<p>When I was a senior in high school and was starting to look at colleges, I was 100% sure I wanted to major in English and be an editor or a writer or something. However, when I got to college, I changed my mind and wanted to be a psychology major. My parents shot that down before I even had a chance to talk to my adviser...we're talking a flat out "NO. What are you going to do with that?" So I declared English on signing day (you sign a book to declare your major at my school) out of guilt... While my friends were happy that "they were an official ________ major," the first thing that came out of my mouth was "You can change your mind right?" Fast forward to junior year, and I still have that regret and wish I could go back to signing day and sign with psychology. I still have it in my life as a minor, but I'm not at peace with my decision to declare English. My parents are the ones paying for school, and I still haven't convinced them to let me major in psychology so I can't afford the consequences of going against the grain. I wish I could just hurry up with undergrad and graduate tomorrow so that I could choose what I want to study. How can I let it go and be at peace with my decision to declare English? I don't like not wanting to come home/fighting with my parents.</p>
<p>Your parents said ‘no’ to psychology because they didn’t think you could “do” anything with it – but said ‘yes’ to… English??? You’re either not telling us the whole story, or you’re trolling with us :)</p>
<p>Oh please. many students switch majors after freshman year. You have had a couple of years to reconcile this. You could actually double major too in most colleges…and a double major in English and Psychology would have been possible.</p>
<p>In fact, discuss this with your advisor now…it might not be too late to add that second major…or maybe enough courses for a minor.</p>
<p>Be an English major who takes lots of psychology courses. What do you want to do with the rest of your life, and how do you get there from here? Don’t get hung up on nomenclature- get moving with your life and education.</p>
<p>If you want to be a clinical psychologist, sit down with someone in the psych department and find out what’s involved, how many years of study, what pre-req’s are required. If you want to become a guidance counselor- ditto.</p>
<p>What exactly are you being prevented from doing, other than the little piece of paper?</p>
<p>This is not worth stressing over. Get going!</p>
<p>Isn’t it still possible to switch to psychology?</p>
<p>That was my first thought katliamom. No to psych, yes to engineering…No to psych, yes to business. No to psych, yes to English? Hmmmmm.</p>
<p>I would guess it is because psychology as a major has been in a lot of news articles lately as not being very employable. English majors are rarely discussed. If I were you, do the research on how employable each major is. Then present it to them. Make sure you show your sources. Perhaps this will change their mind. Make sure you figure grad school in to this. I, personally, would rather see my child be an English major than a psychology major, but between those two, I would not pick at it. Both seem equally unemployable. Make sure you point out the grad school angle when you do your presentation for your parents.</p>
<p>I agree with Blossom. The reality is this OP can take a bunch of psychology courses…maybe even enough for a double major or minor in psychology. To be frank, if he/she wants to be a psychologist, he/she will need to go to graduate school in the field. Try to figure out the long term goal. The reality is that many students graduate from college and pursue careers completely unrelated to their undergrad major. Get your bachelors degree…and move on.</p>
<p>I can’t see why this needs to be a subject of discussion with the parents. If the student continues to major in English, he/she could still take elective courses in psychology.</p>
<p>Take a few more psych courses and double major. Don’t take the English courses you need and major in Psych. Don’t tell your parents unless they ask. Nothing comes to us from our son’s school as to what our son’s major is - I assume it’s what he tells us, but who knows!</p>
<p>FYI - some colleges don’t even include a major on the diploma. But… the graduation program at DD’s college listed students by major, so it would not be a secret. Best to find a way to follow your heart and satisfy parents too.</p>
<p>I’m calling ■■■■■. And besides, you can’t do anything with a BS in psychology anyway. You need at least a masters. So get a masters in psychology.</p>
<p>Continue as is, but take add’l psych classes. Then apply to grad school.</p>
<p>If there’s any way you can do it, double major rather than just taking courses in psychology.</p>
<p>The reason: You may find yourself looking for a job as your first step after college, and your college’s online on-campus recruiting system will be a big help. But those systems are set up so that only people who have the majors the employer is looking for can apply for a job. If you’re not in the correct major, the system won’t accept your resume. </p>
<p>So if you think you might be job-hunting rather than applying immediately to graduate school when you finish your degree, try to be a psychology major, even if you also have to be an English major.</p>
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Are you kidding? There’s even a song about English majors:
[What</a> do you Do with a B.A. in English?/ It Sucks to be Me - YouTube](<a href=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CK6ksA0QyE4]What”>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CK6ksA0QyE4)</p>
<p>Agree with- ■■■■■? Parents can’t force a college student’s major, or even the classes they take. Grow up OP, stop scamming us or take the lead in your life. Tell us the name of any college that has you sign a book in this computer age as well.</p>
<p>Follow Mom2collegekids advise. If you’re serious about psychology, you have to get a masters degree. Since you’re taking it as a minor, you should have most of the pre-reqs. </p>
<p>Be honest with your parents about your plans. They want to hear that you have a well thought out plan/strategy for your career. They are much more likely to respect your opinion, now that you’ve been in college, made connections, done the research, and really know what you like…</p>
<p>Good Luck!</p>
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<p>If parents require the student to show them grades each semester, they can easily figure out what the student is majoring in. And if parents say that they won’t keep paying the bills if the student doesn’t follow their instructions about what to study, many students would feel “forced” to do as the parent says.</p>
<p>What is your information source that says English majors are unemployable? </p>
<p>I’m finding that English/Journalism are doing well with marcom/pr/social media jobs.</p>
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<p>Unless the student does not need the parents for money or financial aid paperwork*, the parents have absolute power over the student’s college plans by being able to withhold money or financial aid paperwork.</p>
<p>*Meaning either a full ride merit scholarship, or the student qualifies as independent for college financial aid purposes like being 24 years old, married, or a military veteran.</p>
<p>So what happened to the one post OP?</p>