Sorry. I was trying to not say too much.
I’m a journalism major. (Well, journalism at my school isn’t a dedicated major; rather, it’s a concentration in another major.) I changed from a computer networking major between my freshman and sophomore years as I’ve always been into journalism throughout high school. Even though when I graduated high school I said I’d never do journalism again, I got involved with our student newspaper and was eventually offered a job there the spring of my freshman year. My adviser and a coworker/friend talked me into switching my major.
Now it’s the fall of my junior year. That adviser left (that’s all I’ll say) and all of my coworkers from the newspaper have graduated. They changed the model of the newspaper so it doesn’t pay very well, essentially to the point where it really isn’t worth my time. With the adviser gone and no coworkers/friends to vent or talk to, I feel alone.
It’s actually a good thing I bring this up - I’ve been thinking about possibly changing my major lately. I love doing journalism, but lately I’ve been really out of it. I’ve had writers block super bad, there’s been a lot of things getting in the way, and I’m not really super passionate or motivated like I was last year. But I also understand depression will do that, as most of the things I used to be really passionate or interested I feel different about now. I don’t want to change my major just to find myself coming back to journalism.
Plus, I really feel stuck. I feel like journalism is about the only thing I can do right now. I feel like I’m mediocre at 100 different things but not really good at one single thing. And nothing else really piques my interest, and the things that do pique my interest (like computers and stuff) are things that require lots of math (something I’m HORRIBLE at.)
I don’t know what to do. I’m visiting with a (professional) counselor that my school has tomorrow to discuss my feelings and what I can do and where to go from here with all these issues.
I also voiced my feelings and concerns with a professor. He told me what I was thinking - I’ll finish this semester and make the determination of what I want to do.
I really hate transferring or leaving because I have the rest of my undergraduate “career” planned out. I have an on-campus apartment, which is nice (although exacerbates that stress of getting a job since I don’t have a meal plan and have to buy all of my own food/supplies.) I know what classes I need to take to graduate. I’m a part of a student organization that helps students succeed. Most of the faculty is nice, although things just don’t seem the same this semester.
Another problem with transferring is none of the schools in my state really jump out at me or grab my interest. (During my high school senior year, I only toured the school I’m at right now. I loved it.) There is a J-school (journalism school) in my state that is one of the best in the world, but my grades don’t meet their requirements (I have a ~2.7 GPA, their requirement is like a 3.5 GPA) and they’re a super huge school that really wouldn’t work out (I don’t think I’d do well in huge classes and on a huge campus) and most of my credits likely wouldn’t transfer. (One plus side to that school is it would’ve been paid for through a program I’m in, which would minimize my debt.)
This spring I was seriously thinking (at one point I even made a post on my Facebook about actually doing it) about transferring to a bigger, out-of-state school. However, after my mom passed away I guess I was brought back down to Earth and learned that financially and academically it wouldn’t work. That school was like $40k/year (for out-of-state students like me) and I would’ve literally had to start all over from scratch. I would’ve been there for five years as there were some high school courses that I didn’t take in high school that they required. Only 10 of my credits would’ve transferred.
I just feel so stuck and don’t know what to do.