Coming to Gonzaga I was an Undeclared major. I didn’t know what I wanted to study, what classes I had to take to be on track, and every time someone asked me “What are you majoring in?” I always responded “Right now I don’t know what I am majoring in, I am just taking core classes.” Of course there were freshmen who knew what they were majoring in and some even had their four years at Gonzaga all planned out, which made me freak out even more! I felt like I was wasting time and as if I was falling behind on my studies. I went to the counseling office to take the Meyers Briggs test, talked to my advisor, and basically tried everything to see if I could figure out what I wanted to do with my life. I talked to upperclassmen and the advice they all gave me was “Don’t worry; it will all fall in to place. You will find what it is you are passionate about by just taking the classes you enjoy the most.” After stressing about it and trying to figure out what I was going to do within the next four years, I decided to follow their advice. Freshmen year I took some of Gonzaga’s core classes (religion, philosophy, an art class, etc) that way I would explore the various classes and also fulfill some of the classes that are required by the school in order to graduate. It was towards the beginning of sophomore year that I noticed what classes I enjoyed the most and started looking at the majors that coincided with those classes. I first declared a double-major with a minor, then flipped one of the major as a minor and the minor as a major; I basically moved them around more than ten times. I just couldn’t make up my mind and continued to change my four year plan.
I remember the first time I walked in to my Academic Advisor’s office with my four year plan and she asked me for my major, so I said “You see I’ve been thinking about it for a couple of months now and I think I want to triple major… I am not saying it is going to happen but I will the attempt to do so” I immediately took out my four year plan and placed it in front of her. She was quite impressed with my planning and although she thought it would be too much for me to complete within four years, she continued to say “well you definitely have it all planned out now it’s a matter of putting these steps into action, but remember that you can always turn one of these in to a minor so don’t pressure yourself.” I agreed to take it one step at a time and see how it would all turn out. Truth of a matter was I loved every single one of them that I just couldn’t give it up. I am currently a Junior (with senior standing –due to my credits), this past semester I completed my comprehensive exam for my Spanish major, and now have two more classes to complete my International studies degree and will focus my senior year in completing my art portfolio. Not to mention that I am currently studying abroad in Italy where I am taking my last core classes! Woo! Now that I think about how I started and where I am now, I cant believe they were right.. I was able to choose my major based on the classes I enjoyed the most. But hey I am not saying “get all crazy and triple major” but the moral of my story is to explore your classes’ freshmen year! Even though taking core classes were not my favorite I must say they helped me choose my major and actually see what it was that I enjoyed taking and what I didn’t. In case you were wondering about my triple major I did take some summer classes and never really took below 18 credits each semester. I think next year might be the first time I will be taking 16 or less!

Remember:
-Just because you come in as undeclared doesn’t mean that you are already behind
-One of the reasons why I chose GU was because it had over 70 academic majors, I knew (or at least hoped) that out of the 75 I at least had to like one.
-Once you declare a major take the time to create your four year plan (this helps a lot especially when class registration comes along, you will already know what you need to take!)
-If you are thinking of studying abroad or are at least considering it, remember to look in to the program that you are interested in and writing down the classes that they are offering the semester you are thinking of going abroad.
-Degree worksheets are a HUGE help! They can be found online and they basically outline all the classes that are required for each major.

Ciao from Firenze!
Here are some pictures of Florence (:

Elizabeth Class of ’13
International Studies of Latin America, Art & Spanish