When Kathleen Roberts at Duquesne University in Pennsylvania meets a high school student who hasn’t chosen a college major, she has a ready response.
“I say, ‘Oh, that’s great,’ and I mean it because they’re usually 17 years old, and high school is a whirlwind of activity with lots of requirements thrown at them,” says Roberts, executive director of Duquesne’s University Honors College and Bridges Common Learning Experience. “I just feel that’s a very young age to decide what you are going to do for the rest of your life, and the way universities are structured today, usually deciding on a major is kind of like deciding what your career is going to look like. … I wish more students would come to college undeclared.”
More students are starting their university experience as undecided majors, which Roberts says is part of a national trend in the last five years. She estimates that 12% to 14% of first-year college students nationally are undecided, with Duquesne at about 10%.
There are various reasons, she says, such as transitioning technology. “We are kind of living in a sense of uncertain kind of time where technology changes a lot. There are new jobs and new opportunities that are opening up all the time. It feels like a really shifting landscape.”
Advantages of Applying to College as an Undecided Major
Emily Shinaver, interim director of student services for University College at the University of Toledo in Ohio, says more opportunities for students is one reason many of them don’t rush to decide a major.
“I think this generation of students don’t want to make the wrong decision, and they want to make sure they are making a decision that’s going to set them up for success in the future,” Shinaver says.
[Read: College Majors With Great Job Prospects.]
Lost opportunities to work with professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic hindered career understanding for some high school students, Roberts says.
“I think a lot of students tend to be very successful in a wide variety of subjects in high school, but they sort of need more in-depth study or experience before they can actually decide how does that translate into a career,” Roberts says.
“I think particularly I noticed the last few years the kinds of shadowing experiences that students maybe had in the past — where they could go and observe professionals at work and get a sense of what that might look like — that was kind of shut down for a whole year. It has become limited for a variety of reasons beyond the pandemic. So all of those things come together to make a pretty substantial population of undeclared students.”
Roberts and some others in higher education say being undeclared about a major when starting college has advantages.
“The biggest one I see is that they have a real sense of freedom and self-development,” Roberts says. “A lot of students come to college, and their only experience with academics has been high school for the majority of them. Their classes are pretty prescribed. They are pretty limited compared to college, so we need every college student to shift gears pretty quickly to become more curious, to become more open. I kind of love the undeclared students because they are already there. They are ready to explore and that’s a huge advantage being able to take your time and explore things. It takes a lot of pressure off students.”
Valerie Banschbach, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Portland in Oregon, says undeclared students are more able to sample a variety of courses.
“When students are exposed to all of these different fields of studies, they have a chance to then chart their pathway to figure out where they want to go,” Banschbach says.
[Read: Why Your College Major Does Not Define Your Career]
Shinaver contends that going to college undeclared allows students to discover what they enjoy and do well.
“A lot of students aren’t aware not only of all the majors offered at their institutions but even what careers are available in the future,” she says. “And that is something we really focus on with our undecided students. It’s not just the major you want to declare but what career do you want to get into.”
Disadvantages of Applying to College as an Undecided Major
There may not be major drawbacks when applying to college without a declared major, some experts say.
“I don’t think there personally are disadvantages of coming in undecided,” Shinaver says. “The undecided students, especially here at U Toledo, are still taking courses that every other U Toledo student would take. They just are maybe taking them in a different order. They are still progressing toward degree completion while in that exploring pathway figuring out where do they fit, where do they see themselves best.”
Roberts says there are no disadvantages if students choose a school that has the right characteristics: optimal size, variety of major choices and strong support for undeclared students.
Banschbach says one disadvantage is that undecided students who eventually go into technical professional fields such as engineering could face an opportunity cost.
“The risk is if it’s a really technical program with lots and lots of required courses in a sequence that builds one course upon another, if you don’t start that early, you won’t be able to jump in and finish in four years,” Banschbach says.
Experts recommend that students declare a major by the end of their sophomore year, and schools usually work closely with students toward that goal.
[Related:College Majors With the Best Return on Investment]
Undecided students at Duquesne can apply to a Discover program that integrates academic exploration, career planning and professional development. Roberts says these students begin taking Bridges Common Learning Experience courses, which are general education classes that every student needs to graduate.
The way Duquesne designs general education, students “can make their work count toward graduation no matter what their major is later, but also they really get to explore other subjects,” Roberts says. “They aren’t locked into things. They get some hands-on experience in their first year.”
Shinaver says U Toledo students who haven’t declared a major are placed in the QUEST program, where they complete core classes while exploring majors and careers. They must take a career and self-evaluation course the first semester that looks at all the facets of being undecided and helps students see themselves in future careers. They also have regular check-ins with advisers.
“It’s fun to advise undecided students because it’s not the same conversation every single day and even the same hour,” Shinaver says. “It really starts with getting to know the students — their likes, dislikes — where they personally feel they excel within the classroom, outside the classroom, and kind of taking it from there and narrowing down their options.”
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Pros and Cons of Applying to College as an Undecided Major originally appeared on usnews.com
Update 11/11/24: This story was previously published at an earlier date and has been updated with new information.
