Changing my major...

I've officially decided to change my major. Since the day that I came to Ripon for freshmen orientation and met my randomly assigned advisor Jody, I thought I was going to be a communication major. Jody is the chair of the department...all of the professors within the department are wonderful, and the student majors are great too! Still, since last semester I was feeling like I didn't want to major in comm. anymore...because even though I love the people in the department and like the subject matter, my heart really belongs to English.

I cried all Monday morning trying to decide if I really wanted to drop the comm. major. I called my mom, my best friend, my brother, and my boyfriend and they all told me the same thing: "The choice is ultimately yours." The choice was so difficult because Jody has done literally nothing but open up doors for me! I'm currently her workstudy and she's given me speaking opportunities that I thought I'd never have.

I knew I had to finally start to be honest with not only Jody, but myself and what I want out of my education. I knew that I wasn't happy and I needed something to change. On Monday I emailed Jody and said I wanted to talk. She called me later because she thought something might be up. I told her that I really wanted to talk to her in person so she invited me to her house. I sat on her couch and cried and told her how torn I was...that I like her and am so incredibly grateful for all she's done for me, but I'm majoring in comm. because I feel like I should, and I don't think that's a good reason to choose a field to major in. She totally agreed and said something like this: "You're not majoring in Jody, you're majoring in a field. I don't take this personally at all. You shouldn't feel bad, people change their minds all the time! This doesn't change our relationship at all." The fact that I knew that my decision wouldn't change our relationship assured me that I finally had the freedom to choose what I wanted! Even after I told her I wanted to change my major, she still told me what kind of internships I should look at to help me as an English major, how to change my advisor, etc. We talked about minoring in comm. and civic advocacy, which is a great medium for me because I still want to be involved with the department and I still want to speak. The only bad thing that came out of the whole ordeal is that I can no longer be her workstudy because I won't be a major anymore. I'm only staying on until she finds a replacement and I "train" them. I say that it's bad because I've learned a lot from that job. It was my first job that wasn't retail/food related and I loved it! So, while it's hard to give up, I know it's the right decision for me.

Yesterday I met with my new advisor, Professor Schang (he's SO funny!). After talking to him I really started to think about some things...especially studying off campus. With English as my major I have a lot more freedom as to which courses I take and when (in fact, after this semester I'll have 8 English credits. I only have two more required courses for the major, and the other 17 English credits are all elective courses). Anyway, yesterday after I left my meeting with him I started to really map out what the 5 semesters I have left at Ripon College will look like. I saw that I have a lot more academic freedom that I initially thought. While I still don't think I want to go abroad, I think I do want to participate in a program in Chicago focused on Urban Studies. I still have to really look into it and want to talk to one of the students who was in the program last spring, but I am really excited about it!

So, Monday started of not so great. I felt like I was losing myself and not getting what I wanted and expected out of my time at Ripon College. But all in all...I made a tough decision (or as Jody called it, my first "adult" decision), and I know it was right for me. I learned that I should never be afraid to be up front with people about what I want, especially with something as important as what I want out of my education...I say it this way because I finally learned that people should be selfish about the education they're receiving. It should be tailored to you, not the other way around. It should be EXACTLY what you always wanted, and if it's not you should do something about it! I did, and I'm all the better for it.