is this major not meant for me? -- Virtually Advising Q+A

The Q: I'm majoring in psychology, yet I am not so sure. I get the feeling I am getting taught the same stuff over and over since my general psych. class. Is it because I have just lost interest in it?

The A: I would need to know a lot more about you and your department, but let me give it a try. Here are a few possibilities:

Every discipline has central concepts that recur from class to class. Rather than being bored by them, try to think about how you might see them differently in light of the context of a different class, more experience, more knowledge, and so on.
Some departments are too small to offer a large number of higher-level courses that have prerequisites. If that's the case, you might ask your professors for recommendations on additional items you can read or issues you can consider.
If you're really bored, ask yourself a few questions. Are you bored in other classes as well, or just this class psych class? Are you in school because you want to be, or because someone said you should be? What about psychology interested you in the first place? Do you still feel the same way? If you can find the reasons you're in school and majoring in psych, it might become clearer why you're bored.

If, when you've had a chance to think over your interests and your motivations, you realize that psych is still a subject you're interested in, then it may be a good idea to talk to your professor or to your classmates about why you feel uninspired in this particular class. It could be the specific subject matter, the teaching style of the professor, even the time of day or the amount of sleep you've been getting.

If, on the other hand, you realize that maybe you're not as passionate about psych as you once were, no problem - give some thought to other subjects you may enjoy (possibly similar ones, like sociology, or more different ones, like anthropology or even biology) and start taking some classes in those as well. Maybe you'll find another major that's more suited to your interests.

—Anahid Kassabian, Chief Advisor