would mean an almost guaranteed job straight out of college if I stuck with it. Yes, I know that teaching is an amazing and rewarding profession with the chance to make a real difference in students lives. But it's also a calling, and it just took me a little while to realize it wasn't mine.

So now I'm a history major, and that's okay.

It's great, in fact, because now I know for certain that I'm doing what I love. I also feel a certain kinship with the philosophy, English, theology, music, political science, and art majors out there. I've joined the legion of "unemployable" majors and come to realize what they already knew: that while your major will always be a part of you, it does not define you or measure your worth.

After a summer of hearing statements like "you'll never make money,""you'll never get a job in your field," and "you'll never be able to pay back your loans" it was liberating to realize that I am worth more than my degree. Having a history degree rather than an education degree doesn't make me a failure or inferior, it just means life took me down a different path.

No degree can measure intelligence, adaptability, kindness, creativity, or work ethic and no degree can predict a stable and successful future. And that's why, even though the future terrifies me, I know I'll be okay with my history degree.

I'll graduate and go out into the world to look for a career, and because I'm doing what I love, I'm safe in the knowledge that I'm not wasting my life or my potential.