When you’re in high school, people expect you to know what you want to do for the rest of your life at the age of 18, or even earlier. Choosing your major can be extremely stressful. Maybe your parents really wanted you to be a doctor and you didn’t want to disappoint them so you become a chemistry major when your truest passion is art. Maybe you picked the subject you were best at in high school like math. Maybe you chose to be a engineering major because you hate math but love money.
But sometimes when you’re in college, things change. You change.
You grow into your own person and realize that maybe this isn’t what you really wanted. Here are three signs to know when you should change your major.
1. Your parents chose your major for you.
We all love our parents and want to make them proud, but remember: you are getting an education for yourself, not them. You have to stand up to your parents and make them realize you are an adult with your own life and they cannot control what you do. Your parents should love and support you in whatever you do and whatever decision you make.
2. You’re always annoyed about the work you have to do.
If math makes you want to pull your hair out, why on earth are you an engineering major? Don’t torture yourself for a job you know you don’t want. You should be excited to learn things for your major, not dreading deadlines and lectures because you’re painfully uninterested.
3. You chose your major because you know it will pay well.
Yes, being financially stable is important but so is your happiness. Ten years from now you could be sitting in your office desk typing up reports for you boss, hating life because you’d rather be a school teacher enriching people’s lives. But hey, at least you have a lot of money, right? Wrong. This cliché is completely true: Money doesn’t buy happiness.
If reading this provoked feelings of regret towards your current major, stand up, go to your advising office and get the major you deserve to be learning. Don’t settle for anything less than what you truly want to be learning. It may be scary to change your major but it doesn’t hurt to explore your options if you feel that you need to make a change.
