Sometimes, change is good: Why it’s OK to change your major

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Isabel Phillips

One of the most common questions college students are asked is “What are you going to do once you graduate?” Some people respond with an in-depth description of their plans to go to graduate school or get an incredible job. Others dread this question and simply come up with an answer that seems acceptable. It is normal to not know exactly what you want to do after graduation.

Society has told us that we need to figure out what we’re going to do with our lives at a very young age. Although some people go into college knowing exactly what they want to major in and stick with it until they graduate, others end up changing their major multiple times and still aren’t sure what to do after graduation. The pressure to have your life figured out is especially high on a college campus, where everyone is working hard and striving to be the best. If you don’t have an exact plan for what to do after graduation, it might seem like you’re lagging behind or unmotivated.

But this is not the case. Keeping your options open and waiting to see what happens is just as acceptable as having a precise plan.

Throughout my college career, I have both changed my major and added a major. I began my freshman year studying biology with the intention of eventually becoming a doctor. However, after a semester on this path, I decided the medical field wasn’t for me and changed my major to political science. After a couple semesters of taking political science classes, I became interested in the journalism side of politics, so I added a journalism major.

I finally feel like I am on the right path and am studying something I am passionate about. Although I don’t know exactly what I will end up doing in the journalism field after college, I know that as long as I continue to do what makes me happy, the right career will find me eventually.

So if you’re someone who is still unsure about the future, don’t be discouraged. It is completely fine to change your major until you find something that you are interested in and passionate about. Everything will work out eventually.