<p>OP, something very similar happened to me when I was in college! My real passion and talent were in humanities fields, but I was also reasonably good at/interested in sciences and in school generally. My parents strongly encouraged me to be premed. They had both grown up in poverty and had worked very hard to send their children to college. They saw college as a golden ticket to an interesting, high-paying profession. I embarked on a major in biochemistry, and did fine gradewise, but felt more and more unhappy as I got deeper into my major in my junior year, and was no longer able to use my college’s distribution requirements to get my “fix” in the subjects that profoundly interested me. I could also tell the difference between getting a decent grade in an undergraduate course, and having serious talent for a subject, because I had friends who, unlike me, were really brilliant in the sciences and in math. After much internal turmoil, I changed my major to English. I knew immediately I had made the right choice. My parents, though, were VERY upset, my dad especially. To them, it seemed as if I was throwing away my opportunities with both hands. And in a way, they were right about the job situation, generalized over a whole population. It IS much harder, everything being equal, to get a well-paying job in a humanities or arts field than it is as a doctor. However, everything is never equal. My parents simply were NOT right about my particular case, because finally I was doing something I was really good at, and didn’t mind pouring time and thought into my work.</p>
<p>I got a fellowship to grad school, got a PhD, and then a job as a professor at an Ivy League university. After about six or seven years of virtual noncommunication, my father finally started to talk to me again and we slowly repaired our relationship.</p>
<p>Two things helped me. First, I talked to my undergraduate professors frankly and extensively about career prospects. I didn’t just randomly pick a major, but I did try to get clear in my mind about how my college major would relate to my career plans (however impractical those seemed). If you are not interested in an academic career, your professors might be of limited help, so you should go to your university’s career center to find out about your options. Second, I got to know people who had made careers in the arts and humanities. My husband’s parents, for instance, were both professional musicians. They did not make a lot of money but they led fulfilling lives. They introduced me to a less “nervous” attitude toward money and career security than I had imbibed from my own family.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>