Finding Your Place at Drew

Something that a lot of first-year students struggle with is finding their major. In my opinion, Drew is a really great place for finding your career path. When I started here, I had a clear idea of what I wanted to major in but by taking a variety or classes and gaining new experiences, I ended up changing my mind. 

One thing that really helped with this decision was having a great advisor. Coming into Drew as a freshman, I was almost positive that I would graduate with a degree in theater because theater had been something that I’d always loved as a hobby. My advisor strongly encouraged me to take a variety of different classes because she said I’d never know if there were other subjects that I might be passionate about but never get a chance to study because of my close-mindedness. I wearily took her advice and by the end of the year, I realized that by taking different types of classes, that theater was something I enjoyed only as hobby and might make a better minor for me. Through taking classes such as, Italian, Macroeconomics and Literary Analysis, I found a lot more about my academic strengths 

and weaknesses. 

Throughout high school I took French as my language elective. I took the language placement test and planned on taking French later on at Drew. After meeting with my advisor during my first week of classes at Drew, she told me to look at the majors and minors offered and list off which ones sparked my interest. I listed Italian as something that I would be interested in learning and decided to take Italian 101 during my first semester. I ended up really liking Italian and finding it easy to pick up because of my knowledge of French. I received A’s in both Italian 101 and 102 which gave me the opportunity to become an tutor in both subjects this year. By taking a class I hadn’t even planned on taking when first signing up for courses, I found something that I had an interest in and got an opportunity to use my skills to help other students. 

By this year, my sophomore year, I was much more adjusted to the lifestyle of college and much less overwhelmed by picking a major. One piece of advice I have for incoming freshman is to wait until sophomore year before declaring your major. While you may be 100% certain about your path in life, taking a variety of classes can open your mind to subjects you may not have even considered. It may also reassure you that what you chose as a major in the beginning is what you want to be doing, which is great too. The first year at a university can be pretty a pretty confusing and strange time, so make sure you try out a variety of things that spark your interest because you never know what it may lead to.