Like many college students, I came to MSU with no clue what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. I was officially an undecided major, and I was just fine with that. I breezed through my freshman year with a few bumps in the road (turns out college algebra isn’t my thing) and then I decided I didn’t want to be undecided anymore.

I thought that since I thought the human body was interesting, I should do something with that. For about 2 days I was a pre-physical therapy major and then when I found out I couldn’t do anything with that degree, and I’d have to move to go to graduate school, I was forced to rethink my major.

In the spring of 2010, I began to take athletic training classes. I quit my job that summer, knowing I’d be swamped with homework and exams and covering practices in the fall. I became fully submerged in my new major in July, when I started covering practices and camps. At that point, I was fully convinced I could make athletic training my life once I graduated.

When the fall semester began, I was so excited. I was put on the football team’s service, which meant I’d be covering the longest practices and I’d be dealing with the worst injuries of all the sports. I was excited and I thought I was ready.

I wasn’t.

That semester was hell for me. I got very little sleep, never got to see my friends, and since I’d quit my job, I had no money. I wasn’t surprised when I got my grades in December. To put it mildly, my GPA had taken quite a hit. I felt like a failure. I was faced with the choice of changing majors or picking myself up and staying with athletic training.

My parents raised me to not be a quitter. With that in mind, I registered for more athletic training classes the next spring. I remember thinking back to this one quote, and I don’t even recall who said it, but it was something like, “Fall down nine times, get up ten.” I had myself so convinced that I had to stick with this major to make everyone proud of me; I completely ignored the little voice in the back of my head telling me I wasn’t going to be happy doing this for the rest of my life.

At the end of the spring 2011 semester, my mom mentioned something about how the counseling center offers academic counseling and since I was already paying for the services, it wouldn’t hurt to get a little guidance especially since it would be free to me (I still had no job, so that last part was important).

In July of 2011, I started getting counseling once a week. Vikki began our sessions by just trying to get to know me. She asked about my family life, my interests, and my college experience thus far. The meetings were very conversational. I found myself looking forward to them every week, because with each meeting I felt a little closer to discovering what I wanted to do with the rest of my life.

A couple of meetings in, I started taking tests to begin narrowing the search for my new major. I took the Myers Briggs test and the Strong Indicator test, among other smaller less formal tests and surveys.

When I got my results back, I was very surprised. Suddenly, I had hundreds of possible career options in front of me that I had never even considered before. I even had a list of careers that, according to my answers on the tests I had taken, I would not enjoy (the #1 job on that list was math teacher, shocker).

There were a few things on the possible career options list that I knew I would enjoy. Newspaper editor was one of them. I didn’t want to make another quick decision again, so I thought hard about my options. I talked with my parents, my boyfriend, my grandma, my best friend and anyone I thought would tell me the truth about what I should do about my future. Once I was sure, I filled out the Change-of-Major form and before I knew it, I had a new advisor, a totally new building to navigate and I was enrolled in my first semester as a mass communication major.

Vikki made a booklet for me of all my forms, exam results, and surveys I’d accumulated during our sessions. I like to look through it occasionally and just see how far I’ve come. That was 2 and ½ years ago and today, I’m looking forward to graduating in December with a BA in mass communication and a minor in journalism. After that, I’m going to get a job as a copy editor.

If I hadn’t gone to the counseling center, I’m sure I’d still be struggling through school, miserable and clueless. I don’t regret the time I spent in athletic training, but if I’d only gotten counseling sooner, I would have saved myself a lot of money and stress.