It is not uncommon for students to enter college undecided in their major. It also is not uncommon for students to even change their major during their time in college. However, switching majors more than once or twice is a little less common.
Hannah Krady is a junior here at Cabrini and is currently on her third major in three years.
“I came into Cabrini as a secondary education and mathematics major,” Krady said. “I dropped the secondary ed and just did math with a concentration in actuarial science.”
It took her all of sophomore year to make that decision.
Gordon reported that about 75 percent of college students switch their major at least once.
“I was not happy with the subjects I was learning, and I was struggling a lot, and I was just really upset and not understanding things,” she said. “Also on top of that, with struggling, my GPA had dropped, so in order for me to actually get a job in actuarial I’d have to pull my GPA up, which was kind of impossible for me to do so.”
Going into the spring semester of this year, Krady decided that she was not happy with being a math major with a concentration in actuarial science. After some serious debate and a previous accounting class that she loved, Krady decided that she was going to change her major again and become an accounting major.
“Actuarial is more by yourself and alone, and anyone who knows me knows that that is not me whatsoever,” she said. “Accounting is more people-to-people action, it’s crunching numbers, and anyone who knows me knows I love numbers. It was just a better fit and I started seeing a change in my grades and in my attitude. It just seems to be a total better fit for me.”
Coming into college thinking she wanted to teach and then finding out that it was not for her made the process of switching majors complicated for Krady.
“The education program was just not for me and I wasn’t happy, and when you’re not happy in your major you won’t be happy in your career, so why not change it?” she said. “So I changed it and things weren’t going great for me again and I wasn’t in a good place, and I knew I needed to get out so I talked to my friends and they convinced me to rethink my life. So I rethought my life and now I’m in accounting and I’m doing way better.”
Changing majors so often, and halfway through college, can seem stressful to a lot of people. Krady attributes all of this to having a strong support system.
“My friends and family behind me and recognizing that I’m doing the right thing, and my grades are so much better compared to my other majors,” she said. “And having that support system, because without my support system I don’t think I’d be able to continue.”
Even though she is taking classes now that most students in the accounting major take their freshman year, Krady is still able to graduate on time.
“I have to take a lot of major classes. I’ll be taking 18 credits both the fall and spring [semesters] of my senior year, and they’re going to be some hard classes, but my adviser thinks I can do it which is helpful,” she said. “I have to take one class over the summer, which kind of blows cause in the summer you have off, but I don’t really have off. But I get to graduate on time, so one summer course doesn’t bother me.”
Krady’s advice to any student who feels like they are not happy in their major is to talk to somebody, whether it be an adviser, a professor, a family member or a friend.
“If you don’t feel like this could be a career, it’s just going to be a job and you don’t love it and you’re struggling, but it’s not understanding concepts it’s struggling to want to do the work,” she said. “You’re struggling because you feel like you’re forced to do the work. If you really aren’t happy then I suggest you make a change because not being happy isn’t fun—trust me. If you don’t know where to go there are places on campus that can help you. Do it and you’ll be so much happier.”
The Center for Student Success in Grace Hall is holding major explorations workshops that students can sign up for and figure out what path is right for them.
