<p>Is it common for students to take classes either in excess of requirements or don’t fulfill the major/college requirements because they are “exploring” courses or because they switched majors? I am a freshman who has taken care of most of my gen ed reqs except for 6 literature credits, however I am unsure of my major (considering biochem for now). I’d feel bad if I took some courses in biochem then switched majors and “wasted” those credits.</p>
<p>Don’t feel bad. The sooner you switch majors the less wasted credits (and money and time) you’ll have. I switched majors and wasted credits (German and Linguistics), but now I’m on the right track. It’s okay to think about what major your truly want, but you can’t do that for long. Otherwise you’ll end up wasting time and money.</p>
<p>I took a handful of classes that didn’t actually do anything besides add to the minimum number of credits required for graduation. Some were just for fun, some were to meet the full time credit minimum, and some were because I was playing around with the idea of getting a minor for a while but never actually did. I also took a handful of classes in my department that were in excess of what was really required for my major just because I thought the classes were useful.</p>
<p>It’s really not that big of a deal (moreso if you’re paying by the credit, but there’s not much you can do about it). The only way you know if you want to major in biochem or not is to take a biochemistry class, so you shouldn’t not take it for fear of “wasting” credits.</p>