RÉSUMÉ GUIDE EXPOSED SHAWN ELLIOTT SUDOKU PAGE 14 Here’s what to include to get Georgia State student shares What goes into the job and your résumé noticed and how their experience as a nude life of a college football head CROSSWORD PAGE 14 you can tailor your goals. model at The Bakery. coach? More than you’d expect. NEWS PAGE 4 ARTS & LIVING PAGE 13 SPORTS PAGE 15 SIGNAL STAFF PAGE 19 OCT. 8 - OCT. 15, 2019 VOL. 87 | NO. 7 Your resource for navigating from The Jobs Issue | college to career ILLUSTRATION BY DEVIN PHILLIPS @gsusignal georgiastatesignal.com Career Drop-Ins LOOKINGLOOKING FORFOR AA Monday - Friday PART-TIMEPART-TIME JOB?JOB? 11 a.m. - 3 p.m. FULL-TIMEFULL-TIME JOB?JOB? INTERNSHIP?INTERNSHIP? CO-OP?CO-OP? ?? UNIVERSITY CAREER SERVICES CAN HELP YOU! Other Services: Resume Reviews Career Counseling Job Search Student Center West, Room 270 On-Campus Interview career.gsu.edu Professional Headshot (404) 413-1820 Career Fairs @panthercareer Career Workshops Graduate School Planning TUESDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2019 www.georgiastatesignal.com/news Changing majors is more common than you think Students discuss reasons and stigma behind changing degree paths but was convinced to switch after one of his professors inspired “In high school, I took biology and it interested me, so I thought NATE HARRIS him. I might just go for bio,” Siwatoki said. Staff Reporter “Dr. Woodrum from the Decatur campus, his teaching and his A freshman year course involving accounting inspired Siwakoti passion behind what he was teaching [influenced me],” Marthone to change his degree path. said. “I’m Haitian, so he was able to tell me stuff about the Haitian “I thought, ‘This is pretty cool. I’m going to change my major. inoshka Wilson enrolled at Georgia State as an exercise Rebellion and all this that caused me to go out and seek that This is what I want to do,’” he said. science major. But she intended on a career traveling information.” As for how their new degree choice will affect their career around and working closely with professional sports To solidify his choice between the two majors, Mathrone aspirations, the students aren’t letting the uncertainty hold them N decided to let his grades determine his future. back. leagues as a physical therapist. A few semesters into her classes, that idea wasn’t sparking the same joy in her it once had. “It was kind of trivial,” he said. “It was like, ‘Whichever grade I “With social entrepreneurship, I’m still trying to figure that out,” “I just lost my passion for physical therapy, and along the way, I get higher in this history class or microbiology, I’ll go with that.’ So, said Wilson, who, in the meantime, has already launched her own wasn’t doing as good in my classes,” Wilson said. “So, I’m like, ‘Do I got a higher grade in history, no surprise, but it was pretty close.” cosmetic brand. I tackle this and go hard for it or do I change my major? Maybe it’s The process of changing a major is relatively simple. Students Marthone, ironically, already has a job at Piedmont Henry not something that I really want.’” must meet with an advisor and complete a Change of Major form. Hospital using his old biology major. After taking a year away from school, Wilson re-discovered Wilson visited her advisor, not knowing what she wanted to do, “I was trying to be a general practitioner, so now I’m going to only knowing she did not want to do exercise science anymore. herself and her passions, realizing that she loves to create. have to find a new job in my field, which is pretty funny,” he said. “I was like, ‘I don’t know what the hell I’m doing. Can you help “But I’m planning on going into law in a little bit. So, I’m going to “I’m a creator, and I want to create and help people along the me out?’ and he was like, ‘Well, describe yourself to me. Tell me have to shape what I’m doing at the moment to match that.” way,” she said. about yourself,’” she said. “I like healthcare, I like business. I told Both said they had the majority of their family and friends Two years into her college career, Wilson decided to chase her him about myself and he said, ‘This is the major for you.’” supporting them in their decision to change paths, though agree new-found love for creating and switched her major from exercise There is no limit on how many times a student can change their there is a stigma behind switching majors. science to social entrepreneurship. major, but there are a number of things to take into consideration Marthone has heard the argument before, that college students Wilson is one of thousands of Georgia State students who when making the switch. are young and unaware of what they want, so they should just stick have changed their major at least once during their time at the “They may not realize that there are hidden implications to the with something they know will pay later on. university. change, or to choosing one major over another,” Renick said. “I think it’s perpetuated from the older generation of students. “Seven years ago, the average Georgia State student was Most notably, changing your major can add extra semesters to ‘Well, I went in there and was science all the way through. I never changing majors 2.6 times, with many of the changes after their your college career, which could affect HOPE Scholarship or other thought about switching. I just got it done and got a job,’” he first year of studies,” said Timothy Renick, senior vice president for financial aid funding, both of which have caps and limits to the said. “But there’s more ambiguity to the system now, there’s more Student Success at Georgia State. While that number has trended number of credit hours they can apply to. avenues you can take.” down following changes to freshman curriculum, nearly 900 “I have to take a whole bunch of summer courses now,” said Wilson felt some pushback from others on her decision as well. students have changed their major since the beginning of August. Armando Rodriguez. ”It’s always unfortunate, but that’s the case.” “A handful of people were like, ‘All of your credits are gone? Approximately 60 percent of students who change their major Rodriquez, a junior who switched from exercise science to You’re starting over?’ But I feel like, it’s not more so about what’s stay within a general academic area, according to Renick, such as health and provisions, changed his major over the summer after on paper, it’s more about how I feel, and I feel way better about it,” sophomore Briana Guzman, who switched from interdisciplinary concerns about whether his major would lead to a satisfying she said. studies to philosophy. career. Renick thinks the most important thing for a student to take “I thought interdisciplinary studies was too general,” Guzman “I was scared, to be honest, that I was going to pick the wrong into account when contemplating changing a major is their said, who changed during her freshman year. “I knew I wanted to career,” he said. happiness. be a lawyer when I was in interdisciplinary studies, and I just felt Renick said the majority of students do not end up graduating “Students who major in a field because they believe it will make like I wasn’t getting what I needed to get out of it.” with the major they chose when they first enrolled. others happy or because they think they will earn more money The remaining 40 percent switch to an entirely different field of Sager Siwakoti, a sophomore accounting major, for example, are often disappointed,” he said. “The best advice is the simplest: study, as Christian Marthone did. had no experience with accounting prior to coming to Georgia do something that your love, something that you are passionate Marthone, a junior history major, enrolled as a biology student, State. a b out .” 707 forms submitted August 2019 501 forms submitted September 2019 1,208 total change of major forms submitted for August and September 2019 47.26% changed to a major in the same college 27.98% changed or added a minor or concentration 17.38% changed to a major in a different college 7.36% changed to undeclared ILLUSTRATION BY DEVIN PHILLIPS 4 NEWS GEORGIASTATESIGNAL.COM Being an alum — now, in four years and in 30 Networking and career building with past and present Panthers JORDAN FREDERICK Staff Reporter raduating college is one of the biggest stepping stone in a person’s life. In the course of getting a degree, a stable Gjob and figuring out what to do next, one may forget their roots. But Panthers have a way to stay connected to their alma mater through the Georgia State Alumni Association. While “Alumni” and “graduates” can be synonymous terms, just because a student graduates from Georgia State it doesn’t mean they are automatically a member of the Alumni Association. Members are graduates who are dues-paying members of the association, whose fees pay for resources and connections that the association provides. The association prides itself on the number of members that are a part of it. Most alumni from Georgia State remain in the state. As of May 2019, more than 190,000 alumni from Georgia State are still in Georgia, according to the association’s website.