This article is featured in the 2024 Freshman special issue.
I came into Dartmouth thinking I was going to be a government major, intern on Capitol Hill and then go on to become a lawyer. However, the path I had envisioned for myself took a sharp turn my freshman fall when I enrolled in my first religion and art history courses. After chatting with a religion professor during the department’s orientation week open house, I signed up for his small seminar course — and I have not looked back since. I had my heart set on taking GOVT 5, “Introduction to International Relations,” but failed to gain enrollment, leaving me scrambling to find a replacement. Enter ARTH 1, “Introduction to the History of Art I.”
This seemingly small change to my course schedule freshman fall had a significant impact on my academic trajectory. If I had not stumbled upon art history as I desperately searched for a replacement class, I would not have studied abroad in Rome my sophomore spring or pursued my religion modified with art history major.
The decision to switch majors is not an easy one. When the idea you’ve set for yourself does not pan out, it can be difficult to pivot and let go of old ambitions. For Genevieve Shahin ’26, who came to Dartmouth planning to major in government on the pre-medicine track, this realization caused her to “sob for a whole week,” because she no longer knew what she wanted to do with her life.
Like me, Andrew Maguire ’26 also arrived at Dartmouth hoping to major in government, but after taking a few classes, he realized the discipline wasn’t for him. Still, Maguire characterized himself as “someone who is very resistant to change.” Before switching, he wanted to ensure he gave the major a “fair shake.”
“Freshman fall, I took one of the introductory government classes, and it was a super interesting class, and the professor was fantastic,” he said. “But it just didn’t click for me. Part of that might have been that it was just an introductory class, but it just didn’t feel as engaging or what I imagined when I thought of a government class.”
In an effort to complete some of the College’s distributive requirements for graduation, Maguire explored classes in an array of different departments. During that time, he discovered that his interests were more interdisciplinary than he had thought.
“I realized that I had a lot of interdisciplinary interests, and economics on its own or government on its own did not really captivate me enough,” Maguire said. “I wanted to incorporate computer science, sociology and a little bit of math into my learning, which is why I landed on quantitative social science.”
Changing your major doesn’t mean that you have to completely change your pre-existing interests. Shahin has been an emergency medical technician since she was 16 and thought she wanted to become a doctor after college. That changed after her first biology class, when Shahin promptly realized pre-med was not for her.
“The class just went so poorly,” she said. “I then thought, ‘There’s maybe one or two biology classes that I would be required to take that I would enjoy. Do I really want to spend so much time and energy on trying to be pre-med? I can just stick with being an EMT and be happy.’”
After deciding to focus her attention on the government department, Shahin, like Maguire and I did, found her experience to be unsatisfactory.
“Sophomore fall, I took GOVT 10, [“Quantitative Political Analysis”] and, frankly, had an existential crisis,” Shahin said. “It was just not my vibe. The majority of what I’m interested in in terms of government and legislation and policy is present in other majors, such as geography and environmental studies majors, which is what I am now.”
Although many students have changed their majors one or more times while at Dartmouth, countless others have also stuck to their original plan. Some even combine the two paths — picking up an additional major to accompany their original one.
Shreya Gandhi ’26 said she had “always wanted to be a physics major,” and while she has continued down that path, she is now double majoring in physics and economics and minoring in Earth sciences.
“This past winter, I took EARS 36, which is astrological biology, kind of on a whim,” Gandhi said. “I was so interested in it that I applied to the ‘Stretch’ [the Earth sciences Foreign Study Program], so that’s why I’m an EARS minor.”
Yet, completing two majors and a minor means that Gandhi has less availability in her schedule to take classes unrelated to her focuses of study, she noted. Gandhi will be off campus on the ‘Stretch’ this fall, abroad this winter for the astronomy FSP in Cape Town, South Africa and off campus in the spring.
“Because of the double abroad and then being off in the spring of junior year, I have this [summer] term and senior year to fill the rest of my [requirements],” Gandhi said. “So, that was a little bit of a squeeze. My senior year is requirement-heavy, [so] there’s not as many random spaces open.”
For anyone unsure of what they want to study in college, whether you are an incoming freshman or a rising sophomore, Shahin emphasized that it is more than okay to change your mind and switch your plans.
“It’s good to have an idea of what you want to do, but don’t get caught up and only take classes in those departments,” Shahin said. “Take advantage of the distribution requirements and find other departments you would never [consider], because you’ll find classes that you love in those departments.”
Gandhi also believes distributive requirements should push you to take courses in departments outside your comfort zone, which may help ignite new interests.
“You should take at least a couple random classes your freshman year,” she said. “…If you can spend those first three terms not worrying about your distributive requirements or not worrying about getting far through your major, by freshman spring you will know at least a general idea of the type of thing you like.”
Dartmouth’s distributive requirements may at times be a pain in the neck — taking up course space that may be better used elsewhere for some students — but according to Maguire, they are well worth the hassle by forcing students to engage in subjects they might end up enjoying.
“I think that if I had declared a major at the beginning of college and didn’t really have an obligation to take classes in other departments, it would have been much easier for me to throw my hands up and say, ‘Alright, I’m a government major and I’m just taking government classes and that’s my life and it sucks,’” he said.
As someone who came to Dartmouth set on studying government, I was initially unsure of myself after switching to religion and art history. My friends and family kept asking me, “What are you going to do after college?” To them I say, “I don’t know.” What I do know is that I love to look at art and learn about philosophical theology. I am lucky enough to have the opportunity and resources to study what I love. I want to want to do the readings.
Take courses where you find yourself writing furiously, attending office hours and looking forward to opening the readings — at least some of the time. It’s alright to change your mind and study something you never thought you’d touch. After all, college is a time for exploring your interests and soaking up as much knowledge as possible. Make the most of it!
