Major Switching: A Major Decision
Day one of college: you start FSU with the intent to pursue a major in computer science. Your first semester is largely made up of General Education classes and maybe one or two major-related courses. For the first semester, you spend a lot of time developing your 8-semester plan toward getting your degree.
By the end of your first year, you have declared your major as computer science, but you’re having doubts. Your major’s classes are less than enjoyable; you feel like you’ve made a horrible mistake in choosing your major, but you’re already a year into college, and no other class has piqued your interest. Because of this, you continue with your original major intentions.
Starting your sophomore year, you take more computer science classes, but you still must take a natural science course to satisfy your GEP requirements; so, you choose biology. It’s a pain because you think, “when am I ever going to use biology in my career?”, but there is no avoiding it. Much to your surprise, as the semester goes on, you find the biology class to be the best part of your day. You look forward to it and understand the concepts well! This had not happened with any of your other classes- especially not the ones required for your major.
You spend countless days and evenings pondering if you should even continue in the computer science field. Biology had never even been on your radar as a possible major area, but now it seemed much more appealing than continuing with computers. Could you even do it? What about all those computer science classes you took? Can you fit in the requirements needed for a bachelor’s in biology? Is switching majors even a good idea? Are you making the right decision?
By the time your second semester rolls around, you are fully intent on switching your major to pursue a career in the field of biology.
Situations like this, and variations thereof, are far more common than one may think. In fact, according to the NCES, around one-third of students enrolled in bachelor’s degree programs changed majors at least once.
Of course, there are many different ways to come to the decision to switch majors, and it certainly doesn’t happen solely to computer science majors; in a 2017 study published in the U.S. Department of Education’s Data Point newsletter, computer science actually had one of the lowest percentages of students switching majors compared to other college majors.
Additionally, this change could be during your first-year, sophomore year, junior year, or even your senior year. As young adults, students change constantly as they age, so it is only natural for decisions and passions and wants and needs in life to change along with them. What you want when you are 18 years old is not always what you want at 22 years old. This same principle can be applied to different situations; for instance, the friends you had in high school are not always the friends that are best for you in college.
Switching majors is not without its stresses. Students may worry about carrying a heavy course load in order to catch up on their major requirements, completely rearranging their schedules, if they need to spend extra money on summer and/or winter session courses, and if they’re even making the right decision by changing majors; amidst all of this might even be the lingering overarching sense of “will I be happy in this new path?”.
Making the decision to pursue a college degree is expensive, time-consuming, and stressful. It is a lot of weight to bear for anyone- no matter your age or stage in life. If you find yourself conflicted and/or unhappy in your major, do not immediately give up on the possibility of switching. If you are later in your college career, consider how much it will financially cost to add extra classes and extra semesters to your schedule. Talking to your advisor and reconstructing your course plan to organize what classes you would need to take and when to take them is a great way to figure out the specifics before making the final decision to switch; this will also give you a better understanding of if the switch is even possible and what to expect from the change.
Finally, while talking to those you trust, such as professors, advisors, FSU staff, family, and friends, can certainly help, it is ultimately up to you to make the decision. The most important thing to keep in mind is to think of what will be best for you.
Maybe these will help! Here’s just some fun “Which Major Should I Choose” quizzes, I found!
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