Changing (your major) for the better

Do you remember your doctor’s appointments from your childhood? How about the layout of the doctor’s office? Or the route you took to get there?  It’s not typical (I would assume) to have some of your favorite childhood memories be your doctor’s appointments. But I do! I had an amazing Pediatrician and she is the reason why I still remember small details like her office layout and such. 

When I was seven years old, I was interviewed by my local Fox News station. Upon being asked about what I wanted to be when I grew up,  I replied “A pediatrician.”  Apparently, this answer was very shocking to my mother, so much so that after the fact, she told me to “Spell it” (as a joke) but I seriously had no idea how. So, the next day, I was sure to ask my social studies teacher, Mr. Capone, how to spell it. And later on that day, what do you think I did? I spelled it. 

So let’s flash forward to 2020

Which marks my first year at Carleton. All of my classes were on Zoom, and the only legitimate reasons that I had to leave my room were to eat, do laundry, or shower.  While being cooped up in my room, I was taking my first-ever Calculus class on Zoom, and it wasn’t easy.   I hadn’t taken any form of Calculus beforehand, and when you mix that with a trimester system, you learn a lot about yourself! Unfortunately, I failed my first class ever. Thankfully, I had the six-week break (thanks to our lovely trimester system) to reflect on it.  If that was only Calculus…I couldn’t even fathom what a Biology or Chemistry class would be like.  So from that point forward, I zeroed in on the humanities, particularly the History and Africana studies departments, and took a break from STEM for the rest of my freshman year. 

Sophomore year came around,

and I felt ready to tackle STEM again, seeing as though classes went back to being held in person. It almost felt like a new school, and I was excited because I thought that I had the hang of the trimester system. I ended up falling in love with an introductory Chemistry course, as a lot of the material had been familiar to me.  I was reminded about how much I liked studying Chem in high school. By my sixth term at Carleton, I declared a major in Chemistry–the start of a love-hate relationship. As I progressed through the major, gaps in my understanding of Chemistry grew larger. I no longer felt confident in telling people what my major was. At this point, I pondered the idea of switching majors, but for some reason felt so compelled to stay in Chemistry. While I do love the field, I also love mastery. As a result of this, I decided to switch my major to Africana Studies. As I write this, I have just one course left in the major and I will be able to start my comps presentation THIS SUMMER! Who would have known that the excessive amount of humanities courses that I took during my freshman year would allow me to swiftly transition into a completely different major? 

It was a journey…

As a first year, I didn’t realize the power of a liberal arts education.  However, over the course of my time here at Carleton, I have learned that there is no rule– at least at Carleton– that says that you must declare a major within the natural sciences to pursue a career in Healthcare. So while pre-Health at Carleton was not for me, I am still on track to work in healthcare, the way that I hoped to when I was seven.