Picking a major can be a challenging hurdle for students transitioning from high school to university life.
Audrey Kellett, sophomore from Murray, understands the struggle of finding a major.
“I had a lot of things I wanted to do, and had no idea how to pick,” Kellett said. “I wanted to dip my toes into a lot of different waters.”
Approximately 300 students at Murray State share a similar idea with Kellett and have not declared a major. Each year, about 150 freshmen register as undeclared.
Seventy percent of students will switch their majors at least once through their college careers. Olympia Stewart, academic adviser for all 300 undeclared students, said there are five myths associated with coming into college undeclared.
First, that the best way to find out about a major is to take courses in that specific subject.
Undeclared majors have the opportunity to explore majors they have an interest in by taking introductory level courses before making that final decision, but she said holding out wastes time.
Stewart said while taking those classes, the students are gathering credits that may or may not be used for credit once they declare a major. This can put students semesters behind and additional semesters add up in subsequent costs.
Stewart said the second myth is that undeclared students are safe because they can get their general requirements out of the way. In reality, some majors may have specific prerequisites for later classes.
Third, picking a major means picking a career. Unless a student chooses an area such as nursing, most majors open a wide variety of job opportunities.
Fourth, choosing one major means the rest are no longer an option. A minor, which is required by most programs, can allow a student to study two separate subjects. Graduate school is also an option since graduate degrees do not have to be done in the same field as the undergraduate degree earned.
Finally, Stewart said, myth number five is the assumption that a major will determine what a person does for the rest of their life.
According to Penn State’s undeclared majors website, most people work in careers unrelated to their majors within 10 years of graduating. Even within a certain field, jobs change and evolve and people will make moves to different specialized jobs.
Murray State policy states students must declare a major after reaching 45 credit hours and if they do not, a hold is placed on their account. If a student is nearing the deadline and still unsure, Murray State offers several different methods of helping students decide.
Stewart recommends undeclared majors, or any student concerned about choosing a major, to speak to an academic adviser and go to Career Services to talk to a counselor.
Story by Amanda Grau, Staff writer
