University deans are surprisingly blasé about incoming students with “undecided” majors.
For the University of Pennsylvania, only 30 percent of students declare a major upon applying, according to The Daily Pennsylvanian.
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Kent Peterman, associate dean at college of arts and sciences at Penn, thinks that “there is no rush to make a decision.”
“Undecided is a perfectly good major,” Peterman said. The idea is that students should explore different subjects first and find what interests them. Rather than dedicating themselves to a field immediately, they should have flexibility and an open mind.
He has a point, however. “Of the 30 percent of College students who indicated an intended major, only a quarter ended up sticking with that major,” Sophia LePorte writes.
Overall, 20 percent to 50 percent of students enter college as “undecided.” By graduation, 75 percent of students changed their majors at least once.
Students tend to already be flexible and don’t hesitate to pursue another field if it presents a stronger attraction than the declared major. When students enter college and understand the requirements or their interests, they make more informed decisions. With the gains in knowledge and development, Liz Freedman of Butler University argues that colleges should wait until sophomore year for students to declare their majors. A year of taking classes for a major before switching to another could require students to study for a fifth or sixth year. Giving them more time before they commit, the argument goes, could help students focus while fulfilling general education requirements.
At Penn, undeclared majors aren’t a threat to graduation. An 87 percent four-year graduation rate and a 96 percent six-year graduation rate at a highly selective university reflects the strength of the student body and the quality of teaching.
In general, however, entering college as undeclared could make a degree more time-consuming and expensive.
“Going to college as an undeclared major often leads to students having to spend extra semesters or years in college to get the classes that they need for the major that they eventually choose. Often those students take on more debt as a result,” Troy Onink wrote.
The time to consider a major is not upon entering college, but before a student finishes high school. Create a career plan, audit a college course, or take a couple community college classes to understand the expectations of higher education and what the chosen major is.
Students who declare a major tend to have higher retention rates and graduation rates.
Movies rehash the “college as a place to find yourself” plot constantly. For reality, however, college most benefits those who have an idea of where they want to go. College is a vehicle, not an oracle, for the future.
