Choosing a Major

Janki Gajera and Melani Graves

Old Dominion University Senior Honors Colloquium

ABSTRACT As a college student of any class standing, it is difficult to know which major to pursue and what career path will result from this decision. Students often initially choose a major with little to no background research in their choice, and they must ultimately change their major to one which they feel more suited or passionate. Since this causes a longer time for the student to graduate, educational institutions implement rules that majors must be chosen within a set amount of time if the student still wants to graduate within four years. In order to tackle the lack of self-education by students, we performed a literature review of various articles and research papers that studied how students make decisions, factors influencing their decisions, trends in major changes, graduation rates of students changing majors, differences between genders and other demographics, and how to be successful within the major. We also interview Old Dominion University (ODU) faculty and administrators to determine if ODU was consistent with national trends and to find problems in the major decision system. While we found many resources available to students who were willing to walk into the Center for Major Exploration (CME) and the Career Management Center (CMC) at ODU, we concluded that these resources were not more accessible to students because they were not located online. Our solution to this dilemma was creating an all-encompassing website with information on majors and careers, including links to ODU resources and faculty and administration contacts. Our findings suggest that students are entering and leaving college with a poor conception of major options and career options. They often follow word-of-mouth and their peers only to realize their happiness lies in another major or career path. Before choosing and changing majors, students should thoroughly research the majors courses, similar majors, careers stemming from their major choice, and personal fit in the major field. We hope to provide these qualities in our website. INTRODUCTION Literature Review Students often choose their undergraduate major based on several factors: advice from their parents, career goals, passions, and perceived success within the major, among others. Our examination of published research indicates that while choosing or changing a major may be a difficult decision, among four-year college students an estimated two-thirds either begin undecided or change their majors at least once during college (Tinto, p. 3). As we researched career goals, how to choose a major, success within the major, how and when to change a major, and the effect of changing majors on graduation rates, we found the wealth of information available to aid students and researchers astonishing. Career goals Many students view a college education as a springboard to a high-paying career. Indeed, a career can fulfill many goals and bring happiness. Income, work-life balance, job satisfaction,

and skills and ability are qualities to consider when choosing a personally satisfying career. Career goals influence academic performance, self-belief, and school and career commitment. Specifically, goals which account for the long-term, are specific, high-level, learning-oriented, and/or attainable are crucial for student success. Positive performance and ability in careerrelated activities impact the development of goals, and thus dictate which major a student chooses to study. In general, both initial and long-term goals strongly influence student decisions to remain in school (Hull-Blanks, Kurpius, Befort, Sollenberger, Nicpon, & Huser, 2005, p.17). After establishing a career plan, undergraduates should choose an appropriate major as a means to acquire a lucrative, stable career. Models created by Arcidiacono, Hotz, and Kang indicate that expected earnings matter to students in choosing a major, even after controlling for ability and career preferences. Male students in all class standings at Duke University were surveyed about their GPA, background, career choices, and expected earnings (2010, p. 5). Not considering the lowest-paying majors, most students believe their expected earnings are highest, or second highest, in the major they actually chose (p. 2). Arcidiacono (2004) aimed to link how choice of major in college is influenced by monetary gains from the career a student will likely pursue. He proposed a dynamic model by implementing three periods. First, individuals choose a college and a major or choose a career. In the second period, the individuals find out how well they do in their chosen majors and college environment. Here, they are able to change their major or college or decide to enter the labor force. Finally during the third period, individuals work and get earnings based on their education. According the Arcidiacono (2004), this model is flexible enough to capture the relationship between college quality and choice of major while allowing individuals to switch majors over time (p. 345). Analysis found that choosing a major depends on monetary returns to various abilities and preferences in the workplace (p. 373). These abilities include math and verbal ability. Math ability was reported to be very important in the labor market, whereas verbal ability had little effect on labor market outcomes. Those majoring in quantitative or scientific disciplines (business, health, math, science, and engineering fields) reaped significantly greater earnings than majors in Arts and Humanities (Wolniak & Pascarella, 2003, p. 234). This knowledge of which majors have the highest earnings has influenced students greatly to lean more towards majoring in natural sciences or business rather than humanities (Arcidiacono, 2004, p. 346). In a survey of college alumni who held no higher than a Bachelors degree in their field, Wolniak and Pascarella found that many individuals who earn higher salaries derive their job satisfaction from a higher paycheck. College graduates whose major relates closely to their job also voice higher job satisfaction. While Arts and Humanities majors have a lower potential to earn on the level of those who entered high-income or scientific fields, they report an intrinsically satisfying work experience (2003, p. 243). There are noticeable differences in the major choices of males and females. Say value-related goals are goals in which no specific job title is mentioned. Instead, attainment of a specific commodity or activity is addressed (i.e. I want to be rich, happy, able to provide for my family, etc.). Job-related career goals have an identified job title, such as teacher, lawyer, physician, and further. Hull-Banks, et al. surveyed first-semester freshmen from 25 departments; data analysis shows more females have job-related goals and more males have value-related goals; male students are more focused on the value that a career could bring (i.e., money, prestige) and less focused on the specific type of role (i.e., doctor, lawyer) associated with this goal. In addition,

womens career goals are strongly affected by their level of self-efficacy or self-confidence (2005, p. 25). Choosing a Major Old Dominion Universitys Transition to College Inventory (TCI) was designed to identify and treat students at risk for academic difficulty and subsequent attrition (Pickering, J. et. al, 2005, p. 2). Freshmen entering ODU are required to take this test, which is later interpreted by the students advisors. The TCI aims to predict future academic performance by examining the following sections: Reasons for Attending College, Reasons for Choosing ODU, Experiences During the Senior Year of High School, Self-Ratings of Abilities and Traits, Attitudes About Being a College Student, Predictions About Academic Success at College, and Predictions About Involvement in College. These sections allow advisors to target which areas need to be treated within the first several weeks of freshmen year. Early treatment within 6-8 weeks of starting school is critical. This will allow for the greatest improvement and decreased risks of academic failure. The TCI index showed that 18% of incoming freshman were at low risk, 33% were above average risk, and 42% were at high risk for academic difficulty (p. 7). Within the TCI index is the MARCIA scale, which measures career identity status. The MARCIA scale is important because, although the majority of incoming freshmen have chosen a career path, few have succeeded in the exploration of how their skills and interests fit into the world of work (p. 1). The MARCIA scale answers questions, such as Have students made a career decision? And if so, Have students based their career decision after their own abilities and what fits into the job market? According to Pickering, J. et al, 8% of ODU freshmen have not chosen and are not worried, 17% have not chosen but are concerned, 40% have chosen with little exploration, and 35% have chosen with exploration of the chosen career field (p. 7). ODU advisors will then have a curricular intervention for students who are at high risk and prone to academic difficulty. This means meetings between the student and advisor are scheduled early in their freshmen semester and continue throughout their freshmen year. Montmarquette, Cannings and Mahseredjian aimed to learn why certain types of individuals choose particular majors. The researchers assumes that (1) the choice of college major is a significant determinant of subsequent career success, (2) riskier majors are associated with higher subsequent earnings streams, and (3) students are motivated in their choice of major by the possibilities of accessing higher earnings streams (2002, p. 544). (Riskier majors are defined as being more difficult, such as a science major, because it is harder to succeed in that major). With these parameters, the researchers can focus on how much a students expected earnings in a career will influence college major choice. Major choice options were divided into business, liberal arts (communication, psychology, foreign language, social sciences, etc.), science (architecture, computer, biological, etc.), and education. Montmarquette, Cannings & Mahseredjian were able to evaluate the chances of success in a major, the individuals expected earnings, estimated earnings if the individual did not attend college or dropped out, and choice of college major all with mixed multinomial logit and probit models and heteroscedastice extreme value models. Socioeconomic background conclusively played a huge role in major choice. Students with a higher affluent background (family income greater than $35,280 a year) tend to choose riskier majors than those without. The results also show that the choice of college concentration depends decisively on the expected earnings in a particular concentration (p. 554-

555). It was documented that women were less influenced by expected earnings than men and that non-whites were greater influenced by expected earnings than whites (p. 555). In a qualitative study focusing on investigating the psychological processes involved in determining ones major and the factors that students consider before choosing a major, Beggs, Bantham & Taylor first interviewed students discern which factors were most prevalent when making their major choice. Statistical analyses were then found based on 4,817 students filling out a survey. This quantitative portion of the study was used to determine which parameter was most important when deciding a major. The results show that six general categories stood out as important influences when choosing a major. The first category, Information Search, comprised of students choosing their major based on personal information or direct or indirect recommendations of people they knew. However, it was found that the majority of the students did not use any resources, such as a Find a Major Quiz. The students stated the simply relied on personal experiences. The second category was named Match with Interests. This category had students who choose their major based on how well the major fit them and by extension, the career they would likely pursue. The third category was titled Job Characteristics. In this category, many of the studys participants emphasized the characteristics of the job as an important consideration in selecting academic majors (p. 385). Financial Considerations was the fourth category. This factor was frequently mentioned by students who were interviewed. They wanted to choose a major that would lead them to a job with financial security. Psycho/Social Benefits was the fifth category reported in this study. Here, the students mentioned the importance of psychological and social benefits of selecting a major that is supported by their social network (family, friends, or relatives) (p. 386). The sixth and final category was named Major Attributes. The reputation of the major or renowned professors was another importance influence when deciding on a major to pursue. Of the six categories, the following ranking shows from greatest to least the amount of importance incoming freshmen deem before choosing a major: Match with Interests, Major Attributes, Job Characteristics, Financial Success, Psycho/Social Benefits, and Information Search (p. 389). Galotti sought to connect how individual differences affect decision making processes, specifically while choosing a major. Individual differences were expressed as rational, intuitive, dependent, avoidant or spontaneous. One hundred and thirty three students were given the Reactions to Decision-Making survey. The results show that student differences did not affect they information-gathering stage of the decision-making process. The majority of the students gathered the same amount of information while considering their choices. This proved that individual differences affect how students frame the decision-making process rather than in the way they go about gathering or structuring information (2006, p. 629). Framing the decisionmaking process refers to how students look at the consequences of choosing a particular major and if they make a decision, particularly choosing a major, based on future orientation, empathetic intuition, or reliance on others (p. 637). Success in the Chosen Major In 2007, Dearnley and Matthew conducted a study of incoming nursing students, where interviews were taken in five stages over two years. The study found that the journey to

becoming a nurse followed a course that can be applied to all students in the process of choosing a major and successfully taking classes within that respective major. Several stages outline the journey: the first stage, initiating, was the significant fear and excitement ensued before entering higher education. The second stage, awakenings, was the most powerful because students felt that they reached a position where the truth and knowledge became private, personal, and intuitive. In this stage, students showed a definite change in their ways of knowing. In changing personal perspectives, there was raised awareness of professional issues, which significantly impacted the students nursing practice. By the final stage, becoming professional, the students had learned how to learn, started to think differently about themselves and the world around them, and subsequently started to act differently, within both their social and professional lives. During and between these stages, the nursing students were journaling about their experiences and becoming reflective about their lives, actions, thoughts, relationships, and countless other topics. Indeed, the benefit in becoming reflective is the ability to think intelligently, which is the goal of education. In the case of the nursing students, a highly motivating cycle emerged: reflecting, connecting, confidence building, challenging practice, and esteem building (p. 377-387). Research shows students are more likely to succeed when they are in settings that are committed to their success, hold high expectations for their success, provide needed academic, social, and financial support, frequent feedback, and actively involve them, especially with other students and faculty in learning. This is implemented in many universities across the world, by means of freshman success programs usually provided for incoming at-risk students. A criticism of higher institutions is that these qualities are not provided for all students. However these qualities are demonstrated, research shows students quickly pick up expectations and are influenced by the degree to which those expectations validate their presence on campus (Tinto). In terms of student persistence, St. John, Hu, Simmons, Carter, and Weber found that freshmen and sophomores enrolled in college full time were more likely to persist. They surveyed a list of full- and part-time, White and African American, and male and female students in Indiana who received financial aid and followed their progress through college (2004, p. 214-215). Students who were undecided on a major field were less likely to persist (p. 220); student major fields influenced persistence decisions. Also, first-semester grades were important to freshmen persistence. Students who received below-C grades were substantially less likely to persist (p. 222). Several poor grades can create a vicious cycle of low motivation, low confidence, less persistence, and thus low grades. Programs implemented at universities seek to improve student retention and student success. Tinto recommends availability of academic support: developmental education courses, tutoring, study groups, and academic support programs such as supplemental instruction; availability of social support: counseling, mentoring, and ethnic student centers (p. 2-5). When support is enhanced, the potential for personal growth grows. Conversely, too much challenge without appropriate support can drive a student into retreat, forcing a rigid epistemology to replace the promise of a more fluid and complex world (Dearnley & Matthew, 2007, p. 387). Further, programs friendly to minorities which help to build their knowledge and skills for employment, such as minority programs in science and engineering, improve diversity on predominantly White campuses (St. John et al., 2004, p. 227228). Changing Your Major

Micceri investigated the effect of changing majors on a students graduation probability. The BOR retention database was used to find the number of students who changed their majors. With a sample of around 30,000 students, the BOR retention database helped to answer the question do different graduation rates associate with student major changes? (2001, p.1). The results show that each major change increased a students graduation probabilities by 40% (p. 2). Around 50% of students change their major at least once throughout their college career. Those who changed their majors show almost twice the graduation rate compared who those who didnt change their majors. However, those students who did change their major did not show an increased time-to-degree. Both sets of students, those that did change their major and those that did not, graduated on average in 6 years. Also, this study showed that undeclared first year students for the first year had a graduation advantage of 15% over those who declared but failed to change majors (p. 8). Graduation Rate According to Capaldi, Lombardi, and Yellen (2006), only 42 percent of students now graduate within four years even at the best public institutions, and the more commonly reported six-year rate reaches a median of only 71%; this measures only full-time students, not including transfer students or part-time students (p. 1). The researchers aspired to improve graduation rates in America through creating a program. These increased rates of students graduating in six years since 1996 are thought to be from increasing complexity of program requirements, less concentration on academic advising, and a small number of seats in prerequisite courses. This article shows a program called the Tracking Program that helps students choose a major and follow the correct path to achieve a degree in that major. These tips include the necessary sequences of courses, required courses, and electives (p. 5). The tracking program helps students and advisors navigate through endless major options and see what track, or major choice, needs in order for the student to be declared in that major. The program reorganizes information into a sequential presentation that matches each students current transcript and major (p. 4). It shows what classes are needed to be taken in order to get a degree. The tracking program also allows students to explore the consequences of changing majors by degree shopping (p. 4). The system can recalculate the path needed if a student wished to change majors and predict how long it would take to complete the new major. Rationale This research is aiming to help students choose their major, examine available resources, and improving these resources. As an undergraduate student, choosing a major is an important lifechoice that can affect your future but at times can be very confusing. This confusion is often from lack of guidance to make an informed decision on which major to choose. We predict that by creating resources and guidance that is more easily accessible for the students will help the students choose a major more successfully. Choosing a major successfully will allow students to save money from useless classes by changing their majors less, graduate within four years, and feel prepared for the real-world after graduation. After conducting research in academic journals, we saw that the main factors in deciding ones major include choosing a major that will help the students get a career in a certain field (mainly a

career with financial security), that friends and/or family like, and that reflects the students own interests and what they felt fit best. Through interviewing, we probed the facultys point of view on how they help students choose majors and explored the effectiveness of offered resources. The interviews gave us helpful statistical information that outlines the number of students that change their major, the major that has the highest and lowest dropout rate, the number of students that choose their major based on having a career that makes a lot of money, etc. The analysis shows that undergraduate students are still not prepared to choose a major by the end of their first year, even though ODU offers a wealth of resources to aid its students in choosing a major. This suggests that ODU needs a certain program to aid these students in their decision-making process. We believe that increasing the availability and accessibility of these resources will help students choose a major; we will showcase all available resources on one website where students can use to find meetings with advisors, workshops during the week, exploration of career websites, etc. RESEARCH DESIGN First, we conducted research online by looking at articles that pertained to our research question. Findings of this literature review are previously mentioned, in depth in the literature review. Reviewing academic journals helped us to narrow our topic to include how to be successful in the chosen major, how career and financial security affects students decision in choosing a major, and information on changing major programs. We then interviewed ODU faculty members who were knowledgeable on our topic to get an ODU perspective of the problem at hand. The interview allowed us to see what resources were available to students, the effectiveness of these resources, and any pertinent recommendations ODU faculty has to give when it comes to choosing a major. ODU faculty also gave us insight during the interviews on current statistical information relating to how ODU students choose majors (statistical information later to be discussed in data analysis and interpretation). Finally, we compared the information we found in the literature review and compared it with the results from our interviews. This enabled us to relate national statistics to numbers here at ODU. RESULTS, DATA ANALYSIS, AND INTERPRETATION After interviewing Mr. G.W. Thompson, the Executive Director of the Center for Major Exploration at ODU, we acquired statistics regarding student enrollment and retention from Mr. Thompson and Ms. Min Xu, a professional in statistical analysis for ODUs Enrollment Department. We analyzed our findings and compared them to national trends. Fall 2011- Top Five Majors with Highest Enrollment for Freshmen Major Headcount Undecided 355

Biology Nursing Business Intended Criminal Justice

270 186 161 144

Importance of data: Of 6,691 entering students in Fall of 2011, most fell into an undecided major (Fall 2011 Enrollment Statistics, n.d.). Since freshmen cannot actually enter a major until the successful completion of core courses, the intended majors vary in what will lead to a successful career after college. Biology is often intended for pre-medical studies, as well as the nursing major. Business is intended for entrepreneurship or work in a finance company; whereas majoring in criminal justice may lead to a career as a lawyer. It is in the experience of Mr. Thompson that most students will not remain with their intended major due to failure of successful completion of pre-requisites such as general chemistry, pre-calculus, economics, and other similar courses. Fall 2011- Five Majors with Lowest Enrollment for Freshmen Major Headcount Art Education Electrical Engineering/MS Womens Studies Civil Engineering/ME Music Composition 1 1 1 1 1

Importance of data: It is in Mr. Thompsons 25-year experience that the lowest enrollment majors will pick up students along the way in their four-year track. While some majors may seem more interesting

than others initially, students have not yet explored their options and simply have chosen based on others opinions, the students own conceptions, and hope for a certain outcome after college.

Mr. Thompson states that 56% of students at ODU change their majors at least once in their stay. This is consistent with national trends; among four-year college students, an estimated 66% either begin undecided or change their majors at least once during college (Tinto, p. 3). Around 50% of students change their major at least once throughout their college career (Micceri, pg. 8). Nationally, students who changed their majors show almost twice the graduation rate compared who those who didnt change. However, students who did change their major did not show an increased time-to-degree. Both sets of students, those that did change their major and those that did not, graduated on average in 6 years (Micceri, pg. 8). At ODU, entering freshmen (not including transfer students) took 5.4 semesters to make a final decision on a major, and graduated in 13 semester; this equates to roughly 2-2.5 years to make a major choice and 5-6 years to graduate from college. In fact, students who changed majors would take 1.28 times as long to graduate; this equates to roughly 5 years from freshman to graduation, including any major changes. Among ODU six-year graduates changed their major mostly three or more times 88% of the time. Changing majors once or twice dwarfed in comparison to students who changed their majors three or more times (4 and 7%, respectively). 72% of students graduating in five years changed their major thrice or more. About half of students graduating on time, in four years, changed their three or more times. This data indicates most students at ODU change their major three or more times, regardless of how long they took to graduate. Marcia Scale ====== TCI 2009 Career Plans No choice and not worried about it 2010 ====== ====== ---------- Senior 2011 2012 Survey ---------2011-12 N=2987 7%

2008-09 2009-10 2010-11

N=2126 N=205 N=2160 N=1734 N=2055 N=2190 N=2654 1 9% 10% 7% 6% 6% 8% 7%

No choice but 15% concerned and would like assistance

16%

13%

15%

19%

19%

18%

19%

Choice but little 39% or not exploration of it or alternatives 36% Choice with exploration of chosen area and of alternatives Total 100%

37%

38%

37%

17%

18%

18%

19%

37%

42%

42%

57%

55%

56%

55%

100% 100%

100%

100%

100%

100%

100%

Importance of data: The MARCIA Scale shows that less than one third of students are firmly grounded in their career decisions. A survey from incoming freshmen about major choice was compared to the Senior Survey, which asks graduating seniors about their career plans and research into their future. Looking at specifically 2011, the study found that freshmen students who did not choose a major and were both concerned and not concerned compared to graduating seniors increased or stayed the same when graduation approached regarding their career choices. It is important to note that all years across the data, one-third of entering students are choosing their major with little to no background education, but upon graduation, only less than 20% of seniors have made a choice with little to no background research. In fact, every year almost 60% of graduating seniors have made an educated and confident decision in their career choice. Nationally, studies by Micceri show that each major change increased a students graduation probabilities by 40% (p. 2). In fact, when a student is pressured and with added stress with the advantages of changing majors to a more lucrative or interesting major, their confidence in their own future increases. This causes students to be more likely to graduate from college. Resources are available at ODUs Center for Major Exploration and Center for Career Management to give students a wellrounded, encompassing background so they can choose a major effectively and permanently. CONCLUSION Solution In order to help freshmen and sophomores choose a major knowledgeably, we believe information on how to choose a major needs to be more readily available. We learned that the Center for Major of Exploration (CME) does in fact have excellent resources to help students choose a major efficiently, but many of these resources are only being used by undecided major students, not students of all majors. We designed a website to be used by all students in different majors that gives relevant information on each major such as courses required, prerequisites needed, common careers with a degree in that major, links to the CME and CMC, quizzes to help students figure out what interest them, professor and advisor contacts, and tutoring resources. Although there is a lot of information to organize into a website for students to navigate easily, we decided to work on as

much of the website as time allowed; this included: taking pictures of ODUs campus and student life, creating and adding career and major quizzes, organizing information found on ODUs website into clustered information packets, and much more. We added in library hours for three campus libraries and the Webb computer lab, linked to related majors for ease of exploration, additional links to the Occupational Handbook in each career, and more. Our website address is www.odusuccess.weebly.com. We hit a record number of unique visitors on April 28, 2013, when 222 different devices accessed our website. Conclusion Comparing the literature review to the trends found at ODU, results show that ODU is very similar to the national statistics. After interviewing Mr. Thompson, we decided that a cohort of resources for students was needed in order to help students choose a major. We decided to create a website that was available and user-friendly to make sure students can find the information they need. Recommendations If we had more time, we would have liked to create a mobile application for students. This would have allowed students to easily access the information they need to choose a major successfully. The mobile version is not ready and does not look similar to the desktop version except for the information. We would probably turn off mobile support at the current state of the mobile website. Also, we would have liked to spend more time on our website to add as much information as possible. We could have added our own career and major quizzes, included faculty mentor information, and created a more robust website with extra time and programming skill. We also believe we could have interviewed more faculty members to add their personally stories to our report. This would have allowed us to provide more information on our website and compare ODU to national statistics on how students choose a major.

APPENDIX Timeline Jan 28, 2013 We selected our topic - how can students choose and succeed in a major? Feb 4, 2013 In order to research our topic capably, we needed to narrow aspects of our topic down. We chose to focus on specifically parental communication, major success, changing majors, choosing majors, and ODUs graduation rates. Using these areas of concentration, we scoured databases for research articles and references to use in our literature review and for our information. Feb 11, 2013 We learned how to write good interview questions, and we brainstormed facts to research, people to talk to, and other resources we might need. February 18, 2013 After finding potential candidates to interview and learn from, we submitted to Dr. Metzger interview questions brainstormed. February 25, 2013 We worked on improving the initial batch of interview questions. We have decided to interview Mr. Thompson (Center for Major Exploration Director) first, and using the information from his interview, we will interview Mr. Wunderlich (Assistant Dean of the Career Management Center), Ms. Leudtke (Director of ODU Student Transition and Family Programs) and Mr. Socha (communications professor) thereafter. March 4, 2013 We planned out how to tackle the literature review, which is due the class after spring break. March 11, 2013 Spring break. We worked on the lit review during this break. March 18, 2013 We edited the literature review and began our proposal. We also brainstormed how to conduct solve the problem of choosing a major. March 22, 2013 Today we had our interview with Mr. Thompson from the Center of Major Exploration. March 25, 2013 Class was cancelled. We finished completing the proposal. April 1, 2013 During class, we discussed possible solutions to our research problem. Dr. Metzger also gave us final tips on how to finish our report.

April 12, 2013 Today, we began working on our powerpoint presentation. We also finished our report by adding the results and conclusion section.
April 15, 2013 Our powerpoint presentation is now finished. We began working on the website. April 22, 2013 Last minute changes and corrections were made to the powerpoint, report, and website as we prepared for our presentation next class.

Thompson Interview Walking into the CME reveals the large amount of helpful information available to any student willing to take an hour to explore their options. Fliers advertise upcoming events, campaigns to finish college in four years by planning ahead, and ODUs other advising programs, like the Center for Career Management (CMC), while worksheets walk students through a step-by-step decision-making process, better study habits and skills, and online career and major resources. The fact is that many students, authors of this paper included, never walk into the CME or CMC, perhaps out of fear, intimidation, feelings of helplessness, or just due to time constraints. Discovering the information available is refreshing, as it reminds students that their school cares for their future. As G.W. Thompson puts it, In my experience, students are reluctant to get the help they need, and sometimes they might be embarrassed or overconfident. We have resources to help you make the right decision. Our faculty just wants to help you and help you make a good decision. Thompson, the director of ODUs Center for Major Exploration (CME), oversees advising of 350-400 students each year who are undecided in major choice. Additionally, the CME serves students who are in the process of changing majors and transfer students who are transient in their major choice. Most of the incoming 2,800-student freshman class head straight to their department of choice to be advised. Even though most of the students come in as decided, its somewhat deceptive because, when you look at national statistics and at ODU, anywhere between 60-80% of students change their majors one or more times, Thompson says. When students visit the CME, they fulfill requirements in a three-step process, where they are first interviewed for personal and academic audit, attend a decision-making workshop, and finally meet to be advised for pre-registration. Ideally, by the end of the first fall semester, 20% of the students visiting the CME should be ready to choose classes to explore majors they have identified themselves in having an interest and passion. Thompson says that a lot of times, students come in and dont really have realistic expectations about what a particular career is about. Most students havent really researched majors and careers. He repeatedly asserts that an information search is an important aspect of major and career decision that students frequently ignore. Without research, choosing a major can create

problems manifested through increased graduation time, strict financial support, and feelings of helplessness about the future for the student. My best advice is to do research on careers. Students should take the time to talk to people, do informational interviews in a field theyre thinking about, take a career-planning class, research What Can I Do With A Major In?, examine the Occupational Outlook Handbook, and the Dictionary of Occupational Titles... Go to the bookstore and look at the textbooks in that major. Check out the books to see if youre interested in that field. In Thompsons past experience, when the CME shows students the wealth of information provided for students on ODUs website alone, they are impressed and find it to be the most helpful in their search for a major and career. Students who take the time to research careers and majors find that major does not always have to equal career, as Thompson says.

References Arcidiacono, P. (2004). Ability sorting and the returns to college major. Journal of Econometrics, 121, 343-375. Arcidiacono, P., Hotz, V. J., & Kang, S. (2010). Modeling College Major Choices Using Elicited Measures of Expectations and Counterfactuals. Journal of Economic Literature: Health, Education, and Welfare - Education. 1-29. Beggs, J., Bantham, J., & Taylor, S. (2008). Distinguishing the factors influencing college students' choice of major. College Student Journal, 2(42), 381-394. Capaldi, E., Lombardi, J. & Yellen, V. (2006). Improving graduation rates: A simple method that works. Change, 44-50. Dearnley, C., & Matthew, B. (2007). Factors that contribute to undergraduate student success. Teaching in Higher Education, 12, 377-391. Galotti, K., Ciner, E., Altenbaumer, H., Geerts, H., Rupp, A., & Woulfe, J. (2006). Decisionmaking styles in a real-life decision: Choosing a college major. Personality and Individual Differences, 41, 629-639. Hull-Blanks, E., Kurpius, S., Befort, C., Sollenberger, S., Nicpon, M. F., & Huser, L. (2005). Career Goals and Retention-Related Factors Among College Freshmen. Journal of Career Development, 32, 16-30. Micceri, T. (2001). Change your major and double your graduation chances. University of South Florida, 1-8. Montmarquette, C., Cannings, K., & Mahseredjian, S. (2002). How do young people choose college majors? Economics of Education Review, 21, 543-556.

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