College Crisis

I'm a freshman in college and my major is engineering. I really don't like it. I'm decent in my classes (calc, physics) but far below others who just seem to be engineers to me. My dream is to work at Disney World. It seems silly, but I would absolutely love it. And I mean as an engineer, obviously. However, getting through engineering school is such a drain and every other day I consider switching majors. I would love, love, love to be an English major. My friends keep telling me to just switch and I say only when I know I'm going to marry a really rich guy. So right now I'm on the fence. I could major in English and fear for my future career or suffer through engineering and hope that I'll enjoy my future career. Anyone in college and want to shed some light? Or if you're not in college yet, you could discuss what majors you're considering.

I'm not sure how much light I can shed on the subject... but I'll tell you my experiences and what I've learned from them. I am a college Junior, by the way...

I started out as a Biology major and planned to go to medical school, but then I realized I was only in it for the money and finally figured out I would hate my job, so I changed before my classes even got started. I wanted to be a Public Relations rep, and I really enjoyed my classes, but people started telling me how hard it would be to find a job around here and that I would probably end up answering the phone for a marketing dept somewhere. Not fun. I changed to History (w/ plans to get my masters and teach college history) then to Elementary Education... which it what it is now. I know I wont make tons of money, but thats okay. I love my classes and I know I will enjoy my job.

Ideally, I would love to be an English major or maybe even journalism. In a perfect world I would love to write, but the thing of it is... I'm too big of a chicken to major in something that doesn't offer more stability than that (which kind of sounds like your problem with it, too...) But I have been taking English courses as my electives and I plan to get at least a minor, and maybe a major in English after I finish. I can write during the summer and do what I love, but still not have to worry about money all the time.

So, I understand wanting a job that gives you a little bit more stability than English. But, if you really hate Engineering... I would look for something else. What I ended up having to do was think about what I would want to get up and do every day, because thats what it really comes down to. If you really want to work at Disney World.. then why not? You could major in something like Public Relations, and that would give you an advantage for a job like that, but at the end of the day- if that didnt work out you would have a degree behind you (I know I said up there that its hard to find a job... but it isn't if you live near or are willing to move to a big city. Every company in the world needs at least 1 PR person. Just, where I live, it isn't very practical)

EDIT: Sorry, I'm at work so I had to quite before I finished, LoL. Anyway.. I jus wanted to say that I hope you figure something out that you like. I know how frustrating it is. I changed my major so much that my advisor suggested Career Counseling, haha. Do you know anyone that is an engineer that you could talk to? My mom is a nurse, and in the end it was talking to the Dr's she knew that convinced me I didn't want to be a Dr. So talking to someone in the field you are interested in might help you decide one way or the other.

It's very common for a freshmen to not know what they want to major in in college (you still have time to make up your mind! so don't stress it too much).

I can understand that you want to major in something that will help you find a good job and make an easy living in the future (I am the same way)... but at the same time, I don't know if I would want to keep continue studying something that I absolutely hate. (Not to mention, you are spending money to study it! Why waste money on something you don't have your whole heart in?) I feel like it'll make me miserable for the rest of my life... but yeah. I'm a sophomore in my second semester as a Nursing student and I was very lucky to have chosen a major that I actually like! I really don't know how I ended up picking Nursing but I did know I wanted to help people (I know, it's cliche XD but it's true!). I've never switch majors but I can't deny that there had been numerous times in the beginning of my freshmen year where I did consider it. (English would have been my next choice if I hated nursing). I was intimidated by the workload and I was starting to feel like nursing was too hard for me. Luckily, I held on and found that I actually really like it ...not to mention I understood the material! (I'm usually a B+ student in my classes). Maybe you'll find that you like engineering too. However, you sound like you really hate it and you really want that major in English. With a major in English you could be a teacher or even become a writer (like our beloved Mrs. Stephenie Meyer!). I don't know... I'm a true believer in doing what you love and feel is right. Think about which path will make you most happiest.

I hope you can figure this out. :] And like Briana says, maybe you can talk to an engineer and see what their views are.

Good luck!

Thanks for your responses. Sometimes I feel like I'm a freshman and I have plenty of time to change my mind but other times I think time is passing so quickly and I better make a decision quick. I actually went to the Career Resource Center in January and my test results were all over the place. My top career was a librarian (oh boy) and then most others were like business manager or accountant. At this point I'm not interested in any of those. I also have an aunt whose a chemical engineer and she just had her first child. Now she hates her job and wants to become a teacher, but it's a bit too late for her and I hope that doesn't happen to me. I always thought I would do Engineering as long as I could handle my coursework, but now I'm struggling in my classes. I guess I'll just keep you guys updated if I decide to change my mind again.

Happiness, my mom was a nurse and she's still depressed I have no interest in that. Hehe.

Yeah, I would love to hear about what you choose in the end. Please, do keep us up to date :]

And your mom is a nurse? She's depressed? :O Does she not like it? How long has she been a nurse?

have you ever heard of the disney college program? you get to work at disney for a semester or over the summer.
i would suggest trying that before you change your major.

if you google it, you can find the site.


and, my bf is an engineering major - he's a senior. and let me just tell you, it gets harder and harder. so if you're unhappy now, it's not going to get any easiar.

I have heard about the Disney thing. They're advertising it all over my school. It seems like they're looking for students with more experience but hopefully I can get my name out there and get an internship in a year or two. I haven't looked into all the details yet, but I think I'm going to now.

My mom was a nurse for about 15 years. She quit to take care of my sister and I years ago, but she still renews her nursing license every year. I think she would really love to go back if she could. She always says she hated working in the ER, but it was a good experience for her. Most of the time she worked in a private doctor's office. But yeah, she isn't depressed by the job, she's depressed that I'm not going to be a nurse, too.