Major change

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I have loved math ever since I can remember. I love the logic and concreteness of it. I always thought I wanted to be a math teacher, until my mom heard about actuaries through a coworker. After looking into the career, I decided I wanted to study to be an actuary. I made that decision in 9th grade, and was excited to begin the path to being an actuary when I got to Ohio State. When I was taking my major prerequisites, I was anxious to get into my major classes. However, when I got into my major, I was extremely unhappy. I was not doing well in my classes, and I had no interest in learning the material. It took me a while to realize that I was simply in the wrong major. The actuarial science major is largely focused more around money than it is around math, which was not what I was looking for in my major. I also realized how energized I felt when I was learning about things in my other classes- such as learning about languages from my Spanish professor who is also a candidate for his PhD in Hispanic Linguistics. Through some serious self-reflection, conversations with close friends and family members, and guidance from a counselor and Career Counseling and Support Services, I decided to change my major.

Even though this was a change that would ultimately make me happier, it was still an extraordinarily difficult decision to make. I was letting go of the plans I had made when I was 15 years old. I was letting go of a major that all but guarantees a career with an attractive salary upon graduation. And, I was entering into a lot of unknowns about the future. Grad school, something I had never considered, became a really sensible option. I had no clear path to a career the way I had before. I was not sure that I could graduate in four years. But, the most important thing, the thing that made all of those scary things pretty insignificant, is how much happier I am and how much more excited I am about my academic career now that I have switched my major. It did not come easily, and it was most certainly a process of letting go, but it was the best decision for me and I would make it one hundred times more if I had to.

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