At the end of the last year, I wrote a blog post about being halfway through college. I discussed how unusual the feeling was and my amazement at the changes it had brought about, especially in my academic and career plans. I also said this, “But if the change in my previous plans is any indication, these plans will have morphed by the time I’ve reached the end of college – all because of the possibilities.”

How right that statement was.

If you haven’t noticed already, my blog is now called “Psy-Guy” and my header says “junior psychology major.” That’s right. I’ve changed majors, from biology to psychology. Thankfully, for the title’s sake, the abbreviations were relatively similar.

So what drove me to make this change? A lot of things really. One of them was that I was really struggling in biology, which I attribute to a lack of genuine interest in the material. Think of it this way: If you’re made to take a class and you don’t enjoy the subject matter, you aren’t going to really learn it, even if you get good grades. Such was the case with some of my biology classes and especially my chemistry ones.

In the two psychology classes I had taken, I not only excelled, but I really remembered almost everything I learned. And I found myself applying it.

It wasn’t an easy change. Before the switch, my dilemma was constantly on my mind. By changing majors, I was giving up my automatic slot to medical school – a huge and conclusive change to my career path. I was afraid of what others would think. I worried that I was changing for the wrong reasons.

Luckily I had the support of my family, friends, teachers and advisers. The final push to change probably came when I visited the counseling center here at Gannon. At the end of my session with Dr. Jodi Giacomelli, she told me that, in my heart, I had already switched. When I asked her why she said that, she said, “Because you’ve been talking about biology in the past tense the whole time.”

So here I am, four weeks into my first semester as a psychology major, and I’m wondering why I ever doubted myself. I love my classes, teachers, classmates and all the possibilities ahead of me. I don’t know what the future holds, but I’m excited for it. And you can bet I’ll be talking more about it here.

Welcome to Psy-Guy, a look inside the mind of a psychology major.