<p>OP,
You are still a very young adult, so this is the time to feel a bit ungrounded as to what your choices (major, career, life style) are going to be amidst the myriad of choices in the adult world. However, this “not knowing” can be severely unnerving, especially after k-12 following the set curriculum, with just some choices of classes and ECs. This is a scary and exciting time in your life, a time to decide who you are and who you want to become. </p>
<p>I second the suggestions of seeking out your counseling center first, especially since you do not have your parents support right now with regard to your self-discovery. (I’m not saying that they do not love you or that you do not have any support from them…just that this is unnerving to them too.) You need support from a live human; you need to feel that your questioning of your major does not undermine or define your self worth. This is the most important task you face, just learning to accept and love the person you are right now, to value your essential worthiness and not tie it to your career path.</p>
<p>You also do need to do well in your classes, so that gpa does not complicate your current quest.</p>
<p>Then, once you are feeling a bit more settled, go in to your career center and ask for career counseling in the form of interest inventories and the types of professional testing that can be done to help people figure out their aptitudes and interests in a very concerted manner, as well as to locate which careers seem to coalesce with those interests and aptitudes. Explore those careers, read about them, ask for alumni names and do some phone informational interviewing, begin to figure out what seems most interesting and also most viable. It is fine to have plans a, b, and c… or d. Health sciences, and narrow down the possibilities. Research science, and again looking at possibilities… Arts-- fine arts vs. many applied design fields. But, this is research of a longer term. </p>
<p>People ought to be doing this at your age, not only to o choose a major if they don’t have one but more importantly to begin to get a sense of how their interests fit with end points. It may take you little by little the next year or two to figure this out… and that is, you will figure out first the major and then the next steps-- internships, employment after college vs. grad school. You will be in a better place than many students who feel they have finished the task with just choosing the major! But, you may likely still leave college with several career options of interest to you if you are a person with multiple talents! That’s ok and even good, because many people change careers during their lives.</p>
<p>I understand your parents wanting you to have a more certain career path, but you are young. You are figuring it out. Figuring out your major is not the key thing here, though eventually a choice will need to be made. </p>
<p>Wishing you the best! Please let us know how you do! ( And thank you for (indirectly) reminding me to refrain from voicing judgment of my own sophomore d’s meanderings-- and yes-- she too keeps changing her mind about major and career, also a very successful student k-12…) Hugs!</p>