Switching majors is a common occurrence in the academic world, and it happens for a variety of reasons. There are few verified statistics for exactly how many students change majors throughout their college career, but personally about 50% of my friends have switched majors within the time they attended University, and 95% have seriously thought about it at one time or another. Their main reason? The coursework they were given had nothing to do with what they imagined they would be doing for the rest of their life.

Of course, there are some who can just make the decision, switching from Biology to Biomedical Engineering or Physics to Finance, and intrinsically know that that it’s the best decision for them and never look back. Others ponder the financial implications of “how much will more/less will I make after college” and social issues that arise when leaving all the friends they made in their initial major.

When I switched out of Architectural Engineering and into Architecture, the reason was clear cut and obvious. I wanted to learn about form, aesthetic, and design; things that make structure beautiful and give a building purpose beyond function. Instead I was being taught multivariate integrals and the physics behind the movement of a toy car. I was unhappy, and it showed in my declining work ethic and enthusiasm in all aspects of my life; however, I remained in the major for two terms pondering the aforementioned aspects before deciding that this major change, pun intended, needed to occur.

After talking with friends who considered or actually changed majors, I found that they had incredibly similar stories to my own. We had all felt the pressure of this decision, some even resorting to writing out legal pad pages of Pro/Con lists. But the culmination of these reasons resulted in a decision that was best for the specific person, a decision that made each person happier in the end.

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