My daughter has hit us with some doozies through the years, so when, recently, during her so-far bumpy first year of college, she told me with great gravity, “Dad, I want to talk to you about something,” I was expecting a confession about, say, her leadership of an international bank heist ring.

What was this big, weighty news?: She wanted to change her major.

I told her: No big deal.

It’s no big deal not only because many, if not most, students change majors (about a third of bachelor’s students change at least once, according to this National Center for Education Statistics Data Point).

It’s no big deal because spending years pursuing a major that you’re not suited to and that doesn’t suit you is a true waste of college money and time.

I entered college majoring in engineering, a student who liked math and science and vaguely saw a career in that area. I also liked writing, and only a few weeks in I switched to English with a Journalism minor. Where would the other path have led? I’ll never know, of course, but what I’ve done has been good.

Changing majors also isn’t a big deal because it’s human nature to change, and I think we resist that inherent trait — and many do — to our own detriment. Maybe you’ll switch fields later in life – there’s lots of evidence that’ll be the case – instead of staying shackled to a job you find miserable. I know some shackled people. You probably do too.

It’s also no big deal because too many people are playing this game of thinking they have to know what they want to do by age 24. I know college is expensive, but I recognize in my own students that there is often a need not just for them to embark on the general journey of “finding themselves,” but that the journey is really to find their intellectual base so they can be happy and productive in their lives.

So my daughter went from neuropsych to fashion design. Yep, we went from buying lab googles to a sewing kit. It might seem like a mighty chasm separates these majors, but then, maybe that’s all the more reason that it was a good idea that she changed? Or maybe there’s something unseen that lies in between these disciplines, some unique niche she will uncover.

A colleague of mine reports that she sees my daughter on campus, walking around with her big portfolio. She told me she looks happy. She looks like she’s… herself?

Becoming yourself in college?: That’s the real major change. Make as many smaller changes as you need to so you can get there.

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Scott Warnock

Scott Warnock is a writer and teacher who lives in South Jersey. He is a professor of English at Drexel University, where he is also the Associate Dean of Undergraduate Education in the College of Arts and Sciences. Father of three and husband of one, Scott is president of a local high school education foundation and spent many years coaching youth sports.

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Tags: education, virtual children by Scott Warnock // 1 Comment »