Don't Know What to Change My Major to.

I’m completely having a hard time choosing what to major in. I’m a Pre-Nursing major…Sophomore year. After a difficult summer with a death in the immediate family and actually taking a science class like A&P 1, I noticed that nursing is not for me and I would not be able to handle everyday tasks in the hospital as a nurse without losing my mind since sometimes patients die. I’m being forced to continue the class since if I drop it or withdraw, apparently my FAFSA will be affected and would have to pay back the loans and my family already is struggling to pay my tuition and rent. I met with a career counselor this week, but that did not help since I still cannot decide on a major. I’m just going to list what I wanted with a career:

-Not a heavy amount of social interaction. Especially business/management related. I’m an introvert, sadly. Nothing helps with this and I can’t change it no matter how much I try or want to. Talking to people is hard for me. It was already hard talking to my career counselor. Goes all the way back to childhood.
-Salary of at least 70k.
-Not requiring classes such as O-Chem 2 and up, or any other science and math classes more than the intro. Math was never my strong suit in my life. If I cannot even make a C in A&P 1 right now even with tutoring, I doubt I would be able to handle something requiring heavy science and math classes like Calc 1-3, O-Chem 1-3, and Physics 1-3.

  • Job guarantee after graduation with Bachelors. Masters is ok too depending on the major.

Wish I could take a gap year or even a semester to figure things out, but my family refused and is so against it since everybody they know that is my age, is in college and knows what they are doing.

Work hard to finish the semester as strongly as you can. Even though you will have to push yourself, go to your school counseling center to help you with the grieving process as well as help you organize your thoughts about what to do next. The counselor might also help you work it out with your parents if you allow them to.

$70K is such an arbitrary number - why did you pick it? How far that goes is also going to vary a lot - what $70K can get you in Minneapolis or Lincoln, NE is going to be very different than what it can get you in New York or San Francisco.

There is no major that will guarantee you a job after you graduate.

What kinds of things are you interested in? What classes have you enjoyed outside of your nursing prerequisites?

Some ideas on picking majors:

  1. Go to your college’s career center or HS Guidance Office and talk to them. They may have tests/tools that help you figure out what career (and therefore major) is best for you)
  2. What classes do you prefer? Science/Math? English/History?
  3. Read this article: What problem do you want to solve?
    https://■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/pulse/20140804104444-17000124-let-s-kill-the-college-major
  4. Take an online quiz…there are many
    http://www.luc.edu/undergrad/academiclife/whatsmymajorquiz/
    http://www.slu.edu/beabilliken/quiz-college-majors
  5. Talk to the professor/teacher in your favorite class and see what they think
  6. Pre-med/sociology/public health/psychology are majors where you want to help people directly.
    Business/engineering/comp sci are majors where you want to solve technical/organizational problems.
    Which is more appealing to you?