“I started my freshman year as a Bio major and then I switched to marketing communications.”
“I entered college as a business major, then I switched to communications and public relations.”
“I started as an engineer, but now my major is communications.”
The students you just heard are part of the 50-70 percent of college student’s change their major at least once before graduating. Leigh-Anne Malke, the first year success coordinator at Springfield College, recognizes that declaring a major doesn’t mean your future has been determined.
“I think it’s important to recognize that even though students come in as a declared major many of them are not sure that’s exactly what they want to do and often times they end up changing their major,” said Malke.
Among these students is Springfield College’s Nicholas Ryder, who thought Exercise Science was his future.
“The unfortunate part was my high school didn’t offer much science or chemistry background so I came in with almost none of that so anatomy was pretty difficult. It started bringing my grade down,” said Ryder.
“I met with one of the student professors and I told him what my interests were, my hobbies and how I learned, like my mindset on things and he recommended Recreation Management.”
The exploratory major is a way of experimenting in different fields of interest. However, the perception an undecided major can cause students to fall behind by a semester or a year, causes many to avoid it. At Springfield College, exploratory students make up 25 percent of the campus.
Students are taught how to manage their courses and take required classes, while exploring different options, to avoid falling behind in order to graduate on time.
“You can’t choose a major just because you like it or you’d think it’d be a great job. You need to choose a major based on your strengths and aptitudes because you should choose a major that compliments what you want to do,” said Malke.
“We put together these resources to really ensure that our students stay on top of their studies and take classes that are essential in their first year to not put them behind for graduation.”
While national statistics say 50 percent of students are undecided, Western New England University reported during an open house speech that one-third of the incoming freshman class is undecided.
Michael Rosemond, who has been a guidance counselor for 19 years and currently works at Longmeadow High School, is seeing a new external factor that is driving students away from exploring their interests.
“I think one of the big changes in my career as a counselor, especially in the last half decade or a little longer now, is the economic realities that the expense of college. There is a pressure in most families to have at least a pretty good working idea, working knowledge of what they want to major in so they can get a good return on that investment and so they’re going to get a good job. It’s not so much thinking about graduate school or exploring as much as it used to be,” said Rosemond.
“It used to be in my opinion more open ended and now its come back where it seems to be there really needs to be that practical application of it. What are you going to get at the end of the four years? And if you’re going to take $50,000 in student loans you better be able to pick a major that you’re going to get a good paying job in. I think that year of exploratory is really, really important, but the bottom line is that financial engine is driving a lot of our families’ decisions.
No matter what students decide, most university deposits to guarantee a seat in class and a bed in the dormitories are due by May 1.
