Decided vs. Undecided

Entering freshmen are pressured to choose a major without knowing what they want to do in the future.

“Going to college is pointless if you don’t know what you’re going to do,” said Breana Miller, an elementary education sophomore at the University of Oklahoma.

It’s overwhelming to choose from 150 majors that are offered at the University of Oklahoma just to put on the application form, Miller said.

It’s no wonder that about 80 percent of students change their major at least once, and on average, will change majors three times over the course of their college career, Janel Russell-Pendergraft, the director of academic advising at the University of Oklahoma, said.

This is why the University of Oklahoma offers major and career counseling at the Goddard Health Center, as well as career and personality tests to better match career interests with personal interests, according to the Goddard Health Center website.

Students are encouraged to take exploratory classes, participate in inventories designed to assess abilities and interests, and interact with academic counselors, Russell-Pendergraft said.

A lot of students will choose pre-health or pre-business when first entering college because those are the majors that students hear the most about and seem a safe choice, Russell-Pendergraft said.

“They feel the pressure to decide before they really decide,” Russell-Pendergraft said. “They think, ‘Well, with this major I can do anything,’ even if it’s not their passion.”

eDISCOVER and OKCIS are two of the web-based systems designed to help students choose a career that are available to all OU students through the University College and the Assessment and Learning Center. Stephen Crynes, the interim director of the assessment center, also offers career coaching.

Programs like eDISCOVER and OKCIS help the students to feel more informed and confident because they have more resources, Russell-Pendergraft said.

Some students choose their major early, while other students change their major more often.

“I didn’t want to feel like a slacker,” Miller said. “I felt that I never would have got a major if I didn’t choose immediately.”

Advisers at OU see some students more often than others. “We get approximately five to six students each semester that change their major each week,” said Jeanne Malson, an academic adviser.

For more information about choosing a major or career at the University of Oklahoma, see http://www.ou.edu/career/Students/CareerExploration/WhatCanIDoWithAMajorIn/index.html

For more information about counseling and testing services at the University of Oklahoma, see http://goddard.ou.edu/counselingservices.html