<p>I came into UMD as an engineering major, but I just switched to a double major in English and Physics. I'm curious if any other freshmen came in with majors and have decided to switch already.</p>
<p>hey, I'm from Maryland too, southern MD. I can't imagine switching majors though. There's no major for me besides English, and if I were to find I can't handle it or that I really hate it, I don't know why I would stay in college. But, yeah, I'm an English major, Poli-Sci minor, and extremely content with that :).</p>
<p>Howdy,</p>
<p>So I came in as a Biochemistry major and I'm switching to a B.S. Economics and Biology double major with history minor. It shouldn't be too bad 'cause of the AP credit.</p>
<p>well, let me tell you a little story. </p>
<p>I originally came to college with my heart set on Biomedical engineering. After about two weeks and a horrid intro to engineering lab, I subsequently dropped any thought of being an engineer. I then decided to be a math major. "I like math, what could be wrong with this?", I thought to myself. Unfortunately there was a lot wrong. I learned that in order to be a math major I would have to work a lot with theory, not exactly my strong suit, so that too was marked off of my list. I then moved on to economics; my intro econ class was interesting, and for a supposedly rough class, I was doing rather well. </p>
<p>So after deciding on econ, I decided I wanted to find a minor that would compliment econ and provide some fun courses. I found out that my school had a PPE program (philosophy, political science, economics), which seemed perfect for what I was interested in. Once again, this too fell through the cracks after I had met with my advisor and we laid out the fact that if I went for this, I could only overlap two courses, so I would have no freedom in anything I wanted to take for the rest of my life! Now, during this process, I fell in love (so to speak) with the political science courses offered here, so I decided to pick this up as my minor.</p>
<p>So in short: engineering->math->econ->econ+ppe->econ+poli sci</p>
<p>Note, this is all within my first semester of college.</p>
<p>Eh, Im still a MechE...but for one of my scholarships I have to attend these seminars that people in the career give. So far I've been to 3 ME seminars, hated them all. Went to 2 Building Construction seminars, loved it. Not changing yet...but exploring.</p>
<p>Nope, I haven't changed. I applied as a Poli Sci major and I'm sticking to it. I LOVE IT!! I'm officially declaring with my department next semester after I take the other prereq! :)</p>
<p>Yep. Came in as Exercise Science--Athletic Training, already switched to Sports Management. This semester has seemed pointless for me because I changed majors halfway through and couldn't change classes and none of my classes have anything to do with Sports Management so I go to class everday thinking "Yet another day wasted...and another useless class, except for getting elective credits". I can't wait for next semester :)</p>
<p>I switched my major from acting to dance, but it wasn't a huge problem and I was already taking the right classes because dance was my minor so I was already dancing. I flipped them, so now acting is my minor and I need the classes I was taking anyway.</p>
<p>I auditioned last year to be a BM musical theatre major, but got BA theatre performance instead, which I took. However, I'm going to reaudition for musical theatre, and if I don't get in again, I am going to be a BA theatre performance with a minor in Business Entrepreneurship and hopefully a minor in History if I can fit it in. Most of the theatre performance kids are switching to a BFA Acting, though, but I can't do it cause I want to study abroad and have minors without being here the next 25 years.</p>
<p>at my schools, students usually switch at least two times before settling down with one major</p>
<p>I seriously don't understand that. I mean, we all have a pretty good idea of stregnths and weaknesses when we start college, so I only see it as being a matter of figuring out what subject you really love. The purpose of having to take one or two courses in the sciences and humanities and fine arts, and such is to help figure out what you love, right? So, why does it take declaring a major 2 or 3 times to figure out which subject area you love so much that it's a foundation for your future career. I mean, I can understand switching once, because a major wasn't what you expected it to be, but 2 or 3 times????</p>
<p>well I guess you're one of the lucky ones who found their passion in high school, and knew what you wanted immediately entering college. I, for one, was not like that. How do you predict how good of an engineer you'll be if you'd never taken classes before? I like math, so I thought math would be a good major, but I had no idea how much was involved in the major. I only stumbled on econ because my parents made me take it. I had only a semester of it in high school, with a very horrible teacher, and I had absolutely no desire to further study it entering college.</p>
<p>Another reason people switch majors a lot is because they have no idea what wide array of majors are offered at their school. You knew you liked english, and that that is major, so you went for it. Good for you. Some people are clueless entering college that there are such majors as medieval studies, anthropology, or art history and never took those types of classes before, so they enter college with something generic to soon be bombarded with these new, interestig topics of study and they don't know what to do with themselves.</p>
<p>you think changing your major 2-3 times is bad, look at how many people change their field 3, 4, or more times after they graduate. :)</p>
<p>Michael Crichton, for example, went to medical school before he decided he wanted to write novels.</p>
<p>man you guys aren't supposed to drop out of engineering; they make it suck freshman year to weed you guys out. people don't get that.</p>
<p>I didn't declare a major yet, but I switched my intended major this year after taking different types of intro courses last year (since I'm in the liberal arts section). It seems like many people don't actually major in what they go into college thinking about.</p>
<p>For second semester of freshman year, I both transferred and switched majors, but my switch wasn't too drastic (went from secondary to elementary ed). If all you've taken is gen eds the major change as a freshman should be no big deal. If you're transferring, just be aware that one of your gen eds from your old school may become an elective at your new one--sociology was required at my first school and isn't required for elementary ed at my new one so I just had it transfer as an elective. I'll have to take another class over the summer that would have been in an elective spot for my psych minor, but one summer class is no big deal.</p>
<p>I'm not actually declared yet, because, as I said, it's possible for a major to not go as expected. But being an English major is pretty clear. But, it wasn't always my plan. If you had asked me a year ago, I would have either said I don't know what my major will be, or Mass Communications. It's funny that jbusc should bring up Michael Crichton, because he had me seriously considering Mass Communications, to put myself on the path of TV production. But I looked at the description of the Mass Comm classesin my school's course catalog and thought, "these look really boring, I can't imagine having to wade through this crap for 4 years". So, that was out the window. That's how I ended up in English, because it's the one thing I'm really good at, and the Political Science minor could change, because that choice was made fairly recently. </p>
<p>As for those who come in clueless, that's why there are required classes in various areas, so us new freshman can get a little taste of everything. I repeat, what really helped me to be pretty confident in the decision to be an unofficial english major was reading the course catalog. Just one or two sentences about a class can help you to decide if you'd want to take it and other classes like it, especially for the Midevil Studies or Anthropology major. Read and then try an into class into majors like those to see what the major would entail. Also, think about what you would do with your desired major, or think about what career you want to end up in, and then figure out what major will get you there. Maybe it's just my school, but I can't think of anyone who is completely, 110% clueless as to what they might like to major in. And, like duke and I are doing, hold off declaring your major if there's even a small possibility of changing your mind. I'm taking intro English classes with the intent of declaring it my major around this time next year, but if I find it's not a good fit, I'll declare something else. Why go through the process as a 1st semester freshman if you aren't TOTALLY sure? There's time and no one says you can't take classes within a major before you declare. I'm not an expert, but I think trying intro classes and reading about the details of majors that may be of interest are the best steps to take. You can't be at the beginning of junior year of college and still be clueless, if for no other reason then you probably won't be able to pick a major at the top of junior year and still expect to graduate at the end of the next school year.</p>
<p>I want to get into a major next semester, biology, but that doesn't seem like it's going to happen because I'm not sure if my grades are good enough. I'll be meeting with an advisor soon, and hopefully they can tell me my actual grades.</p>
<p>I came into college wanting to be a physics major with a focus in astrophysics. I took a lot of physics in high school. They were about like the courses I had in college, but I guess I magically expected real college courses to be stimulating, maybe because I desperately wanted physics to be interesting since it was something my parents approved of, and I had always been fascinated by the night sky and wanted something that would be meaningful. Well, I have to concede that I feel about like Walt Whitman in his poem "when I heard the learn'd astronomer," i.e. not interested in dissecting the universe scientifically. </p>
<p>Well, I'm now considering doubling in philosophy and German, Russian, or East Asian studies (maybe minor in all three!), and I'll probably have to hear "if you major in that, you're going to STARVE!" for the next seven semesters.</p>
<p>:-)</p>
<p>
[quote]
I'm not an expert, but I think trying intro classes and reading about the details of majors that may be of interest are the best steps to take.
[/quote]
I've taken classes in archaeology, biology, chemistry, classical studies, English, geology, German, history, math, philosophy, and political science...my reasoning being that such a wide variety of classes would surely help me decide. Unfortunately it hasn't. The trouble is that I love almost all of my classes! :eek: I'm undeclared and will probably remain so until the March deadline, but I've seriously considered majors in biology, environmental science, geology, philosophy, English, history, classical studies, biological anthropology, and linguistics. The deadline for study abroad is rapidly approaching, and I need to have some idea of my grad school field before this year is out. Right now I don't even know if I want science or humanities! Argh, the problem of too many choices. :(</p>