May Have Chosen the Wrong College... Now What?

Thank you all for your replies. I do think that I’m probably more anxious than I should be. I have a bit of a perfectionistic nature and prefer to get things right the first time. :slight_smile:

@am9799 You are so right. I do plan on joining many clubs for my own enjoyment, but didn’t really think about the educational value they’d have. Hoping to be a part of Psy Chi and participate in community service… that will cover a lot of ground I was intending to get in the classroom.

@“Erin’s Dad” I did take AP psych through my high school, so I have intro out of the way. Was hoping to take intro to psych research, abnormal psych (both 200 level classes), Spanish (I need 5 semesters of Spanish before being allowed to study abroad in a Spanish speaking country), my honors colloquium, freshman seminar, and a sociology course. I definitely don’t want to jump into my upperclass courses too early.

@Jamrock411 Parents agreed to pay for $20k, and I’m taking on the rest. Without taking potential tuition increase into account, it’s looking like I’ll be taking $8k/year. I have a summer job and have applied for numerous scholarships (and Peace Corps would help pay debt should I be accepted to serve), but I’ll also likely be going to grad school and am looking into a career that does not offer high pay. Not intending to go into mental health counseling, but rather school counseling or rehabilitation employment counseling.

@mamaedefamilia I was thinking the same think about the advisor (clearly I’m not a fan of her). There’s only one advisor for all of the science majors. She’s a biology professor, and I’ve been told she doesn’t quite support psych majors and often pressures them to go into other fields. Should I be talking to an advisor in a different field? The social justice minor would eat up a lot of credits, and I understand what you mean. There is already a community service focus built into many other classes, being a Jesuit school, and other clubs would probably give me what I’m looking for. I actually just got an email this morning with the new DCPL, and they just made two semesters of language a requirement. I’d like to study in a Spanish or French speaking country (because the Peace Corps prefers this), but although Spanish countries are significantly cheaper, students must take 5 semesters of Spanish to study there. Cutting out the minor though may make that easier to do.

To answer your other questions, I would definitely prefer to stay in college 4 years simply because of the cost, so yes, I am anxious about the cost, but it is important to me that I go to a private school, and I did receive a substantial amount of scholarship money from this school. I tried to talk my parents into taking a gap year with Americorps early last year, but they were not supportive at all. They worried about the safety and in general wanted me to take the more traditional college route. (I think it was partially a pride thing too). I spent last night looking up which open curriculum are still accepting apps, but I only found one school whose app was due today and doesn’t offer a psych major.