{"id":4070,"date":"2018-02-09T11:48:15","date_gmt":"2018-02-09T11:48:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/admissions\/?p=4070"},"modified":"2021-10-15T21:00:34","modified_gmt":"2021-10-15T21:00:34","slug":"its-okay-to-change-your-major","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/admissions\/blog\/its-okay-to-change-your-major\/","title":{"rendered":"It’s Okay to Change Your Major"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Photo by Brian Waldbillig ’18<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

It’s Okay to Be Undecided<\/strong><\/h4>\n

 <\/p>\n

One of the scariest things about declaring a major<\/a> prior to starting classes at WSU was the fact that I knew I wasn\u2019t done growing up yet. When WSU asked me to declare a major, I felt like they were asking me to decide the rest of my life right then and there.<\/p>\n

In the end, I just picked a major that I thought would make me happy. I chose elementary education<\/a>, like so many other WSU incoming and current students. Even though I\u2019ve long since changed my major, I don\u2019t regret starting out with this one. It got me to where I am today. But, I do wish someone had assured me early on that it\u2019s okay to change your major.<\/p>\n

Thankfully, WSU has provided a supportive environment. Undecided students are welcomed and encouraged to explore their options through the Warrior Success Center<\/a>. Professors are often eager to answer any questions a student has about a program or class.<\/p>\n

But, since I didn\u2019t come to WSU as an undecided student my freshman year, I didn\u2019t know about a lot of that until later on.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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Photo by Brooke Powell ’21<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

It’s Okay to Change Your Major<\/strong><\/h4>\n

 <\/p>\n

During my freshman year, I was under the impression that changing my major would mean starting over and graduating years after everyone else. I spent most of freshman year wondering what I had gotten myself into.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t until a conversation with an older co-worker revealed that it was incredibly common for college students to change their majors. This co-worker had certainly done it more than once and he was about to graduate.<\/p>\n

Talking with my co-worker was all it took for me to realize it was okay, so I quickly declared an English Writing major<\/a> and started my sophomore year off right. Since then, I\u2019ve played around with majors and minors<\/a> of different sorts, including geoscience<\/a>, Spanish<\/a>, creative writing and child advocacy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve happily settled on an English Writing major with a geoscience minor and I love it!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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Photo by Amy Nelson ’20<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

It’s Okay to Be Like Everyone Else<\/strong><\/h4>\n

 <\/p>\n

I\u2019m not the only student who has made some major changes throughout their college career. I interviewed Mariah Tweed to get her take on major changes and finding happiness in college.<\/p>\n

Like me, she started off as an elementary and early childhood education major, but as a second-semester senior, she decided to change her primary focus to one that focused on residence life and student affairs. She was a Resident Assistant for two years and was also the Assistant Hall Director in Sheehan Hall.<\/p>\n

Mariah found that her passion was better served through her on-campus job than through the prospect of teaching and education related courses.<\/p>\n

For this reason, she made the decision to change her major. She switched to an individualized studies program<\/a>. This program, in Mariah\u2019s case, allowed her to use all the education classes she took as a base for her major while adding classes that shift the program\u2019s focus from teaching to student affairs.<\/p>\n

Even though it\u2019s so close to her graduation date, the change hadn\u2019t pushed her graduation off. While describing her situation, it was clear that she was truly enjoying the changes she had made. She loves the classes she gets to take now and looks forward to a career in student affairs.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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Photo by Amy Nelson ’20<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

It’s Okay to Seek Happiness<\/strong><\/h4>\n

 <\/p>\n

When I asked what she would tell other students about declaring or changing majors, Mariah said, \u201cIf you have a major that you like, then go for it, do it; but don\u2019t feel guilty if you change it\u2026 don\u2019t feel shame for not being 100% certain in your major because lots of people change it.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This is a public service announcement to all WSU students\u2013find your happiness and don\u2019t be afraid to change your major. If these stories don\u2019t convince you, go talk to your advisors, classmates, co-workers and professors (who will all likely share similar experiences).<\/p>\n

I doubt you will have trouble finding someone who hasn\u2019t changed their major at least once, if not more!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

– Updated by Hailey Seipel (07\/02\/2019)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  It’s Okay to Be Undecided   One of the scariest things about declaring a major prior to starting classes at WSU was the fact that I knew I wasn\u2019t done growing up yet. When WSU asked me to declare a major, I felt like they were asking me to decide the rest of my […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":139,"featured_media":5766,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1872,1869,1,1720],"tags":[1813],"class_list":["post-4070","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academic-support","category-academics","category-admissions-blog","category-feature-post","tag-decide-enroll"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/admissions\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2018\/02\/Cover.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7OGeT-13E","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/admissions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4070","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/admissions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/admissions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/admissions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/139"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/admissions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4070"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/admissions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4070\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5806,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/admissions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4070\/revisions\/5806"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/admissions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5766"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/admissions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4070"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/admissions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4070"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/admissions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4070"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}