Katrina Stuckwisch

Hi, my name is Katrina Stuckwisch and I am a junior from Brownstown, Indiana. When I first came to Indiana University, I thought I knew exactly what I wanted to do with my college experience in terms of classes, major, and career. Today everything has changed! Since my freshman year, I have changed my major approximately eight times and I am now doing something that I never even knew was a major at IU.

I started out in the Business school, then moved to the School of Public and Environmental Affairs (SPEA), then I went to the School of Continuing Studies, and now, three years later I am back in SPEA. I am majoring in legal studies and plan to be a paralegal for a lawyer after I graduate.

Even though I have changed my major so many times and taken a wide variety of classes, I am still going to graduate on time. This is possible because I have taken mostly general education classes that count for a variety of majors and that have also given me a chance to explore different areas of study (of course, my advisor points out that while I did the right thing in taking the general education classes that would keep my options open for many majors, that would not necessarily be the case for all majors). Fortunately, the majors I was considering worked for this. I guess its important to check this out with your advisor to be sure. Any way, I have taken classes in a variety of topics such as: psychology, sociology, computers, and law - which is what led me to my major.

The best advice I could give to an incoming freshmen would be to immediately explore and don't be afraid to change your major because ultimately you will be the one to live with your decision. Freshmen could, of course, come in with a few majors of particular interest to them, but they shouldnt limit themselves to just one major. As I said, I ended up choosing a major that I didnt know existed when I came to IU as a freshman. If I had continued as a business major, I would be doing something for at least the rest of my college years (and probably longer) that I am not really interested in. Also, it is important to keep in touch with your advisor - mine helped me the most.