But Wait, If You’re Hispanic, Why Are You Majoring In Spanish?

Truth be told, this is a question I hear a lot, from friends, colleagues, even my parents have asked me a few times.  Choosing your major is one of the toughest decisions a college student has to make. Sometimes you genuinely have no idea as to what you want to do once you graduate from college. I jumped from major to major and from this school to another and back again. I’ve been (in no particular order) a criminal justice major, a psych major, an English major, a business major and a Spanish major all in 4 years of college. Business was boring, criminal justice was depressing and psych was great until my chosen path (BS in Psych on a neuroscience track) required too much math for me to be able to handle. After many tears, sleepless nights and hours spent in professors office hours, I realised that I needed to study something that I enjoyed or I was going to burn out- and fast. Language has always been something I excelled in, regardless of what it was. I knew from my previous experiences in other majors that I enjoyed helping out other people in real time. Interpreting seemed like a good choice- I had already been doing it for most of my life. Unfortunately, I cannot put down doctors visits and parent-teacher conferences under the “experiences” part of my resume. I chose Spanish mostly because I had a working knowledge of it. I could write, read, and speak it, but all in very casual, non academic settings. It seemed logical to take my understanding to the next level and really hone in on the skills that I already possessed. It’s been quite the ride picking and choosing a major, but I definitely made the right decision for myself. I love Spanish, I love how expressive and romantic it can be. I love it in spite of fact that the thought of run-on sentences makes my ex-English-major skin crawl. As soon as I started taking my first block of classes, I knew I made the right decision. The Spanish department at UMass is great, it provides a lot of academic support and understanding for its students. I feel like the classes I’m taking will help me out in my future endeavours, and even the other ones I’ve taken have given me experience for different situations.

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