Finding Your Major through Intro Courses

Going into college I always thought I wanted to be a doctor. At a young age, my vascular surgeon grandfather would force me to sit down and study surgeries with him. Since then, my love for health care and medicine only grew.

But when I got to Penn, and took CHEM-101, all of that changed. I was struggling to keep up with the problem sets and understand the complex way chemicals interact with one another. I toughed it out in Chem but luckily, during my second semester at Penn I got exposure to a new major that I had never heard of: Health and Societies. My major advisor told me I should take an intro HSOC course and I truly fell in love. I was able to look at healthcare from an entirely new perspective, focusing on populations instead of individuals and making a larger impact on the world.

With 6 different concentrations, HSOC is so broad but you have the ability to focus on whatever you feel most passionate about. This experience taught me the importance of keeping an open mind. Just because you think you might know what you want to major in, doesn't mean you should close all other doors. It is also important to keep in touch with your advisor. They are here to help so use them as resources!

- Alexandra M.