I’m currently a sophomore transfer student and I have absolutely no idea what I want to major in. I’ve declared 3 majors already and I’m looking for ANOTHER change. I’ve taken multiple courses all different from each other to see what I’m interested in or even passionate about and I’ve come up with NOTHING. I have no interests in any of the majors my college offers and I find that I’m not passionate about anything. I’ve recently tried to switch my major once again to something I thought I was interested in and was basically told I can’t do the program because I’m entering my sophomore year. This whole situation has become so discouraging and at this point I’m not even sure if I want to continue with college. I have absolutely no idea what I want to do in life and I don’t even see myself doing anything outside of college. I hate seeing myself as a victim but right now I’m completely victimizing myself because I want to pursue something I enjoy but it seems as though every time I try something I think I might like I’m either put in a position where I’m turned down from it or end up not liking it at all!! It seems like life just keeps throwing me curve balls and I can’t take any more of them. I’m really just drawing blanks and I’m just so close to dropping out because I really do not want to waste thousands of dollars trying to find something I’m the slightest bit interested in. Right now I’m just so lost with no options for help/advice and I know my parents will be disappointed in me if I drop out of even take a semester off. I’m just looking for even the slightest bit of advice…
Would you consider a Liberal Arts major?
It’s a little bit of everything. It would leave you open to discover new material, new paths, new concentrations.
Does your college’ s career center offer tests you can take you help you discern your interests and aptitudes?
How about listing everything you’ve tried and are sure you don’t like or aren’t good at?
What college do you attend?
Which classes did you get A’s in?
I was previously enrolled in a liberal arts college. I went to Albright college but transferred home and am thinking about other colleges to attend over the summer. I took a majority of my general courses and got B-B+ in them. I didn’t feel actively engaged in any of the courses and I also felt as though I was not being challenged in any of them so therefore I didn’t try. I think right now I’m just looking for something that I find challenging. I want to be actively engaged in my topic of study. I was thinking about doing nursing at one of the colleges near me but unfortunately that program doesn’t start until next year. I have a meeting coming up with someone at my community college and depending how that goes I may or may not enroll there to finish up my gen eds.
@kaymak first and foremost please just breathe!! What if there was no RIGHT way to figure it out. What your passionate about I mean. So lets start at the beginning? Why are you enrolled in college? I know what the regular answer is “good education” = good life, job, etc. But why are YOU in college? What do you hope it will bring you? Its hard to be passionate about a major title. Like mine was Political Theory and Constitutional democracy. I cerntainly was not passionate about that. I wanted to be a lawyer and that one seemed like it was gonna steer me in that direction. Let me tell you I am not a lawyer and no longer want to be one…although I was convinced of this since the age of 12. So just know you don’t have to have it all figured out. And of course you are not alone. May I also mention that passion (contrary to popular belief or propaganda) doesn’t just suddenly hit you like a lightning bolt one day. What do you like to do for free, in your spare time, when no one is asking? Most people have an answer but then they next wonder how will I get paid for that…I don’t want to overwhelm you with too much but if you want to talk more you can inbox me.
First of all, if you are going to return to university / college for next year, you need to take your courses seriously and work to get A’s or mostly A’s. Piling up B’s or lower because you are not challenged or not interested could in the long run close down options for you.
A lot of students don’t know what they want to study or what they want to do for a living, even when halfway through university. A professor I know has told me that he has seniors walk into his office and ask questions that basically come down to “what should I do with my life”. Obviously at the end of senior year is a tough time to change majors. This is a fundamentally difficult question to answer and each student has to figure out their own answer over time.
One post above asks “Would you consider a Liberal Arts major?”. This is of course an option for someone who is generally interested in liberal arts. I did pretty much the same thing but in the STEM fields by being a math major. Math is of course quite valuable in a wide variety of STEM related fields and eventually I did figure out what to do with it (and did very well), but it took me a while even after graduating from university.
“I’ve recently tried to switch my major once again to something I thought I was interested in and was basically told I can’t do the program because I’m entering my sophomore year”
That is strange. It is quite common for students to change their major entering sophomore year, or even after sophomore year. It is possible for a change in majors to end up requiring that the student take classes over the summer to catch up or even take an extra year (or more) in university. If you don’t have the grades you might be denied permission to enter some programs (thus the comment above to take every course seriously). I have heard of cases where students did not change their major but were permitted to take the first course or two for a major, with the idea that if they BOTH liked it AND did well (A’s) then they could switch their major.
One thing that I did when I was in your position was to take the course guide for a relatively large university and just start looking through every major, and for majors that looked possible looking through every course. This took a while, but did give me some sense regarding what possible majors look interesting and which did not. Another option is to take a year off and work, with an effort to work as closely as possible to an area where you might consider majoring in the future.
Thanks everyone for the advice! Its been a few weeks and I’ve spoken with many people among the “college scene” in my area and I think I’ve finally figured out where I want to go and what to do. As of now, I’m enrolled in a community college in my home town to complete a program and from there I’m going to transfer into another college. I’ve spoken with the admissions representative at my community college - she was extremely helpful and informative as to what my options are and where I can go with my chosen program of study. Right now I believe I have I pretty solid plan. My only concern is over whether or not I’ll eventually lose interest and/or passion for my newly decided program. It just seems so hard, the lack of information I’ve received regarding this process entering college is unbelievable - no one truly prepares you for this experience. However, I’m pretty confident that I’ll finally have the willpower to go through with it.
@DadTwoGirls The reasoning behind me being unable to enter the program, as the department chair explained, is that I will not be enrolled in core courses during the program. The program does not start until Fall of 2018 and by that time I will have all of my core courses completed. Apparently all students entering the program MUST be enrolled full time in core, which personally I think is rather ridiculous. However, I’ve accepted the situation as is and simply decided I will not be attending that specific college come the fall semester.
@badbonz11 I’ve actually thought a lot about subjects I’m passionate about and the reality is a majority of the things that peak my interest have very low employee rates, or getting into the specific field position is almost impossible as far as schooling and experience wise. Don’t get me wrong, I have no problem with preparing for a certain position for a long period of time, but I just do not have that type of money. Affordability is somewhat a big factor to me as I’m already in a large among of debt from my first year of college (stupid decision with no one to blame but myself :)). I’ve taken a lot into consideration over the past few weeks and I believe I’ve made the best decision for myself considering where I’m at now.