Kristofer Hoetmer

1.The student interview was very eye-opening to me in many ways, the main thing I learned was

the ins and outs of a new major. Learning the details of how classes are structured, and how they

are integrated into the course calendar really showed me how it would be to be in this major.

This, in turn, made me realize it’s not my type of work environment but is still a very interesting

topic. The person I interviewed, Andrea Stout, started in Pre-Vet and switched to Animal

Sciences until she finally got into Agriculture Sales and Marketing. The information I gathered

from her experiences in Pre-Vet and Animal Sciences told me a few things. First is that if you’re

in those majors, your class schedule is very rigid and filled with very difficult classes. This led

Andrea to switch, I think I would also switch due to the workload, but when she switched she

CODOed into Agriculture Sales and Marketing. This process seemed very easy, leading me to

believe that even if you are in your Sophomore or Junior year you can still switch into some

majors very easily. This had a big impact on me because I thought it was essential to switch into

a major as soon as possible due to missing courses, this was proven to be less essential than I

thought. This new mindset and knowledge will lead me to choose the right major on my own

time and allow me to feel as though I am still doing ok.

2.There are many pros and cons to Agriculture Sales and Marketing, but in my case, more cons.

Pros are hard to find in this major for me, but the amount of open elective credit hours is

wonderful and after core credits, students have a lot of choice in what they want to do. I would

love to have this in my future major so I can have some fun classes mixed in with the more

serious core and required classes. Cons are a bit easier to find for me, since my Holland code is

Artistic, Investigative, and Realistic (AIR) and this major’s Holland code is Enterprising, Social,

and Realistic (ESR) me and this major are barely compatible. The social aspect of this major

would be a big problem for me, I would not be able to work with people for the amount of time
 Kristofer Hoetmer

you do in this major. Andrea mentioned in the interview that most of the classes consist of group

work, and to be successful in this major you need to be able to talk to strangers comfortably. I

can do neither of these things effectively over a long period of time, which leads me to believe

that it would become a problem.

3.I feel that Agriculture Sales and Marketing would not be the best major for me overall,

although I like the subject matter, I would not be able to tend to the social side of the major. I

learned about the social side during the interview and decided on the spot it was not the right

thing for me. Andrea showed me that even once you go into the job force, you still need the

social skills that you need in class. The only way I would still consider this major is if there is a

major change in my social life and social involvement, this would give me the skills I would

need to do this major effectively. Otherwise, I would not be able to do what the core of this

major is and that would not be fun or educational.

4.The new knowledge I gained from this interview will lead me to investigate further into the

majors I’m interested in. This is due to the surprising amount of group work in Agriculture Sales

and Marketing and not wanting to be surprised by the same thing in a future major. I can also use

my new knowledge on how you can easily CODO into some majors to see if any of my current

options are easier to CODO into than others. This experience has led me to believe that I want to

go in a different direction than I previously thought and has led me to start researching more

closely into these majors. I’m starting this process and even looking into new majors that I

haven’t thought about before, I want to discuss these with my advisor and see what she thinks

would be the best option moving forward. I also want to interview more people in these majors

so I know how the classes will be and minimize the number of surprises if I go into it. I hope to
 Kristofer Hoetmer

do these all by the end of the year so over the summer or hopefully sooner Ill know what I want

to do and can go into the right classes for the major.