In high school, college coming across your mind is like a hurricane that sweeps your conscious, leaving you confused and unsure of what you should do. Nowadays, there are so many careers that you can go into. You’ll feel like a kid in a candy store, and you’ll most likely have a hard time deciding.
According to the National Center for Education Statistics, college students change their major at least three times over the course of their college career. Changing your major is not the easiest thing to do. You may have to adjust the classes you are taking according to the requirements for your new major. It also may effect when you graduate and how many semesters you have to take.
It’s important to consider your options while you are in your Freshman and Sophomore year in high school. “In middle school, I found myself going back and forth between what I thought I wanted to be, and I was scared it would effect what I majored in during college.” says Kassem Ballout, a Junior at Fordson High School. “I had finally decided on architecture in middle school, then in 10th grade, I started to see that it wasn’t a stable living job, so I switched to engineering.”
“I didn’t want to find myself doing something that didn’t make me happy.” explained Kassem. Getting to know yourself and understanding what you do and do not enjoy doing is a crucial step for choosing a career. “When I chose engineering, I knew that I would wake up every morning, excited to go to work.” adds Ballout.
Many students start college very passionate about a specific career. “I have always wanted to become a teacher, since I was in elementary school,” states Farah Charara, a student from University of Michigan Dearborn. “I chose my current major of Special Education because I have always had a passion for working with kids along with making a difference in the lives of others.” Charara found something she enjoyed doing and knew she was going to stick with it for the rest of her college experience.
“I was very stressed about what career path I wanted to take when I was in high school,” mentions Nour Hassan, former college student at University of Michigan Dearborn. Hassan started of her college years enrolling in nursing school, later on changing her major. Nour stated, “I changed my major to Health Policy Studies because I wanted to go into healthcare but I didn’t want to do anything clinical so I went down the administrative path.”
“I changed my major very early in so all of the classes I took were applied towards my degree,” adds Hassan. Luckily for Nour, some of the classes she took for her first major were required for the major she changed to. “Now that I have completed my bachelors degree in health policy studies, and currently am working in my subject area, I wish I would have taken more time to find my passion.”
Ayman Ismail, a Real Estate Agent for Century 21, Electrical Engineer at Chrysler, and former Baker College Professor shows his point of view as someone who has seen and experienced what college students go through. “It’s not easy, I can tell you that. As a student myself, I wanted to do more than just major in something, and it’s because I was determined.”
“As a professor, I always noticed that students were just not interested in what they were doing. It was those students that would end up dropping the class early off in the semester.” Ayman noticed that those who changed their majors during college, lost money on classes that later on became unnecessary and those students graduated later than they should have.
Ayman gives his advice to all students, “Explore while you are in high school, experiment, get to see the world around you. Get to know yourself better and find the thing you are most passionate about.” He adds, “It’s ok to change your major. If you find yourself not interested, try something else. Just remember that your education will always be there and it’ll come to your advantage someday.”
Determining your future will not be easy. You may come across some obstacles down the road. This should not stop you from finding what you love and applying it to you everyday routine. College is the time to learn, experiment, and have fun. Take it as a favor and live your life right.
Jana Ghoul
Unis Middle School Journalist