I’ve changed my major six times

In total, I have changed my major six times while switching college campuses four times, and it feels like I’ve been a freshman every single year.

Starting off, I planned to major in zoology at a science specialized private school called Delaware Valley College. I had always loved animals, and my parents always pushed me into science, so it felt like the best bet.

When I got there, I was too excited about everything to let homesickness catch me. Everything was new, I made some great friends, and I was so busy that I never slowed down for even a minute.

It wasn’t until after freshmen orientation and my classes started that everything set in. The downside with private school status comes private school tuition, and it wasn’t like my parents or I were going to strike oil or win the lottery anytime soon.

In such a narrow field, how was I ever supposed to pay the thousands of dollars of debt that I would be left with after my four years were done with jobs that were disappearing every year? That is when my first switch to wildlife conservation came into play. Entering a broader major lessened my overwhelming worries of eternal student debt. I thought I could do anything with animals of the environment.

At Delaware Valley, if you didn’t live and breath for animals, you didn’t exactly fit in with the majority. In my classes like biology and chemistry, I was doing well but my heart definitely wasn’t in it.

It wasn’t until I sat down in my first ever newspaper meeting that I knew what I needed to be doing in life. I was always a pretty standard writer and my current English professor always commended my work in front of the class. It gave me an adrenaline rush to think about interviews and breaking stories. As I sat in one of the computer lab swivel chairs listening to the editor-in-chief talk about article assignments and plans for the semester, the third switch started brewing.

At Delaware Valley, with such a small communications department, the only communication major available for anyone was media and communication. Everyone always says that it’s not uncommon for students to change their major, but what was I doing at a science-based private college as a communications student?

There were many great opportunities at Delaware Valley College. I became the Freshman Class Treasurer, Director of Public Relations with the Student Programming Board, and was a co-managing editor for The Changing Times. After all of that, I still needed to transfer elsewhere if I was ever going to come out of debt.

How many rich reporters do you know? None, because we are on the streets with the starving artists.

Starting off down there so close to Philadelphia, I fell in love with the city and the area. Wanting to be as close to it as possible, Penn State Abington called my name.

Penn State Abington: A commuter only campus that felt like a little slice of high school. With no dorms or any students living on campus, it was my solution to a big problem. I was enrolled in the school my parents always wanted me in, and I wouldn’t ever have to pay private school tuition again. Transferring there also meant switching my major to one that they had to offer, leading to my fourth switch into corporate communication.

When I got there, I was feeling drawn to the corporate world for a brief stint of time, and what better major than one that mixes both business and communication classes.

My second orientation was filled with prospective freshman, and I felt like a zebra amongst wildebeests. After a while explaining my story got old, so I just told every bright-eyed freshman that I was a freshman like them, too.

Although it was a major change of pace, Abington did have its perks. It was close to the city, the classes were small, the friends I made were lifelong, and the advisors actually know you as a person and not an appointment slot.

It wasn’t until I was scheduling for my spring semester classes that my advisor brought up that I couldn’t switch up to University Park with my major as corporate communication because it was an Abington exclusive.

What seemed like a valuable piece of information was neglected to me and almost left my eyes permanently rolled into the back of my head.

I have always been dead set on traveling the world, so much so that I wanted to make a career out of it. Needing to change my major anyway, I decided to transfer up to University Park in State College, Pennsylvania with my fifth major switch of international communications.

State College is a whole other world than the one just outside of its borders. Everywhere you look are Nittany lions, lion paws and football-crazed fans. This being my third time around the orientation email list, I decided to blow it off the day it was scheduled. It may have been because I couldn’t find the building that it was in, but I didn’t feel like going anyway. It’s all the same information, and I might lose it being in a room trapped with bubbly freshman.

Although I continued to stick out in State College like a sore thumb, due to my lack of boat shoes and Penn State apparel, I happened to make even more lifelong friends.

It may just be the time of year, but scheduling my spring semesters are never easy. After waiting what felt like hours for an advisor, it came to my attention that with my current major, I wouldn’t be graduating my expected year. I was told that I would need at least another year to graduate.

Before anyone gets all high and mighty, I am incredibly grateful that I have gotten the opportunity to come to a college like Penn State. It’s just that I don’t want to be here for any longer than I need to. I feel like I’m going to grab my diploma with a cane in hand because I’ve been here all of my life.

After debating all of my options, switching some classes around, and one powerful headache later, I finally made my sixth and final switch to strategic communication.

Concluding my junior year, I have to admit that State College just isn’t for everyone. For some, the classes of 800 students, advisors that don’t know your name, and overwhelming sports atmosphere make up a place they can call home, but I am not one of them.

Planning to finish out my degree in Minneapolis, Minnesota through Penn State World Campus, is a saddening yet long-awaited conclusion to a life-changing four years. Although I will not miss the orientations, I can say that each school, even the ones I haven’t transferred to, have a heart of their own. Each city, college, town and campus have flavors and colors that make it their own.

I was a “freshman” every year of my undergraduate degree, I changed my major a perhaps record-breaking number of times and I wouldn’t have it any other way.