October 25, 2021 by

This post goes out to all those who are unsure about their majors, are currently  undeclared, or feel stuck within the major they have picked because they don’t want to end up behind on their four-year plan. 

My freshman year, I lived in Printy, the beloved dorm that countless students have come to call home for a part of their time at Cedarville. Printy is a unit-style dorm, with eight girls in each unit. 

Out of the eight girls in my unit, six of us switched our majors at least once. Myself included. 

I’m here to tell you that while you shouldn’t question every decision to death, it is OK, perfectly normal, and very common to question your major at some point in your academic career … and many times, it is worth considering changing. 

 

Storytime

Some of my PWID friends & I!

I came into Cedarville having completed my general education requirements at community college in high school, thus entering as a sophomore. I am graduating a year early this coming May (cue the tears). So when I began contemplating switching my major from linguistics, I was initially very unsure. 

I have always had a heart for missions, ministry, languages, and teaching. My mom was the first to encourage me to look into becoming certified in TESOL, or Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages, so I decided to come into Cedarville as a linguistics major minoring in TESOL.

However, even before I had taken any true linguistics classes, I had some doubts about my direction. While I was passionate about ministry and languages, I wasn’t sure if zeroing in on that was how I wanted to spend my three years at Cedarville University and life beyond graduation. 

Next to my faith, writing has always been one of my greatest passions, and I longed to combine the two. Little did I know that the Lord placed me in the units of an amazing RA named Lauren who was a professional writing and information design (PWID for short)  major. She and another one of my Printy sisters, also a PWID major named Lauren, were incredibly influential in encouraging me to consider and eventually switch to their major. They saw my heart for writing, design, and nonprofit ministry, and thought that their major was a perfect fit for me. 

I had to drop my TESOL minor to fit in my PWID classes in the three years I am here, but my dream is to become TESOL certified after I graduate, but personally, I wanted to find a major more specific to my passions for writing and design. I could not be more grateful that I did. 

So, you’ve gotten this far in the post. Chances are, you’re now seriously considering making a little switch. If so, read on. 

 

Meet With Your Advisor 

Now, you may be feeling empowered and ready to submit a “major change request” form, but hang on a second. Let me preface this by stressing just how important it is for you to meet with your advisor before you switch your major. 

You may think you have your plan figured out right now, but there are things like internships, capstones, pre-reqs, and other requirements that make it crucial for you to talk through your decisions with this qualified individual.

Don’t worry that your advisor won’t be on your side. Yes, they may want to keep you in their program because they don’t want to lose students and love getting to pour into you themselves. But I can promise you right now that your advisor, along with the other faculty at Cedarville, want the best for you, and they will certainly do everything in their power to help you reach a place where you feel peace about your program of study. 

When I was a linguistics major, my advisor was the only current faculty member in the linguistics department. While she did put in her two cents about linguistics and did a little last talk-up of the linguistics program, she heartily encouraged me to follow where I believed the Lord was leading me. 

When it comes time to switch your major, simply go to myCU and search for “major change request.” As I said above, it is critical that you wait for an advisor’s approval, but this is an easy and quick process. You can also add or remove concentrations, minors, and other specifications in this part of the myCU portal. 

 

Prayer: The First Move

Yes, this is the end of the blog post, but I can’t close without mentioning the power of prayer when making decisions. Guess what? You may feel like you have many decisions on your plate right now, but buckle up, because there will only be more coming your way throughout your life. 

While the fact that we have so many decisions to make in our lives can be very anxiety-inducing (believe me, as a senior, I understand), the Lord has used stressful times in my life, as well as other seasons, to prove His faithfulness to me when I come to Him in prayer. Yes, God is the King of the Universe, but He wants us to come to Him with our brokenness, worries, and fears, and He loves to meet our needs with His fullness. God won’t always answer our prayers in the way we want Him to (although many times, He does), but the beauty of prayer is that it aligns our hearts with the very heart of Jesus and gives us a new perspective and peace that passes all understanding. 

No matter what is on your mind today – switching your major, passing an exam, missing home, navigating a relationship with a friend – the Lord has promised to be with you and to sustain you. Claim the promise David declares about his God in Psalm 139:5, “You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me.” 

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