Anna-Catherine Kueng ~ Assistant Editor
When I was eighteen-years-old, which comically was only two months ago, I thought I wanted to be a nurse. More than that, I thought I wanted to be a pediatric nurse with a speciality in cardiology. Before I started college, I ordered the cute laptop stickers relating to the major; for example, “I can’t. I’m in nursing school.” (Since starting college, I realized that if you take out the ‘nursing’ part of that sentence, it is still accurate).
Anyway, I walked into my intro nursing class bright-eyed on the second day of college, thinking that being a nurse was my life’s calling. I was taking all the nursing prerequisite classes, such as developmental psychology. Within a few days of being in all science classes, I was very unhappy. At first, I tried to equate it to being homesick, adjusting to college, etc., but I knew there was another problem: I could not express myself in those classes.
In high school, Advanced Placement Language and Literature, as well as journalism classes, were my thing. If I was having a bad day at school, I would instantly feel better if we got to write essays during class. During my senior year, I was editor-in-chief of my newspaper and had my own “teacher desk” in the back of the room. Some mornings in journalism, I would assign the class articles and then go back to writing, without saying another word to anyone! Getting to turn my feelings into opinion articles was therapeutic and I always looked forward to those mornings when I did not have to lead pitch meetings or do interviews.
As first semester went on, I started missing having an English class. I would hear other English major students talking about short stories they read or their awesome professors, and I was secretly jealous. For weeks, I fought it and kept telling myself I should be a nursing major.
It got to the point where one night I messaged my high school teacher, logged onto the My Lynchburg website, and changed my major to English. I did not tell anyone besides my teacher at first, and I sure did not tell my nursing friends because I had promised them we would be in the grueling experience of becoming an RN together (sorry, guys). Once I met with my adviser and she put me in creative writing and a literature class for second semester, I felt so much better.
I am in those classes now and although college can be hard sometimes, I truly enjoy my English classes. I think everyone has something they are really good at, and you should not stop until you find what it is. I can shine in writing whereas someone else can shine in a calculus. We all have different talents, and that is what makes being in college so cool.
If you are currently thinking about switching your major, I would say to just do it and do not be scared. I am blessed that I knew I wanted to change during my first semester of college, but do not stay in something you are not enjoying no matter your year. If you are having doubts, it is probably time to switch!
