At some point during your college journey, you may find yourself questioning if the path you are going down and the major you have chosen is the right one for you.

If you are like me, you will let this feeling eat at you for weeks, maybe even months, before you decide to make a change.  

Changing majors may seem like an unusual and big decision for some college students but in reality, it is more common than people think. According to the National Center for Education Studies (NCES), nearly one in three college students end up changing their major before graduating. Since I changed my major, that makes me a part of this statistic too. For me, I was going to make a jump between two majors that had no connection whatsoever.  

I started as a Kinesiology major the first semester of my freshman year and immediately knew that it was not for me, but for a while I did not have the guts to speak up and state my dissatisfaction with my major. I was worried that I was going to be set back in the new major that I picked or that I would be disappointing those around me for making a change so early in my college years.  

As the days went on, I started to realize that I did not care what others thought, I was unhappy, and I needed to make the change for myself. I realized that this was my future, and if I am miserable now after only a couple of weeks of it, how am I going to feel in the future when it is my career, and I am doing it every day?  

I am now a Criminal Justice major as a second semester freshman, and I have never been happier with this decision. I found something that truly feels like it is for me and makes me eager for my future, and I am no longer dreading my classes.  

Freshman Julia DeLevella, who changed her major from Occupational Therapy to Nursing, also felt better after going through the process of making a change.  

“The process was very smooth. I had just some paperwork that I needed to fill out and definitely communicating with my advisors helped a lot. I thought that the process would be a lot more time consuming and stressful, but I was surprised when I was able to make the change so fast,” DeLevella said.  

DeLevella said that she would tell others who are hesitant to change their major not to hold back if they know what is best for them.  

“I would encourage others to be eager and go for what they want to do in their future. It’s more important to talk to somebody and have them help you figure out things sooner rather than later because fear can hold you back from a brighter future and your own happiness,” DeLevella said.

Changing your major does not mean you took a step back, it means you took a step forward on your own right path to where you belong.  

Others may have a hard time understanding why you changed your major, but they do not have to understand because it is your path, not theirs, and it is your future. College is a time to discover your true self and personally grow. So, change your major, follow what excites you, and do not let anyone hold you back.

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