My experiences so far as an English major

When I first enrolled at Coastal Carolina University in 2017, I had chosen early childhood education as my major. I wasn’t exactly sure about what I wanted to do yet but decided to give that a try.

Last semester, the beginning of my junior year, I entered the Professional Program and began an internship at an early learning center. I quickly realized that it was not a good fit and had a big decision to make. I could either finish it out, hope that I found a way to enjoy what I was doing since I was so close to getting a degree that would secure me a good job. Or, I could pursue my passion, push back my graduation date, and not know what to expect.

I didn’t want any regrets and knew I couldn’t stay in something just because I was afraid of a change.

My first semester as an English major has been an amazing experience and it has made me glad I decided to switch my major.

My catalogue year was updated from 2017 to 2019 when I switched, and I chose English studies as my concentration. The options for a concentration are creative writing, linguistics, rhetoric and composition, literature and culture, and English studies. I chose the broader concentration because I wanted experiences in each part of the field. I have gotten to sharpen my writing skills in a creative writing class I really enjoy and have also found that I love Latin American and British literature.

It was definitely worth switching even though I will most likely be pushing back my graduation date. If you are on the fence about changing yours for any reason, I would suggest doing it. I knew that English would be a much better fit for me, and I’m much more interested in the material and enjoy going to my classes.

The purpose of college is to get experience in things you enjoy and sharpening those skills, so if you are in classes that you don’t enjoy for a major you don’t care about, you are wasting your time and money.

However, I’m thankful for my time as an education major. I got great experiences and learned things that I can still apply in my life. It’s made me more well-rounded. It’s also fun when I see the overlap from education into English and it’s something I remember from an old class.

My English classes inspire me and leave me with things to think about every day. Asking big questions, trying to figure out the meaning of life, and searching for “Truth with a capital T” are just a few things done by English majors on a daily basis.