While glancing through Spec's list of 116 traditions, I paused at tradition #42 "Change your major. Twice.", thinking "is that actually a tradition?"
So, like absolutely every Columbian's reaction when their prof. asks a question about David Hume, I mused over that thought for hours, asking and answering my own questions. And here---with the help of a few friends---is what I came up with on the topic.
Do many Columbians change their majors?
Well, yes.
Why?
Here are three common reasons.
Case 1: Student X had dreams of saving the world. Student X realized saving the world meant uncertainty, hard work, and less pay. Student X gave up.
A friend aptly put that changing one's major wasn't a tradition at Columbia, it was selling out on one's dream of saving the world (more on this later).
Case 2 (Version 1): Class "blah blah blah" kicked my butt (typically Orgo). I now hate *insert major* (typically Chem).
As Spec's residential SEAS kid, I've seen this one happen a lot. For Econ, I'd say that class is Micro with Elmes, for Chem it's definitely Orgo, for Comp Sci it's when you have to learn ugh, theory and pointers and stuff, ew.
