Major Decisions

I was pre-med once. I had visions of being Dr. K and white labcoats (which you can buy at any university bookstore for Halloween… please note that medical supplies are non-returnable) dancing in my little blonde head. I had my 8 semesters broken down into manageable-ish class loads before I turned 19. I went through labs and calculus and was finally thwarted, my dreams all but crushed, by organic chemistry, one of the more infamous weeder courses at my undergrad university.

Orgo was my wake-up call. There was one exam where I literally laughed the entire two hours (crying wouldn’t help and there was no way I was passing). When the curve was being set by less than 30% scored on a test, and no matter how many hours I kept my head dutifully in my books, I decided to bow out gracefully. It wasn’t worth feeling like a moron and beating myself up anymore. At the end of the day, I was happiest reading, analyzing, writing, as opposed to drawing benzene rings. And I was pretty damn good at it. (In college. Judge as you deem fit at present.)

This is NOT to say that people who stick through courses like these, no matter how much they hate them, are wrong in doing so. Au contraire, dear readers. If you can see the big picture and are content knowing that your hard work will make for a better, happier future, stick with it by all means. Ultimately, no one but you knows what’s going to be best for your future, not your parents, your friends, or your advisor.

Sadly, no one hands you a roadmap saying how your life is going. It’s not like high school, where your biggest decision is what college you’re attending after four years. It’s the rest of your life, and at 18-22, we’re ill-equipped to decide what we want to do forever. My belief, after having gone through this nerve-wracking process, is that you shouldn’t close off options just because it’s not part of your initial plan. If you do change your mind and have regrets, you can always go back to school.

College is definitely a 4-year course in hedonism—you have to be a little selfish so you can figure yourself out, and this is especially true in the case of determining your career path. For me, the hard part wasn’t deciding to change my major. I knew I needed to make a change, but explaining this to my parents was tough. They saw me as their future Doctor Daughter, after all. Sometimes you just feel trapped, almost as though since your parents have raised you and are (possibly) footing the bill, you owe them their dreams, even if it kills you. At the end of the day, a miserable child is not exactly a reward, especially if you blame them for your stress.

Am I saying give up if you’re unhappy in a class? Not at all. A lot more goes into it than that. My decision was based on many other factors (namely a general wave of nausea at the thought of veins/hunting for them in order to administer anesthetic of any sort, and a general distaste for lab work). Just don’t be afraid to go for something you love.

Any other major-changers out there? What’s your take on the process?

[photo courtesy of corbis]