Changing majors isn’t a waste of time or money

The USD fall catalog for majors and programs is 72 pages long.

So how do students choose a program? It can become very overwhelming for students with the important question: “What do I want to be when I leave USD?”

Changing majors is perfectly OK. If students think it’s a waste of time or money, nothing could be further from the truth.

I would know: I changed my major.

Four years ago, all I wanted to be was a teacher. I went to Iowa Western Community College and eventually received an associates of the arts in education.

I took a year off and evaluated my plan, which had seemed so concrete. I toured universities and researched their education programs. I seemed to have everything planned out perfectly.

When I toured USD, the guide brought me to the Al Neuharth Media Center and I fell in love. That night I went to my parents and told them I don’t want to be a teacher anymore, I want to be a photojournalist. I researched the program and registered for classes. It happened that fast.

The awesome and scary thing about college is the endless possibilities it provides. Changing a major doesn’t mean students can’t be teacher or doctor. It just means they found a better fit for them.

The money spent for one major isn’t a waste as long as students learn something. Countless times I’ve run into things I learned in the education program that helped me in my present program.

At the end of the day, the only voice students need to listen to is their own. Follow their instincts. If a student feels they found a better option, they should go for it.

Do the research and follow the dream. It’s OK to be scared about uncertainty. I know I was. For almost my entire high school career I thought I was going to be a teacher, and now I’m in a program I didn’t know anything about.

As long as students do their research and talk to people who care, nothing is concrete.

T.S Elliot once said, “Every experience is a paradox in that it means to be absolute, and yet is relative; in that it somehow always goes beyond itself and yet never escapes itself.”

People don’t have to have everything aspect in life planned out. The best things in life are the ones that catch us by surprise.