Major Crisis /:

This week, I've been dealing with a major crisis. Although I'm only two weeks into the school year, I'm absolutely in love with my English class. Currently, I am a psych major English minor and considered the following three options: a)keep major/minor the same b)double major (seems like the ideal solution, but I think it would be a lot of work--I already have enough work in college!) or c)change my major entirely. This is a tough decision because I like both subjects. My psych class is not the most inspiring, but research methods is a required class so it's not surprising. It's not too bad since my professor tries not to make class too boring and we're starting our project (my partner and I are researching the social scene in high school among girls, which has been a big interest to me). Basically, I've known I wanted to work with kids since I was 11. The problem is, I cannot decide whether I want to be a school counselor or teach English. I really enjoy helping others with their problems, and my friends think that I'm a good listener and give good advice. However, English has always been my favorite subject, which has made me want to teach it. Not only do I love to read and write, but I've had a fabulous teacher my junior and senior years of high school and 2 awesome professors here at UP.

As you may know, I originally declared a secondary ed/English major when I applied to UP with intent of being an English teacher. However, I fell in love with my high school psych class, and that made me consider psych as a possible major. Although my general psych class was tough, I declared the major because I thought it would be good preparation for a career as a school counselor. At the time, I did not know that teaching is a career where you can get a liberal arts degree and then go back to grad school to get a master's or a credential (depending on if the school is public or private). I did not take English fall semester last year because I had hoped my AP score would get me out of ENG 112. Unfortunately, I did not score high enough to get out of the class, so I was bummed about having to take the class because I thought it would be a repeat of my class senior year. When planning my schedule for spring semester, I decided to take it. I honestly did not care who my professor was as English has always been my best subject and I'd survived two terrible teachers my freshman and sophomore years of high school. I ended up liking it so much that I declared an English minor by the end of the first month. Honestly, I had no idea that I'd want to go to class every day and that my professor would literally end up changing my life.

During these past couple days, I was reminded of a conversation I had with a senior English major friend last year. She used to work as a hall receptionist in my dorm, and is currently in my English class. We liked talking about the books we read, and she said "why don't you become an English major?" I thought that minoring would be enough, but right now I kept thinking, "you know what, Alyssa, you're right. I think I might conisder changing."

The major reasons I was concerned about changing was that I would regret doing it and not have made the right choice, and that it would not be "practical" in terms of my dream to work with children. After several stressful days of thinking about it, I realized that I have all my life to get a job, and that I should enjoy studying something about which I am truly passionate. Plus, many people change careers (and majors!) so I'm not alone. While psych may lead to more child-related careers, I'm currently at the point where I could see myself as an English teacher. I could always teach for a few years, and then get a school counseling degree. In fact, my high school psych teacher was also one of the school counselors! I used to feel that my major had to lead to a specific career path, but now I'm okay with the fact that I'm not 100% sure what I want to do yet (and don't have to!).

My stress alleviated on Thursday when I talked to the two people who could best help me with this decision. While I expected my advisor to tell me to stay a psych major and the English department chair to tell me I should be an English major, both were unbiased. I told them both about what attracted me to both subjects, my career aspirations, and major changes (sec. ed to undeclared to psych/English minor). My advisor encouraged me to switch to English if that was what I was passionate about, and told me I could still minor in psych (which I plan on doing). I had thought about double majoring in English and psych, but decided against it because I thought it would be too much. While people can and do double major in these two subjects, it's not as common as psych and soc. Luckily, she agreed with me in that I have all my life to choose a career and should do something I love.

My next visit that day was with the English department chair, and luckily I not only know, but have a personal relationship with this person. Yes, for those of you don't know, Herman (my fabulous professor last spring), is the dept. chair. I felt confused, anxious, and stressed when I walked into his office, and literally left with a new, positive outlook about myself and the situation. I went in, and told him, "I'm having a major crisis right now in that I'm considering switching my major to English." He just smiled at me and said, "tell me about it." I told him everything, and when I mentioned that I wanted to work with children, he said "I know you do" (I told him about my summer job and mentioned that in an essay I gave him). He even told me that my reasons for wanting to change were good reasons, which I didn't quite expect. I showed him a copy of the worksheet with the classes I had taken, and checked to make sure that I could still graduate in four years. He told me about the classes I'd need to take, and assured me that graduating in four years wouldn't be a problem as I've taken mostly core classes. He gave me the English majors handbook, which had an article about why liberal arts graduates are valued by employers. Herman recognized that this decision is difficult, and told me everything will work out fine. Because I have not done much written work for my current English class, I want to see not only how I do, but if I'll still be up to a heavy reading and writing load. That said, I have not made any definite decisions. However, just talking to him made me feel a billion times better, and at this point, I am 90% sure that I'm going to change my major. I consider myself a pretty lucky gal to have someone as positive, supportive, and caring as Herman to help me with this difficult and stressful decision.

I will keep everyone updated as the semester goes on. Provided all goes well, I hope to officially make the change by mid-November, which is when registration is. This will allow me to get my new advisor and work with him/her to make sure I'm taking the right classes.

Expect more next week from your future English-major-to-be :)