I initially entered college as a health and exercise science major, and while I enjoyed my short-lived time studying it, I knew it wasn’t right for me in the long run. It is not because it wasn’t a subject I enjoyed, and in no way do I intend to bash any of OU’s majors or programs, but I felt as though my major wasn’t being taken seriously by previous professors and advisors. I have always been a student who won’t take certain classes because I think they are too difficult for me, which has probably hindered my true academic abilities, and I wanted to start leaning away from that and taking classes that truly interest me. Though they were harder, I found that classes that piqued my interest more actually came more easily to me.
I began to realize this last semester. I took a biology class, as well as a few HES classes that were tailored to my major. I found myself easily bored in my HES classes because they all seemed to have the same structure. An online homework or two due by the end of the week, professors going through slides word for word and later posting them on Canvas anyways, the occasional worksheet, TAs handling grading, etc. But it was the same for every one of my health and exercise science classes. While in my biology class, the content was a heavier load, but we were doing interactive questions during class, professors articulated information more fluently and could elaborate on questions, there were study nights for exams, and more. It felt as though the biology program was better taken care of.
My interest in changing my major was solidified when I began taking psychology this semester, while in the same boat with yet another HES class. I met with a different advisor than I had last time and expressed my concerns. She got out a whiteboard and drew out what I would need to take next semester for each major, and let me know that if I were to switch to biology now, it wouldn’t take much for me to catch up, and I may even be ahead in credits. Since officially changing my major to biology, I have been way more confident about the classes I am taking and where I could go with my career in the future. My word of advice would be that if every time someone is asking you what you want to do with your degree, and you cannot confidently say something you’re particularly interested in, then look into some other programs that could give you more options. There is no shame in finding another path to go down, and changing majors is such an easier process than you would think. If you are thinking about it, look into it before continuing classes in something you don’t love.