I’m currently attending Emerson College for Creative Writing and have been since 2015. I just completed my sophomore year. Ever since my freshman year, I’ve had doubts about if Emerson was really right for me. After realizing I couldn’t leave without being properly reimbursed when pursuing leaving that first semester, seeing as it was too late after their cut-off to withdraw, I stuck it out the rest of the year. That following summer, I thought about transferring, but then decided to go back with high hopes. That was this past year and, while it wasn’t bad, it just didn’t feel right for me to be studying Creative Writing when I, truth be told, wasn’t learning any technical skills. I love writing, but I want to learn something I can do outside of writing. Workshopping won’t help me in normal life skill-wise and, to be honest, I’m not sure being a writer as a profession is right for me.
I don’t know what I really want to do with my life right now, which is super scary, but it’s even scarier to think about when I think about going back to Emerson after having questioned if majoring in arts is right for me.
I guess my question is this: is transferring to a non-Arts school going to screw me over (credit-wise) half way through working towards my Bachelor’s degree? I know it’s different for certain colleges for what they will accept, but I’m wondering if I should just stick it out, get a good degree from Emerson, and then figure out my life goals after.
Also, maybe this is me looking for advice. Shouldn’t I already know what I want to do with my life? I have many interests from which I can find a career, but its the fact that I haven’t gravitated towards anything particular that bothers me (or “found my calling”).
I hope this makes some sort of sense. If anyone has any similar stories they can share, whether it’s on finding out what you should do in life or about how you transferred post-sophomore year or later to another college, that would be great and very much appreciated.
I think that what you are experiencing is relatively normal. Someone I know well who is a professor at a small university tells me that he has seniors walk into his office and ask pretty much the same questions.
There is a chance that changing schools and changing majors now will prevent you from graduating in a total of 4 years. I think that this is fine, but you would need to budget for it. Even if you take a gap year, apply to other schools, and take another 3 years to graduate, I still think that it would be worth it provided: (i) You find a more appropriate major; and (ii) You can afford it; and (iii) You want to do it. If you change schools and majors and this takes another 3 years to graduate can you afford it? Some students go back to their in-state public universities or colleges specifically to make this affordable.
“Shouldn’t I already know what I want to do with my life? I have many interests from which I can find a career, but its the fact that I haven’t gravitated towards anything particular that bothers me (or “found my calling”).”
When I was your age I had not figured out what I wanted to do either. I majored in mathematics partly because I liked it, partly because I was good at it, and partly because math is pretty much the STEM equivalent of a generic liberal arts bachelor’s degree. It took me quite a while to figure out what I wanted to do with my life, but I did eventually figure it out and ended up doing very well with it. A lot of smart and creative people take a while to “settle in” on a career, and in some cases careers can sort of shift along the way as well.
One question: If you finish your current degree at your current school, do you have any idea what you would do with it? Would you be in better shape to finish your current degree and then try to figure out what you want to do with your life, or if you worked for a year or two, then went back to a different school and finished your degree in a different major? To me this seems like it might depend upon what your “many interests” are.
It depends on the sort of classes you’ve been taking. If you’ve been taking your basic english composition courses, those should be transferable to other schools, but it really depends on the school you’re applying to.