When I was in my first year and a half of college, I was one of a tight-knit group of Biology and science majors at my university. I had originally decided that to make myself more competitive in the biomedical business field after college, that majoring in science would set me apart while minoring in Business Administration to gain basic business skills. However, this decision greatly affected my life and GPA over that time period until I changed my major to Business Administration. I wish I could have made a more insightful decision prior to starting school so that I could have possibly saved my GPA before I even started.
What I did not realize about being a Biological Sciences major in college was that it was difficult – extremely difficult – to obtain even a mediocre grade in entry level classes. I thought to myself that it can’t possibly be THIS much more difficult than my high school International Baccalaureate biology and chemistry classes were, and I did well in those! However, after my first semester of science courses and getting a less than acceptable GPA for my standards, I realized why these classes were so difficult – they acted as a way to weed out the “weak” students that apparently couldn’t make it through medical school if they didn’t get an A or A- in their classes. Being a science major actually caused me to compete in a manufactured “survival of the fittest” and my individual species was becoming extinct in the science world.
Reading Dad’s Biomedical Engineering Textbooks!
I used to love studying science and thought this would continue into my college studies seamlessly. When this ended up not being the case, I lost interest in my courses and generally lost interest in studying enough to make the grade because I simply wasn’t motivated anymore. Sure I liked science, but compared to all of these ultra-competitive, intense medical school hopefuls, I wasn’t fitting in with the group. During my second semester of sophomore year, I had finally had enough and realized that my time as an outsider in the science realm needed to come to an end, and I changed my major to Business Administration with a minor in Human Biology to save credits.
If life had a reset button, I would have pressed it in a heartbeat to go back to the start of my freshman year. I would have decided much earlier on that I was made to be a Business major (my GPA in Business has never dived under a 3.8 since changing my major), and not cut out from the same mold every medical student is. Had I changed my major when I should have, I would have been ale to enjoy my first few semesters at school a lot more and been more social. I definitely felt the hinderance science had on my social life, because no matter how much I had studied, whenever I had free time science was always on my mind.
Studying Gen. Chem on Halloween!
But if I hadn’t decided to change my major from the start of freshman year, I wish that I would have concentrated harder on the classes I was taking. Even though I did not like the major, I should have still understood that getting good grades matters a lot more in your life after college – especially for getting a job. I realize now that digging myself out of the hole that I fell into from science class overload is extremely difficult and took me over a few semesters to even get up to a GPA that my dad thought was acceptable to have for what I am concentrating in as an undergrad. Also, majoring in a difficult subject does not always destroy your interest in it if you are passionate, but it showed me the harsh reality that I was not as interested in the sciences as I thought and it should not be my primary focus as a college student.
Changing my major earlier on would have had a very positive effect on my college life and definitely would have decreased the unnecessary stress I have had to deal with. Not changing my major early on may have prevented me from being as close with my sorority sisters from the get-go and also from being as involved in my sorority as I have been since becoming a Business major. Minoring in biology has again increased my interest in the sciences and has given me the chance to appreciate science while not being overwhelmed by the course load or the amount of tenuous labs I had to endure each week. It is a good break from business classes and keeps me curious about the medical world while allowing me to have some more free time and ability to become involved in extra-curricular things. If I had a refresh button, I would have changed this part of my life in a heartbeat and would have been excited to see all of the options it could have opened up! But until that happens, I am glad that I finally made a change for myself that benefitted my life and still takes me in the direction that I want to go in.
Lilly Lane 