Exploring Majors & Minors
Our mission is to provide students the opportunity and guidance to actively, holistically, and responsibly engage in the Major exploration process. Through active involvement, students will explore, discover and define their interests, while seeking and connecting their God-given abilities and strengths that will lead to a successful college experience and selection of major or minor.
Fact or Fiction
Most freshmen enter college knowing their major.
Fiction: 50% of incoming freshmen have no clue about a major but select one because they feel external pressure from others.
Once a student decides upon a major rarely does he/she change the major.
Fiction: 80% of change majors at least once, the average is at least 3 times.
A student should always select major that directly relates to a chosen career/job path.
Fiction: 50% of college graduates pursue jobs that do not relate to their majors.
Personality/Career Assessments can give you the answers to all your questions finding the right major and career path.
Fiction: An assessment might help you understand your personal strengths and weaknesses, but this type of test compares you to other people groups.
Assessments do not look at God given strengths and talents. Engaging with academic departments and learning communities provide tangible resources for exploring what can be the right major for you!
Picking a major early guarantees college and career success.
Fiction: Unfortunately there are no guarantees for success! However, a college degree does increase your chances of becoming employed and unemployed college graduates spend less time searching for a job.
You should select a major based on current job/career trends.
Fiction: Job markets are constantly changing and what is “HOT” today, in four years may be obsolete. Estimates vary, but sources state that 40% to 60% of jobs of the future have not be created — much less the major.
A major will dictate your career path; therefore, pick your major early.
Fiction: Not in the least! A math major can have a business related career just as a business major can be a psychologist or a lawyer. The truth is you can do any job with almost any major. Employers usually don’t hire based on your major.
Fact: There are several specialized areas that require licensure; therefore, the major is directly related to the career path.
Opportunities during the First Year
- Personal academic advising and registration assistance
- Parent Workshop and Sessions
- Help in navigating in and out of the classroom.
- Encouragement during the college transition
- Building of community
- Individual Monthly advising meetings
- Monitoring of academic progress reports and semester grades
- Majors and Minors Workshops and Special sessions
Freshmen Undecided Major Advising
Deciding to Explore
Are you entering college still searching for the right major? Do you feel you may be called to several majors? Are you searching for a major that matches your gifts, talents and strengths? Want to be an engineer… but also love accounting? Does the thought of choosing any major seem premature or even scary? Are you feeling you need to investigate several options before making a decision about a major? If you answered yes to any of these questions… you are at the right place! The Center for Academic Success is here to assist and facilitate exploring more than 100 majors and minors at Â鶹ÊÓƵ. At the same time, we will support learning both inside and outside the classroom by providing accurate and appropriate academic advising for your first year transitioning from high school to college.
What is Undecided Academic Advising?
- Regardless what major you choose, there is a General Core of classes that all students must complete before graduation. During Summer Orientation, the CAS will present a session for parents and students to share general academic information and academic requirements and regulations for graduation. Our role as academic advisors is not to just plan a schedule but to recommend courses and fields of study appropriate to your individual interests and abilities.
- In the case of many majors, a student does not have to pick a major until the end of the sophomore year. This gives a student plenty of time to check out various subjects and interests. Some majors, such as areas of art, nursing, education and pre-professional, are exceptions to this rule. Students usually commit to these fields of study early due to required courses.
- Students will not just wait for the right major to appear, but will actively engage in exploring the many opportunities at Â鶹ÊÓƵ. Students will have monthly large group meetings, workshops and special interest sessions to hear from graduating seniors approaching the end of undergraduate classes, alumni in various fields and outstanding professors in various departments at Â鶹ÊÓƵ. Students will have individual advising sessions with an academic advisor. Advisors will help students achieve academic goals by monitoring grades and provide tutoring support, if needed. Advisors will assist students in formulating social and spiritual goals during the freshman year.