In the end, it’s your life and you can either do what you want to do, or what you think other people want you to do.
I chose to major in movement science (also known as kinesiology) in my sophomore year at the University of Michigan. Kinesiology is part anatomy, part mechanics. Curious about the subject, I had taken a few kinesiology classes my freshman year and found I really enjoyed learning about it. I liked how broad a kinesiology major was, and that it gave you a very well-rounded background in many health-related aspects. Many people use a kinesiology major as a pre-health major to go on to do professional programs in grad school, but I was pretty sure I didn’t want to do that.
Lots of students mistakenly think they have to work in the specific field they major in, and that’s fine if, for example, you really enjoy accounting for accounting’s sake. But it’s better to pick something you actually like learning about, especially when you realize that to a certain point it doesn’t matter what your undergrad major is, but more how you spin it.
I looked into doing something with horses at the beginning of my junior year and found the Horse Management Certificate Program at Michigan State University. It looked really cool, with a hands-on approach to give you the technical skills to work with horses. I could tell some people thought it was a questionable decision for someone graduating from the University of Michigan to choose a career in horse management rather than professional school or some impressive and lucrative job, but I couldn’t care less.
Natalie Cousin lives in Lansing, Michigan.