If you’re thinking about changing majors, you’re not alone. Changing majors is more common than many students realize.
According to a 2017 study from the National Center of Education Statistics, about 30% of undergraduates with declared majors end up changing their major at least once within three years of enrollment.
“It does happen fairly often,” said Verl M. Long, assistant director of academic advising at Salt Lake Community College. “The factors contributing to that could just be that they get into their program and realize that’s not the program they want to do or the career path that they want to pursue. It could be that they just find something that’s more interesting or fits their strengths better, that will lead to job opportunities.”
Finding a program that fits
Connor McCormick, a student at SLCC who used to be a film major at the University of Utah, said he quickly realized that the program didn’t align with his expectations.
“The film program isn’t what I thought it would be,” said McCormick, who is now pursuing a degree in marketing management.
SLCC student, Jack Kempton, switched from a major in computer science to occupational therapy, finding it a better fit.
“Computer science wasn’t my jam,” Kempton said. “I felt like I wanted to go into a major that was more people-focused and [about] helping people.”
With more than 100 degree and certificate programs in nine areas of study offered at SLCC, students have room to explore a career path. And sometimes that path changes more than once. In fact, about 1 in 10 students end up changing their major two or more times.
“I changed my major twice,” said Gabi Heaton, a social work major. “It’s because from illustration, I got severe art burnout and dropped out of the classes. Writing studies was my new focus because it was transferable but with some of SLCC’s budget cuts, my major was very limited. Now I have a newfound passion for social work. …”
Mina Shugafa, a business student, originally studied nursing in Afghanistan, but after working in a nursing home, she discovered she was no longer interested in it. Later, she studied geographical information systems (GIS) but again found it was not a good fit. After working at a bank and in her own business, she eventually found a promising career path.
“I was managing my own store, and my dad was a businessman,” said Shugafa. “I felt like I have so much freedom. That’s why I decided to continue studying business, and that would be my major.”
Some students, like Emily Basantes in the Aerospace/Aviation Technology Maintenance program, still consider changing their major to something more practical.
“Aviation is a great career, but I am thinking of changing it to health or radiology because there are better career and job opportunities,” said Basantes.
Can changing majors increase student success?
A 2016 report from the Education Advisory Board showed that students who declare their major in their second semester or later graduate at a rate of 83%, compared with 79% of those who declare it in their first semester and never change it.
“One of the common myths that we have is that … students need to stay in the major that they started with, which is not true,” said Danielle Shepherd, a career coach at SLCC. “Switching majors is totally fine, because as you learn, as you develop the skills here, and take the courses, you might find more opportunities that better connect with what you want to do. And if that’s the case, it’s always better to pivot and take that opportunity rather than staying in something that you don’t like.”
