Myth: It's never too late to change your major.
Throughout my Dartmouth career, I have experienced a wide range of academic crises. Like this fall when I had a burning desire to switch my environmental studies minor to an environmental science minor. I convinced myself it was subtle changes like these that would make or break my Dartmouth diploma. And much to my father's chagrin, I could have even graduated this term had I planned my D-Plan with greater foresight. (Hi, Dad! Love you!) But aside from paying another term of tuition, I'm happy with the academic choices I've made.
But I haven't always been as happy I've definitely made some mistakes along the way. Like that time I thought I was going to minor in Latin and wasted two terms of my life taking Latin courses I didn't really enjoy. Or when I took Bio 11 just for kicks, with no intention of being premed. I liked bio in high school, I told myself, ergo I must like bio in college too. Oh, okay, dumbass. With that kind of logic maybe you should have majored in philosophy, while you're at it.
But enough. The point of this article is not to berate myself for previous academic pitfalls I'm fairly certain future employers will be able to do that well enough on their own. "What do you mean you majored in history with a geographic concentration in Africa? Haha! As if I'd employ you!"
But the thing is, I don't find my major a laughing matter. In fact, I'm deeply in love with my major.
It wasn't always like that though, me in love with my major. To be perfectly honest, I had a breakdown sophomore Spring when it came to filing my major card. I had felt so assured and confident about my modified history proposal. But then it hit me.
Was I declaring myself a history major because this was what I loved, or was it because being a history major was what was easiest?
And by easiest, I mean I had a lot of history credits. It made sense. But I was torn. I remember pacing back and forth on the second floor of Rocky, on the phone with my best friend at the time, sobbing: "But I love English. What if I want to write? What if I never write now because I didn't major in English?!"
And I guess I should have prefaced this by saying I can be a very melodramatic person. But at the time, this was a VERY BIG DEAL to me. Because it wasn't like I could all of a sudden switch my major and become an engineering major or an econ major or a film major (not if I expected to graduate anyways). I had to commit. I couldn't just take COCO classes for the rest of my life.
But at the time, I was so uncertain as to what I wanted to do at Dartmouth, as to who I wanted to become. And having to commit to one academic pursuit seemed like closing the door on so many other academic interests of mine. But in fact, choosing my major actually opened up a lot of doors for me off-terms that explored my major outside of the classroom, classes that delved into the same issues through a variety of lenses (one of the many perks of being a modified major), and of course, the often underrated ability to take courses just because you're interested and you can. Looking back, choosing my major was one of the most difficult but rewarding decisions I've ever made while at Dartmouth. Difficult because it meant saying no to other interests of mine. For instance, I'm not an English major. And I never did take a film class (but never say never, I still have one more term left!)
In some ways though, I find it doesn't really matter all that much to me that I didn't get to take every single course I ever wanted to take. And I suppose that's because I ended up getting to major in something I truly love and have been able to explore my academic passions to the fullest. And I wouldn't change that for all the courses in the ORC.
But the truth is, sometimes it is too late to change your major. So don't make that mistake. Treat every class like it's your last, because before you know it, it will be. And there will never be another time in our lives quite like college, where we are free to challenge ourselves with no real fear of failing. So take advantage of that. You're at one of the best institutions in the country, nay, the world it's the least you can do.
