Prompted by Your Posts: Choosing and Changing (and Changing Again) a College Major

Today's post was prompted by Ernie, who discussed her journey in choosing a college major, and it struck a chord with me as we are in the thick of parenting our kids to choose wisely and trying to support them in the process. We've been on a *certain high school senior's* case lately to tell us what he might possibly choose as a career, since scholarship essays are due that require that information, and "I don't know" just isn't going to cut it anymore. If you really don't know, maybe you should take a gap year before heading to college? Nah, he doesn't want to do that, so he finally chose a path, with the full knowledge that he may change it. Let me tell ya, it is SO MUCH EASIER when your kids know what they want to study and have career goals, and yet, at the same time, they are still young and have so much to learn and experience before having to decide.

But let's discuss my own hurdles in choosing a college major.

When I went to college, I declared a Biology major, thinking I wanted to become a Physician or a Physician Assistant, following in my older siblings' footsteps (three Biology majors, two of whom became medical doctors).  My parents didn't attend a four year college.  My dad was an Irish immigrant who built houses, and my mom was a nurse.  Education was very important to them and my mom always said that we could be whatever we wanted to be, as long as we were well-educated.  They were definitely hands-off in the advising of college majors or careers, in a healthy way that led to successful and independent children...but worked better for those of us who knew what they wanted than for those of us whom *ahem* weren't quite as confident.

I was a very academic kid, and science came easy for me, but math was what I loved more. I had been known to declare that "I could sit and do math all day!" I took a summer precalculus course in between sophomore and junior year in high school so that I could take two full years of calculus "just because".  I was also the teenager (out of the six kids in our family) who did the bookkeeping for the family ice cream shop, as I thought it was "fun". To top it all off, I had taken a career assessment test in high school that said I should be an accountant (not exactly the boring job I wanted to hear).

But yet, I went ahead with Biology, and in my first semester, I had to take a Botany course. They don't require this of bio majors anymore, and I'm not sure why they ever did, because that ONE class deterred me from becoming a doctor. The professor held up a leaf in class and asked us what tree it came from. Nobody answered. She then pointed to me to answer, and I said, "I don't know," and instantly wanted to die. You see, being a Type A introverted perfectionist and someone who studied and was prepared at all times for class, this was the biggest embarrassment I could imagine.

I immediately went and dropped the class, which also meant dropping the Bio major.  The next semester I changed my major to Journalism and Theology. Journalism, because I had always loved to write, having previously been the news writer for my high school newspaper, and thought it might be nice to have a hobby turned into a career. Theology because I was a student at Franciscan University, which was known for its famous theology professors, so I figured I might as well take advantage of their knowledge.

Without any type of guidance (academic advisors are very much a thing now, but not in my Freshman days of college), I signed up for a high-level theology class taught by Scott Hahn. If you know him, you know him. He is highly intelligent and quite popular, and I was immediately in over my head in his Theology class. For a girl that prefers numbers and equations to philosophies and open-ended questions...I did not belong. I dropped his class immediately and began reconsidering yet again my choice of major(s).

My college best friend, Liesl, a hilarious international student from Dominica, was a year older than me and an accounting major. One day, I asked her to show me what she was learning, and she talked to me about Debits and Credits, and I just immediately understood this language. She encouraged me to become an accounting major with her. I remembered that old high school assessment that said I would be a good accountant and felt much more confident in this choice of major—yet again with no support or guidance from anyone but my friend—and switched majors for the third time.

Thankfully, the third time was the charm.

Unfortunately, all of my switching around, coupled with my desire to study abroad in Austria, meant that I had to take some accounting classes in the summer at a college an hour from my house. So that was brutal, but obviously worth it to be able to graduate on time and also have the chance to study abroad. 

I stuck it out with accounting, got engaged in April of my senior year to Phil, who was a year behind me, and started classes to get my MBA by the time Phil graduated. An academic and romantic twofer. Looking back, I am so glad that I did all of my schooling back then, as I can't imagine fitting in a master's degree later in life between work and kids.

Is accounting my dream career? No. 

Is it a steady job? Yes. 

Does it fit my personality? Yes. 

Is it at times incredibly boring and soul-sucking? Yes. 

Would I have chosen it now? Not sure. 

I really enjoy the business side of life, and accounting certainly allows you to know how to run a business, as you are the one handling everything financial. But I think I would have loved to get into digital marketing or social media marketing if those were popular options back in 2001.  I also would love a job that was physical, as opposed to sitting at a desk for 8 hours a day.

As for those majors that I didn't stick with?  Well this blog scratches my itch when it comes to writing , and I'm glad I didn't pursue journalism because I'm no good at having to create under pressure and with deadlines. I married a Theology major and he teaches me things all the time, so no need for both of us to be experts in that field.  I do wonder what could have been if I made it all the way through medical school, but I don't think I would have the family I have now, so that makes it not worth it in the end. Instead, I get to watch JP go through the process and cheer him on from the sidelines and not have to deal with all the bodily yuckiness that comes with the medical world:

So far, my college kids have been Biology or Nursing majors, but as I know, that could change! We discuss future careers all the time and encourage going into fields where one can make a good living, as that's sort of the point of a job.  Phil definitely regrets his Theology major and the poorly paying jobs it came with, but he went on to get two Masters degrees and has made it work. 

Our kids are not expected to go to college at all, but attending Catholic college-prep schools has absolutely steered them into the kinds of jobs that require higher education. We try to be supportive of their interests, realistic about their choices, and make sure they contact their academic advisors A LOT as they go through college.  So far, so good, though I'm sure they will have plenty of stories to tell once it's all said and done -personal failures and successes, and parents who were too invested at times and too laid-back at other times. And maybe one day they will write a blog post about it :)