How to explain a major change?

[Mimosapudica]

Hi, I want some advice on explaining my academic situation in my personal statement. I'm a film major applying to media studies departments, but for the first few years of undergrad I was in pharmacy until a combination of hating the career and being distracted by Lev Manovich's beautiful essays on digital media brought my grades down. You can literally read my transcript and see my grades go from As and eventually to a D. My grades are fine during senior year, and I've completed a bunch of internships and got admitted to some conferences and fellowships related to film studies, but it's very glaring. All I can think of is "well lucky you, I'm applying to be a media scholar, not a pharmacist! hur hur."

All the other questions of "explain my bad grades" seem to hang on the fact that the grades eventually went up, and while mine's did, it was because I was literally taking coursework that I admit were way easier to get As than Immunological Pharmacology. I don't know how to convey my genuine dedication to their field when all they can see is I have given up on another.

So far, all I have is "I transitioned from pharmaceutical to film studies after realizing it was a career I wasn’t suitable for, yet chose due to family expectations. As I increasingly became more involved in my film classes, it made more sense to focus on a career I am proactive and inquisitive in than stay in," which is as honest as I can get, but kind of neglects that D. I definitely plan on mentioning some of my nonacademic work as well, but is there a good way to explain the situation briefly without skipping over it?

[jrockford27]

Film & Media studies person here, welcome to the wonderful world.

Your situation is not at all unusual.  I had a student tell me in office hours that my Intro to Film course had convinced her to dump her occupational therapy major and turn her sights toward film.  I told her, "That's amazing, don't tell your parents it was me."  All of this is to say that if they decide to look closely at your transcript, this narrative will be apparent to them both as experienced teachers and as people who get paid to pay close attention to narrative.  While I don't think you should leave it out of your SOP, you may already be devoting too many precious words to it.