What to do when your major is not your passion anymore.
Too late to change majors and just want to graduate already? Feel like college sucked your passion out of you? Well, you are not alone.
I started my college career in 2017 and didn’t start to feel burnt out of my passion until I was half way through my junior year. Trust me, it sucked. Now I don’t blame the university, but probably the construct of the curriculum. The first two years as a theatre major, you are experiencing yourself in ways you never thought possible. However, for me it began to feel stagnant after the first couple of years. I, personally, was not cast as much as my peers, but I fully blame that on the fact that I got involved within my university and didn’t stay completely within my major of study. This is frowned upon within some people's personal opinion. My opinion is that it taught me so much, and that if I hadn’t found other organizations, I would be graduated and stuck. Now I’m not saying that I am right out of college, and have the career of my choice. Heck nah. However, the organizations taught me there is more than just your field of study that you can learn while in college.
After my freshman year of college, I realized I wasn’t feeling fulfilled by just going to class and hanging with the same people from those classes. I started to hang out with one of my friends that I had previously met before my freshman year at my new student orientation. She joined a sorority our freshman year, I would’ve too but it just wasn’t the right timing for me. When I decided to go through recruitment my freshman year, I had many different opinions in my head as echos telling me this isn't my place. So when I was hanging out with her the following year, I had zero intentions of joining. I then met some of her sisters and just clicked. Even better, they felt the click, too! I got a COB, Continuous Open Bid, for Delta Zeta a week later. Then I had no clue where this would take me. Throughout my years as a DZ, I was the Chaplin for 5 out of 6 of the semesters I was apart of. As Chaplin I learned that I could public speak without a script, organize a lunch and a message, and communicate with my chapter. Yes, I could’ve learned those things while getting involved more within the Theatre fraternity, however the path I took was the best path for me.
Now, when you begin to feel your major is no longer where you feel at home, it’s not a bad thing to search for the feeling else where. I found mine within my sorority sisters, and making connections throughout my campus. If a sorority or fraternity is just not your thing, I very much understand. However, there are so many other organizations and people out there for you. Like student government, maybe organizations within your major that might re-spark that passion, or maybe within your dorm or church. There are so many options. But that covers the community feel. What happens when you are too far into your major to change, and you just don’t see it as your career anymore? I can only tell you what I did, and this is just one of so many options out there.
I decided to start a minor in my last two semesters of college. Crazy, but not impossible. I got my minor in Advertising, Public Relations and Applied Communications. Personally my major prepared me for these classes. What I wasn’t prepared for was the fact of real curriculum vs. Performance curriculum. I had to get back into writing essays, and taking actual exams after three years of walking around a room acting like a table, chair, or animal. (Voice and movement is fun.) Once I finally got back into the groove of real classes, I realized I am so much more than just a theatre major. I could sell, write, and obviously public speak. Just getting into the basic classes of a new career opened so many doors that I didn’t even see before. I am now about to start my Masters in Business Administration, and I cannot tell you how scared and nervous I am to begin these very real and challenging courses. However, I am also super excited to see all the doors appear as I go. From actor, to Business Administration. It’s very surreal. Brings me back to my life unexpected. I am now aspiring to own my own theater, and make the community of theatre lovers that I grew up in and shared with my sister and family.
If you find yourself in a similar position, don’t give up. Just look up, and look around. The more you open yourself up to, the more you will see what waiting for you to take and make your own. Keep going!
♡ Your Blunt Big Sis
