Students are pressured their entire lives to choose their major before beginning college. This pressure, along with the costs of college, forces many students to decide their major on a whim.
For students deciding to change their major after beginning college, it can be an even bigger decision to make. Up to 30% of students change majors after declaring their original one.
Choosing to major in engineering is a big decision to make.
Signing up for years of hard classes, a heavy workload and long nights of studying isn’t something every student desires. Despite that, two female students decided that all of these factors were worth it.
Senior Allison Metschke, an environmental engineering student, decided to make the leap and switch majors after starting college.
“I started pre-health my freshman year, but sophomore year, I switched to engineering because I joined a club on campus that was about sustainability and the environment, so I realized my passion laid more with that,” Metschke said.
Similarly, freshman civil engineering major Isabel Adams also switched majors to civil engineering after discovering a newfound passion.
“I was originally a biology pre-med major, but I switched halfway through my first semester because I realized that I wanted to study more applied math and science, and I really enjoyed physics and chemistry and hated biology, so that’s what made the most sense for me.” Adams said.
Though changing majors was a tough switch to make after committing to biology, Adams found that this was the right choice for her.
“I don’t have a whole lot of experience, but I can say that it has been positive,” Adams said. “Professors are very encouraging, and I have a lot of my classes with the same people, which encourages a sense of community.”
Metschke found her community when she had the opportunity to major in environmental engineering as one of the first few students, as it was recently added to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s bachelor’s program in fall of 2022.
“I am going to be part of the first few people graduating with my degree,” Metschke said. “We are kind of in the first round of classes, which is really nice because they’re really focusing on us. There’s only about five people in all of my classes.”
Through these two students’ dedication and passion for the work they are doing, they have found that changing their major to engineering has turned out to be an overall positive experience.
“There’s definitely more men than women, like most of the time I’m the only girl in my group projects, and most of my professors are male,” Metschke said. “It’s just something I got used to; I don’t see it as an issue, and I don’t know if I’ve been treated differently because I’m one of the only girls. I feel like if anything, they go out of their way to help me more if I need it.”