Lauren Piraro
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The anxiety of starting another quarter of classes that were, once again, too challenging and stress-inducing was enough to motivate food science sophomore Mariam Alamshahi to try to change her major for the third time.
Alamshahi is currently experiencing a mid-college life crisis.
“A mid-college life crisis is the moment you realize you’re turning 20 next year and that’s two decades and what have you done with your life?” she said.
Prospective students must declare a major during Cal Poly’s application process prior to being accepted to the university. Once enrolled, many students seek to change their major.
According to Alamshahi, being in a major she doesn’t like is one of the main triggers of her mid-college life crisis, along with struggling to increase her GPA and constantly worrying about money.
She admits not being in a major that is more aligned with her career aspirations is the most worrisome.
“I have stress dreams,” Alamshahi said. “I don’t know anybody who doesn’t. It will keep me up at night and it’s always in the back of your mind.”
She realizes that her low GPA is influenced by her current major.
“By changing my major, I will have classes I am interested in,” she explains. “By taking classes that I enjoy, I am going to like what I’m learning and my GPA will go up.”
Though food science is a fascinating area of study, Alamshahi said she cannot see herself being successful in college with that major.
She has yet to tell her mother that she has already started the process to switch her major to journalism and says it’s because there is substantial influence in her family for college students to pick science-based careers.
“It wasn’t expected of me, but it was kind of like, well, science brings food to the table,” she said.
Alamshahi believes every student’s college experience differs. Students will realize at the right time if their major isn’t for them, she said.
“It took me this long to change my major, but that’s just how long it takes for you to realize what’s going on,” she said. “I wish I did it sooner because I do want to graduate in four years.”
Despite finding the right major, the pressures to make the most of her years in college have not completely diminished.
“You can’t screw around anymore,” she said. “Two more years and you’re out of here.”
Simon Manson-Hing graduated with a degree in business administration this past fall, with the intention to enter the law enforcement field. He doesn’t think a person’s college degree necessarily decides their career.
“It gives you a more broad perspective on general life experiences, rather than majoring in exactly what you will be entering into once you graduate,” he said.
Manson views his concentration in finance as a useful foundation for his future but is already proactively working to become a police officer. A career in finance is his backup plan.
“Even if I want to go into one field — law enforcement — if I have knowledge in other areas, that’s going to help me,” Manson-Hing said.
Though he always knew he wanted to enter law enforcement, he wanted to have a memorable college experience as well. He knows that whatever he pursues after graduation — whether it be finance or law enforcement — he will have developed into a skilled, capable adult ready for the “real world.”
“There’s all this life experience that happens here,” he said. “College is about gaining as much knowledge as possible.”
As important as it is to find a major that works best, Manson-Hing believes students often put unnecessary pressure on themselves to find the “right” major.
“Hopefully you pick the right major in college and maybe you have to change and maybe you don’t,” he said. “But even if you’re in the wrong major, you can still succeed if you just have the right attitude. That’s the bottom line.”
Ashley Eberle, a Career Services counselor who works exclusively with first-year students, is on the front lines combating this major crisis firsthand. Many freshmen are already questioning whether their major is right or not, which could lead them to a mid-college life crisis.
Along with the doctoral intern Jay Bettergarcia, Eberle co-facilitated “Oh, The Places You’ll Go: A Major Exploration Group.” The five-week program was specifically designed with curriculum to aid freshmen students with proactive and helpful strategies to decide which major better suited their future career and life goals.
“I like to tell students that that decision is probably not going to fall from the sky,” she said. “I really like to guide students through trying new things that will lead them to new experiences that might open possible doors.”
Some of those techniques include career research, informational interviewing of professionals in specific career fields they are considering and volunteering or participating in an internship or club.
“All of those opportunities will have subjected students to people they otherwise never would have met and experiences they otherwise would not have had that may make that light bulb click,” she said.
Eberle believes a student’s happiness in their major directly impacts the happiness of their college experience as a whole.
“Are my grades high enough to get into this major? Is this major too impacted? If I can’t get into the major that I want, what is going to be my Plan B so I can still get into the career that interests me,” she said. “And those are pretty heavy concerns for first year students — someone who is 18 years old — to grapple with.”
Though students are able to take major courses early on in their degree progress, there are drawbacks to having 17- and 18-year-old students decide what their major will be so early on.
“They do need to decide on that application for admission what their major is going to be and that does put a lot of pressure on students — both to make that decision early and pressure when they change their minds.”
At the heart of Eberle’s major exploration focus group is the idea that a student’s major does not dictate their path once they graduate from Cal Poly.
“Some of it is informing students that the decision they make as a freshman is not a lifetime decision,” she said. “It feels like such a weighty decision that there is so much anxiety around it that they can’t make a decision, when in reality, so many professionals have had such winding paths. Very few are linear.”
Eberle incorporates many ways for personal development and self-actualization into her program’s curriculum.
“Where we start in the group, and even in most first-year appointments, is not even what major is right for you, but who are you as a person?” Eberle said.