Written by Anna Belmer
When I first came to Chapman, I was a Communication Studies major (not to be referred to as “Communications,” as I was aggressively reminded by a certain professor). I thought I had made the perfect choice and was in the perfect program for my interests. One semester of boredom later, I realized I was wrong. Now, I have nothing against the Communication Studies major. In fact, I think it’s a very applicable and valuable degree to have earned. However, it simply did not align with what I found intriguing, inside or outside of the classroom. I had become aware that I was mathematically driven, and if I heard one more professor comment on the fact that “we were studying Communication because we hated and were terrible at math,” I was going to scream. I knew I had to make a change.
As my first semester of freshman year was coming to a close, I started thinking about my options. For some reason, I had this overwhelming idea in my head that switching majors was a huge ordeal and was going to set me back years in my education. WRONG. After some research and communication with a few upperclassmen, I found out that switching majors is actually pretty normal and something that a lot of people do up through their sophomore and even junior years. So really, I was ahead of the game.
I decided that business might be right combination of the aspects of communication that I did enjoy and the math that my mind seemed to gravitate towards. However, I wanted this to be the only big switch I made in my educational path (not that you can’t change your mind more than once), so I took some precautionary measures. I registered for Introduction to Business my second semester of freshman year while also finishing my general education classes before I took the real plunge. This helped me reassure myself that business was the right choice for my next three years. That same semester, I made the decision to take another French class beyond the general education requirement simply because of how much I enjoyed one of my professors. Now here I am, a year later, almost done with a French minor I never thought I would be interested in achieving. I am also now happily pursuing a business major with an emphasis in marketing, an emphasis I didn’t decide on until the end of my sophomore year.
If you’re still reading at this point, you may be wondering why on Earth I’m writing all of this. In the past two years, I’ve learned that this experience is not unique to me and is something that other upperclassmen can relate to. Coming into college, you are faced with plenty of challenging decisions, and one of those is what you are going to study for four plus years and “do with the rest of your life.” If you’re anything like I was, it may feel like you are locked into the choices you have made or are making right now. That’s not true! If I can impart any words of wisdom to you, it would be to take your time and be patient with yourself. Whether it’s figuring out what you want to study, settling into a group of friends, or finding your favorite study nook, nothing is a race. It is perfectly ok to change your mind in this confusing time and make sure you are happy with what you’re doing. Being in college is an opportunity to put yourself first, and I promise, something that seems like a major debacle today will probably be old news by next week. Take yourself seriously and work hard but also remember to have fun and make the most of everything this amazing university has to offer!
-Anna Belmer