College is hard. Deciding on a path for your life is harder. This is an open letter to anyone considering changing majors.
Whether you have been in college for three months or three years, you know that it most certainly isnât a walk in the park. Specifically, deciding on (and sticking to) a major can be pressure-cooking, and a  heart-wrenching decision all college students must make. If you are reading this article, perhaps you are confused, frustrated, fed up, or all of the above with your current major.
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My whole life I wanted to be an actress. I started at NYU Tisch as a Drama major and had a pretty bumpy freshman year. It wasnât that I didnât love Tisch, but rather I just knew something was wrong. Things werenât clicking and my heart wasnât in any of my classes. I wanted so badly to find happiness in my Drama Studio that I was forcing myself to enjoy my classes. All semester, I told myself that the weirdness I was feeling was all just âpart of the processâ. Well, during January term, my friends and I decided that forcing happiness was NOT the right decision. I went rogue (literally because I had no idea what I was doing) and decided to switch majors. The process was not easy. Â I initially had zero clue as for what to do and there was no step by step process available to guide me through the rocky road of switching majors.
So, below are some simple steps to make the whole ordeal a little bit easier.
1.Talk to your advisor. This step seems silly and obvious, but trust me, it will help. Your advisorâs job is to help guide you. Keep in mind that technically they DO work for you. You can ask them anything and they must do their best to answer your question. That being said, when I was switching from Tisch to CAS (the College of Arts and Science), my Tisch advisor didnât know much about the requirements for other non-Tisch schools. This was a little frustrating, and brings me to step number two.
2. Talk to an advisor in the NEW school or major you hope to choose. This step is crucial, and can make a huge difference in the quality and accuracy of answers you receive.
3. Talk to people in your (new) major. Communication is huge! You want to know what the classes are actually like. Advisors canât tell you which classes are most interesting or whether or not the professor will throw marshmallows at your face (check out the class, Science of Happiness). When switching majors, the details really matter. You will spend the rest of your college career in these classes.
4. Do.Your.Research. NYU has 10 billion options for majors. Study up and find out what appeals to you. For example, I am now a Psychology major in CAS, but I didnât know that Steinhardt also offers an Applied Psychology Major. The good news about going to such a large university is that options for majors are endless. On the other hand, you and you alone must make the deep dive necessary to find them all.
5. Credits matter – sometimes they count and sometimes they donât. Make sure you explore whether your previous credits will transfer to your new major. Figure out credits (and fight for them if necessary) before you switch majors so you know whether or not you can graduate on time.
6. If your new major is in a different school within NYU, you must apply for an internal transfer. Get this in as soon as possible because there is a deadline (From personal experience, itâs really not too difficult.)
7. You may start to panic and/or have an existential crisis, cry a lot, binge eat a lot of Ben and Jerryâs and thatâs totally okay. Changing your life is stressful (especially when you might have to apply to see if changing your life is even possible.)
8. Know that everything is going to be okay. In the end, what you take away from the entire experience will resonate you and what you are passionate about. So while we are here, we might as well adventurously explore different arenas and step out of our comfort zone.