This fall, I transfered to UC Irvine as a history major. After spending what felt like an eternity in the community college system, I felt excited about taking on a new challenge at the next level. For a variety of different reasons however, I wasn't entirely prepared for transition from the semester system of a community college (16 weeks) to the quarter system of a UC (10 weeks). It seems as though they should have classes about transferring to a 4 year university that are mandatory instead of just being optional.
My first quarter hit me hard. I didn't take the time to entirely understand what was required of my major going in. All I wanted to do was get out of community college and finish the two years required for my bachelor's degree. But I hit a major roadblock as I was enrolling in my first classes. That roadblock of course, was the school's foreign language requirement, and in my case that meant Spanish. While I was working my way through community college, I was under the impression that all I needed was one foreign language course to satisfy the requirements of my new institution. (Looking back, I definitely should have clarified the requirements in advance) Needless to say I was shocked when UCI informed me that I needed to complete an additional 5 quarters (6 quarters is what's needed to graduate) of language. I had gotten through Spanish 1 with ease, but hadn't absorbed much in the process. Faced with the tall task of completing 5 quarters of foreign language, I enrolled in Spanish 1B, hoping I remembered enough of Spanish 1 to get me through. (Spanish 1 at the community college is equivalent to Spanish 1A at the UC). Sadly, I struggled from the outset. Between working 3-4 days a week, reading a great deal for my history courses and the rigors of learning a language, I realized a change was needed. I felt as though language just wasn't for me and I was beginning to realize that I didn't have a direction with my major either.
...A little background on why I chose to become a history major in the first place...
I had spent 6 years at community college and realized that it was time to start taking my education seriously. Having been undeclared for my entire college career thus far, I knew it was time to pick a major so that I could follow a path to transferring. History was the only class I had enjoyed and let's face it...I really loved historically fictional movies. This, I thought, was a no brainer. What I didn't know, was what I intended to use the major for after graduation. (The most common question I have been asked, "So, do you want to be a teacher?" My response, "I don't know.")
Flash back to about week 6 of the fall quarter at UCI. I realized that language just wasn't going to work for me. As I would read my Spanish book I kept thinking, "this looks so foreign to me!" (which of course, it is!). It's as though my brain just didn't want to cooperate. I had toyed with the idea of changing my major to political science since the first week of the quarter. I had actually met a student in one of my history classes who was also struggling with the language requirement and thinking about changing his major to political science as well. After several failed attempts at meeting with a counselor in the Social Sciences department, I finally secured a walk-in appointment. I explained my situation to the counselor and my desire to transfer to the political science major. My counselor quickly outlined the requirements for the political science major, reminded me that I was only 3 upper division classes away from a history minor and informed me that I would need 1 year of math, but no language to complete my degree. This was music to my ears (even though there was math involved, I found it to be the lesser of two evils). Having already switched to the grading option, "pass/no pass" during the second week of the quarter, I realized that I no longer needed to stress about passing Spanish and could now focus on doing well in my history courses. Two days later, I met with my Spanish professor and informed him I would not be returning to class and would be focusing on the remaining classes I needed to complete. (He was already aware of my situation and was understanding)
Sitting in the counselor's office, I felt as though things were starting to make sense. Something felt right, more focused about this decision to change my major. Coming in as a history major, I had no idea what path I wanted to take, or what avenues I could explore with it. I know that I've said that I was excited in the past, but now I feel as though I believe it even more. For the winter quarter I'm taking an introductory course on Law. I'm looking forward to taking a course on International Relations in the Spring. (Something I think could compliment my love for travel) The pieces to the puzzle may not yet be complete, but I'm happy with this new direction and I look forward to where it takes me.
