Major Regrets
When I went to BYU, I was a declared Public Relations major, in the Communications department. I took the pre-reqs for three semesters, was accepted to the program, and two months later, changed my major.
It turns out that most of the jokes about Comms majors are based in fact. There were a tremendous amount of athletes in the program, there were many fake blond, baked tan students, and I discovered in one of my classes about consumer behavior that I was one of the few people who didn’t buy jeans that cost as much as a month of rent.
Also, nearly all the classes were easy as can be. My intro classes in other subjects were far more difficult. Let me tell you this – I had a 4.0 in the major and I was not anywhere near a 4.0 student outside the major (let us never discuss the C+ I got in Economics 110). It was just so clearly not the program for me.
And so I decided to change my history minor to a history major.
Part of it was that I have always loved history. But the other part of it was that I truly wanted an academic experience. I didn’t want to write one page papers about what brand of shoes I wore (true story); I wanted to be in the library with a table full of books, writing papers with footnotes.
It did turn out to be like that. I had professors like Paul Kerry and Michael Murdock that turned my world upside down; I saw the world like I never had before and then I got to write about it.
I learned about 20th-century China and Jewish culture and American sports history.
I spent hours sitting in the stacks with piles of books about slave marriages around me.
I watched movies that brought the abstract into stunning detail.
I participated in class discussions that changed the way I thought about hundreds of topics.
Is History a major that’s going to get you a really high-paying job right out of school? Not necessarily. But I knew I wanted to be a librarian and that any of the schools I was considering didn’t require a specific major.
At BYU, there were around 160 majors to choose from. I don’t, for a moment, think I should have chosen one of the other 159. It’s lovely to have no regrets on that particular issue.
What was your major and would you do it differently if you could go back? Or if you don’t have a degree, what would you pick?
I started undecided, then business, then education, then finally settled on history. I LOVED school, and never really had a thought to what I’d do when I finished. I guess a part of me thought I’d go back for a teaching certificate, but I didn’t and now in SD it’s much harder to do. How I ended up as a loan officer I’m still not sure.
I wish I’d spent more time learning a foreign language and not just memorizing things for a test.
(ok, should also add that I have seriously considered law school, but again, SD changes that as there are no law schools handy.)
I started Comp Sci and finished English. I loved all the reading I got to do, but for real-world application wish I would have stuck with CS. (So tired of hearing how, obviously, anyone can write/edit.)
History sounds like it would have been a really interesting major. Do you have any books you’d recommend?
I’ve threatened to go back and get a history degree! Thank too much time hanging out in Europe for that! I had three minors which constituted a major back in the day–whatever became of University Studies???? Mine were English, drama, and Youth Leadership (so I could go on Survival at a reduced rate). I took all the classes BYU had to offer on creativity and fancied that someday I would write children’s books (doesn’t everyone?). Then I picked up a master’s degree in instructional technology from USU with a specialization in media center administration and then added a teaching certificate a decade or so later somewhere else. Now I’m putting finishing touches on another master’s in school administration….drum roll…but what I’d really like to do… (a hush falls over the crowd) is write. Had I to DO IT ALL OVER AGAIN, I would have become a communications major. We are all one quirky lot.
I’m currently in university and hate it. Period. Irony in this? I want to go on to become a teacher. Ha!
My biggest regret isn’t my major (history). Its letting my grades slide enough that I’m going to have to spend more time than necessary in university. What was I THINKING?
I got my Bachelors in Elementary Ed. and I really enjoyed all of my schooling at SUU. Now that I am out and I haven’t used my degree except to substitute (I had a baby about 6 months after I got finished and 2 weeks after graduation!) I have sort of thought I should have gone to nursing school instead. I am completely interested everytime I am at the doctors with my kids with nurses and such. So yeah I still think that maybe I should have changed or maybe go back…eventually…
Well, I graduated in Psych, after switching from Chem Eng to Psych to Math to Math Ed to Math to Psych. That being said, I’m now trying to get into nursing at another school. I wish I had really taken the time to figure out what I wanted instead of trying to please everyone who was paying for my education. So now I’m doing it over, with a husband and kid, and no money. Good Job.
Haha, I can sadly relate to your comment about expensive jeans. I’m guilty.
Oh, and sidenote: I’m quite hurt I’m not linked on the side of your page.
http://www.trentmorris.com/blog/feed
(for the Blogger widget)
–or–
http://www.trentmorris.com/
(for a regular link)
Get on that, thanks. 🙂
The communications majors at BYU sound just like the Criminal justice majors at Richmond! I majored in Leadership Studies, a major that no one has ever heard of because we are the only undergraduate
School of Leadership Studies in the nation. It was an amazingly interesting and multi-disciplinary course of study with brilliant professors and I just adored it! I was torn between History, Poly Sci and Anthropology so it was a perfect blend of everything for me.
Before I started school I was determined that I would not get a degree that I wouldn’t be able to use in my professional life. I wasn’t interested in Accounting or Medicine, and science has always interested me so naturally, I was drawn to Engineering. Through a combination of poor counselors and bad luck, it took me 7 years to finish my bachelor’s degree. I loved engineering school and I regard my decision to study it as one of the top three best decision in my life.
I am making a career out of going to college! Every major sounds fantastic to me (except math and chemistry). I started first as an English major but couldn’t stand those teachers who told me what I was supposed to be getting out of WWI poetry. Then I went in for Vocal performance. I love my theory class, the diction, and the voice lessons and the love stops there! I am thinking about majoring in History. I miss complaining about having to write essays and then being overjoyed when I accomplish it! Will I every be satisfied LOL.