By: Chloe Woodin (Resident Advisor-Shuswap)
What to do if you think you might be in the wrong faculty!
People are often surprised when I tell them that I’ve been in three different faculties. “Aren’t you worried about adding time to your degree?” they ask me. “So you’ve wasted years and thousands of dollars on courses that don’t even count towards your degree?” “How could you have changed your mind so many times?”
The truth is, I was unprepared to make such a big decision about my future when I first graduated from high school. At 17, I didn’t really understand what it meant to study arts, or science, or engineering at the university level. I didn’t have any real career goals, and I didn’t know how heavily your undergrad degree influences your future job prospects. I had the attitude that “I’ll do what feels right for now, and work out the rest later”. 
It took me two full years out of high school to actually figure out what I wanted to study. I spent my first year in general arts, and another year in science, figuring out what my interests were, what I was good at, and what I could see myself doing as a career, before eventually ending up in engineering physics. My reason for transferring was simple: I tried something out, didn’t like it, made a change. Not everyone will follow the 4-year degree path; for me, it just took a couple tries to get it right.
Although my path to graduation is a little unconventional, I don’t regret the two years I spent in other faculties. I’m confident that I’m heading in the right direction now, and that’s what matters most.
Here are some tips if you’re thinking of transferring:
Ask yourself the right questions:
Why did you choose your current faculty in the first place?
If the answer is as simple as “I liked this subject in high school/I used to get good grades in this subject”, that might not be a solid enough reason to get you through the next few years. In university you’re expected to do a lot of independent studying, and if you’re not passionate about the subject, you might struggle with motivation.
Does your current program help you get to where you want to be, career-wise?
What are your career goals? Will your current course of study help you achieve that goal? Even if you don’t have a specific career in mind yet, do jobs in this field sound exciting to you?
If you’re doing poorly in your courses, ask yourself why.
Is it because you’re not used to the increased workload, or because you’re not interested in the subject? Studying can actually be fun if you’re reading about subjects that you like! 
There will always be required courses that you won’t like, but there should be enough courses that you DO like to offset the bad ones.
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