Some MAJOR Decision Problems

The decision of selecting a college major is an important and a particularly stressful process for the bulk of undergraduates these days. According to the University of La Verne, 50-70% of college undergraduates change their majors at least once, and most will even change majors up to three times! Our existing system for picking a college major must be flawed if over half of our undergraduates decide to change. It is our job as freshman undergraduates to identify the problem and help fix it, since we are currently experiencing this problem. It is then up to the administration to help us students to define our goals and guide us to them.

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The University of Wisconsin has implemented a detrimental system that increases a student’s tuition if the student exceeds a certain credit limit. The policy attempts to mitigate the number of students that try and linger as an undergrad. This article denies the student the ability to test out a wide range of classes that gauge student interests. Here the educational administration is punishing the student for making a life defining decision of changing majors. Honestly, there is no reason this type of policy should have been made. Here are three reasons why it should be repealed.

1.     Let the students experience everything they want in this transformative period of their life.

2.     The longer students are enrolled at the University, the more money the University makes!

3.     Then lastly, this could put the students even further into debt than their current financial state.

Basically, policies such as this need to be put to an end in order to enhance the college undergraduate experience.

There are other ways universities can support intellectual curiosity. For instance, the first semester at college could consist of almost all exploratory classes. This would open up a range of possibilities for the students either in finding a passion or being notified in what they don’t like. Many campuses do offer these exploratory classes, but they must be more readily available to the students. As well as giving a broad taste of the entire major, in order to give the students a better representation of expected duties. The courses will need to be engaging and realistic, however not a GPA bomb.

The universities are not solely responsible for inspiring the undergraduates. The students must be held accountable for utilizing available resources by acquiring experience in the areas of their choosing. Examples of independent exploration of different subjects could include:

·         Shadowing professionals in the field

·         Reading updated research journals

·         Browsing career options

The University of Kansas has an efficient Undergraduate Advising Center and Career Center. It is a safe place to discuss personal strengths and then determine an appropriate career path. Unfortunately many students do not take advantage of this opportunity until it becomes more complicated to switch career paths. Students must feel a responsibility to make use of the resources provided and not expect people to hand feed them.

More than half of our country’s undergraduates change majors and many that change multiple times. There must be some underlying cause in our current educational system that drives this problem. Students need to take responsibility for their own future and use campus resources to develop their future path. Then it is also up to the administration to help guide the students towards success. This dynamic equilibrium needs to be established if we are to improve undergraduate success.