It’s a common question for those who find themselves working in a different field than they studied in college: Was their time and effort in school worth it?
University educators believe so.
Paul Ivey, executive director of University College, said that nationally, students end up changing their major three times from the beginning of their freshman year to graduation. Students who don’t know what they want to major in will end up undeclared until they make that decision, Ivey says.
Ivey himself was, at first, an accounting major before he decided to switch to education. He now advises students using that personal background.
Students can be undeclared in Science and Engineering, Arts and Humanities, Engineering or Social Sciences, according to the Office of Budget and Planning’s website.
Sandy Walker, director of institutional research for the Office of Budget and Planning, majored in education during her college days. She now helps gather information about the University and its students needed for records, something her studies didn’t necessarily prepare her for.
According to the Office of Budget and Planning’s website, in the spring of 2012, the University College’s Center for Freshman Year had 4,070 freshmen, 562 sophomores and 10 juniors who had not yet declared a major.
Ivey said students normally declare a major by the end of their freshman year.
Though these students are undeclared in the University College, many of them are there because they have not yet met the requirements to get into their preferred senior college. Julie Chan, a chemistry professor, was a music major before switching to chemistry in her junior year of college.
She believes students are not exposed to as many different career paths in high school as may be needed to choose a major confidently.
Chan said that if a person is creative, they can find something within their skill set, even if it is not what they wanted in the first place.
On the other hand, Robert Mckinnon, an English instructor, said he has always wanted to pursue English, though at the time he was studying, he wasn’t sure what he wanted to do with that degree.
And he said that’s OK.
Mckinnon said there are different ways of finding a career in life, and many people don’t end up in their studied field. This is
difficult for students, he said, because of the plans they have set up for their future.
Once they get into it, however, students want to do their best. He advised students to find something that they care about and enjoy; this applies even if they don’t end up in that field their entire lives.
 
____ Contact Kristen Frank at [email protected]