Major Change

It was Orientation Day at The Ohio State University. I should say “one” of the many orientation days OSU had for incoming freshman. OSU was so big (about 40,000 students when I was there) that they had to have several.

As luck would have it, my two friends, Sparky and Ann, were scheduled for the same orientation day as me. We decided to ride together. I drove my mom’s white Pontiac station wagon – the one I had nearly destroyed the previous fall (another story).

I was planning on majoring in fine art. I didn’t have a clue what I hoped to do. My talent, I knew, was marginal. And though I really enjoyed art, I had yet to discover the form of art I could master.

The paperwork we had received weeks before instructed us to go to a building on the main campus. We parked at the football stadium and with the campus map in hand, we eventually made it to the correct building.

Upon entering the building we saw that they were splitting students up by major. Each major had a registration table. We were told that each major would have its own orientation schedule.

What?! I was a fine arts major and Sparky and Ann had registered as business majors! I didn’t want to be all by myself! The three of us had shared a ride and who knew if all the orientations would end at the same time. I really didn’t want to go through orientation without my friends.

In the amount of time it takes to sneeze, I made a decision. I changed my major to business administration. After all, I wasn’t that committed to art. I could always change my major later, I reasoned. It wasn’t that big of a deal, I told myself. If I made art in the future, I’d probably want to sell it, right? That would be a business transaction, right? Once I started school, I would change my major back to fine art. Orientation couldn’t be that different for different majors, could it?

All the business majors were directed to a large lecture hall.

My friends and I sat together for less than ten minutes. Almost immediately after everyone was seated, one of the orientation leaders stood in front of this large group of mostly teenagers and announced that they would be splitting the business students into two groups because there were so many of us.

They divided the group alphabetically by last name. “As” through “Ls” in the first group, “Ms” through “Zs” in the second group. Wouldn’t you know it? My last name starts with a “C” (at the time), Sparky’s and Ann’s start with “S” and “M”, respectively.

Damn it! I had to go through orientation all by myself even though I had just changed by major and the course of my life. I had just wanted tio be with my friends for the day. Was that too much to ask? Apparently.

In the end, I was the only one of the three of us to pursue and obtain a degree in business administration. And in my four years at OSU, guess how many art classes I took? One. But I really enjoyed it. ✿