double majoring!

So yesterday I declared my major! I know, it seems random, but it's not. I have been seriously considering psychology ever since I took it in high school and loved it. I have also been considering law since I was very young. So, over the weekend I set up a meeting with a law professor to ask further questions about mediation and arbitration, because both seemed really interesting to me. After talking with the Professor for about an hour, we collectively came to the conclusion that I really have a passion for legal studies and psychology. She then asked me the defining question: "Would you like to change your major now? Or later?' We went through the pro's and con's of choosing now. Overall, the pro's were in my favor. If I declare now, I can start taking courses in legal studies next semester. Because I am certain that I love Psychology, even if legal studies doesn't work out I certainly have a backfall. Another positive to declaring now was that mediation and arbitration courses are hard to get into. Because they are so new, the mostly allow legal studies majors to be involved in them instead of outside majors. This puts me at a greater chance to get into those courses so that I can make sure that I love them. The professor helped me fill out my paperwork and declare my double major. She also decided that she is going to be my advisor. I signed her over to do that, and handed in the paper to the registrar. I'm really happy with my choice! My new advisor even told me that she is friends with a ton of people in Bristol Mediation and the Providence court system so that she can probably help me find an internship or volunteer work to do over the summer or breaks. I feel like she is really going out of her limit for me and I truly appreciate that. It feels to nice to know that I have an aim instead of just taking classes with no idea of what to do. Obviously, I'm nervous that I won't like it. But I feel as if I have enough support and I have the time to try things out. When thinking back on my accomplishments, I have never been 100% certain that something was right for me. I have been known to go out on a limb, try it, and see how it works out. Even with the idea of coming to Roger Williams, I was so skeptical. Northeastern was my first choice but I was weightlisted until next semester. Roger Williams seemed okay, but not great. Now that I'm here, I love it. I'm hoping that once I really start getting into this I'll lose my skepticism and it'll all work out. Out of all the majors, this seems most fitting. Let's hope for the best!

I called my parents right after the meeting with my new advisor. They were really surprised, to say the least, but really proud and think that it'll be a great fit for me. My dad's first comment, of course, was "So this involves eight years of schooling? Law school too?" Financial issues aside, he was really happy for me. The registrar even gave me a high five! :)

As a response to "MM"'s post, I mostly agree with how students write. That process describes the student who has many other classes and is always on a time crunch. Truly, I think how you write the paper depends on the situation. I know, if I don't have much to do at night I will go to the library and write a paper which isn't due until next week. I like getting things done just in case fun events come up that I want to go to. I think that it is a logical way to do this. So the only thing I disagree with is that sentence that says "the day before" or "the night before". That's not always true. Although the process is the same with the reflection on the paper and trying to write it in one sitting, the time slot can be altered. I know that I have been known to do that for many papers, but with Expo writing it seems to be really different. For expo, we are required to do drafts. On my last paper, I went above the requirements and wrote six or seven different drafts, all corrected by tutors and proffessors. If the stages are required, the process becomes very different. I believe in that case, the process is more like:
-- get assignment, confused about material
-- teacher clarifies in class about what the assignment means
-- read the reaing that corresponds to the assignment
-- teacher goes over it more
-- student starts to see how it connects
-- writes drafts, gets all corrected
-- two or three days before due date, the student writes the second to final and final draft
-- paper is turned in complete and student is confident about how the grading will turn out.
This process, to tell you the truth, I have only used in expo writing. I really should think about doing this with all my papers but it's so time consuming!

Also, I got that paper back on the banking concept of education. I got an A :) The professor loved it. We had a minor discussion on how it would make the world a better place today in class. He loved the idea. Although the professor usually does sit in the seats with us, it seemed to me that he was letting the class lead the discussion much more. Walking out of the class, students comments were "that was fun" and "I liked that class." I was really happy that professor liked it. Truthfully, I was afraid that he'd get defensive in thinking that I was attacking teaching methods, which apply sometimes to him. Thankfully not.