As a bright-eyed, naïve senior in high school, there was nothing I wanted more than to be a lawyer. Being an obnoxious teenager, I convinced myself I was great at arguing and wearing down my opponents to the point of victory (read: my parents were fed up with me so they stopped bothering). If I could reason my way through extending my curfew and going out on weeknights with friends, I could close a high-profile extortion case, right?
I entered college as a political science major dead set on attaining stellar grades that would get me into a top-notch law school–what, like it’s hard? When you’re a political science major, the automatic assumption is that you want to go to law school to become a lawyer or politician. At the start of my college career, those assumptions were correct. I did want to go to law school and I did want to do something politically aligned with my life (or so I thought).
After my freshman year, something about my career path wasn’t sitting right. Although I was only a ripe 18-years-old, I was stressed about my post-grad plans and if I really wanted to follow the track I had set for myself. I hadn’t joined mock trial or any political groups on campus, but instead found myself looking for opportunities to write. My favorite writing was when I could pick the topic, do my own research, and write in my own voice. I wrote for my high school newspaper and didn’t mind writing papers for class, but I never thought of writing as a career path…until it was the only thing I wanted to do.
Fast forward through a bunch of restless nights and constant back-and-forth in my head and I’m now pursuing a career in journalism–sports journalism to be exact. Obviously, that has nothing to do with my major. Although sports and politics have become intertwined over the past few years, the information I’m learning in my political science classes are rendered pretty much useless when it comes to writing about sports.
At first, I kind of freaked out about having a major that didn’t directly align with what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. I’d already spent a year starting my political science major and had signed up for a full course load of polisci classes for the upcoming semester. The thought of changing my major had crossed my mind, but the truth was that I really did enjoy political science; I loved the abstract concepts, the variety of theories, and–surprise, surprise–all of the papers I had to write.
That’s when it hit me. While I’m not studying exactly what I plan on doing in the future, there are still skills I can take from my polisci major that transfer into being a journalist. The political information is still interesting to learn, the conversations activate different thought processes that I can use outside of class, and all of the writing keeps me from getting a severe case of writer’s block (most of the time).
The ability to adapt was a pivotal key in mediating my stresses about doing something that didn’t line up with my major. Instead of continuing to panic or give up on trying to be a writer, I thought about how I could take the skill set I was acquiring and translate it into what I wanted to do. I’ll still have a degree when I graduate, and you can bet I’ll be using my political science-induced argumentative skills to explain to employers how my seemingly disconnected major actually makes perfect sense.
I could have changed my major, which would still have worked in my favor. The last two years of my college career would have likely been a little tougher as I tried to catch up on classes, but it still was a completely viable option–just not the one I wanted to choose. If you find yourself in a similar situation, especially if you’re unhappy with the major you have, don’t be afraid to talk to an academic advisor about changing your major. Your satisfaction with what you’re studying will give you more motivation to work hard and lead you towards the future you want.
Although it took some time and reasoning, I realized there was no need to get so worked up over my change in career path. While my major says one thing, it doesn’t define who I am or the future I should be looking towards–and the same goes for you. You are more than what your major thinks you should be. Do what makes you happy. The years you spend in college are a major defining period, but they don’t need to define the rest of your life.
