Conflicted about Major Change...

badusername
Wed, 19 Nov 2014 21:18:17 +0000

I need some motivation and wise words right now, as I just switched out of STEM and into liberal arts at a huge university. A quick overview below:

I took some higher level liberal art classes already (from professors recommending that I take them), and found that I had more of a passion for this specific field than I originally thought. I’ve always been good at this field and have loved the work. Good enough to have a year or so of freelance experience. Good enough to be hired as a tutor by the university.

However, I had my mind set on a specific STEM degree and never looked into working in the field above. Being closed minded hurt. A lot. This semester I got killed by intro STEM classes. I threw everything I had at these classes. I never worked so hard in my college career. I used every resource I had and put extra-curricular commitments on hold, but it made no difference. I ended up dropping more than half of my course load (I was doing good in two classes so kept them). I hated every minute in every class that semester, regardless of my grades. I regret not dropping all of them.

My conflict comes from feeling dumb for being “weeded out” of basic STEM classes in a field that I had wanted to go into since middle school. I could retake them and continue in the major (I know kids who have), but I don’t want to. I thought that the field would be different. Sure, I found a major that I am sure I will be happy in, and am ecstatic about it. But I also feel dumb for switching out of STEM for liberal arts. I feel like a self-deluded washout one minute, then ecstatic for switching into something I love the next. Does anyone have some wise words? I am sick of feeling conflicted…