<p>Mine did, at the end of the first quarter, from science to humanities. </p>
<p>A majority of the kids I know changed their majors to totally unrelated ones.</p>
<p>As I am helping my younger child figuring out what to major in, I wonder if it matters. </p>
<p>Counselors say that on an average, college kids change their majors 3 times...</p>
<p>How about yours?</p>
<p>Adults change career paths several times throughout life as well. Some have to return to school, while others can make smooth transitions due to their prior experiences or social connections.</p>
<p>The most important thing is to have a solid, well-rounded education. I began college as a graphic design major while working as a graphic designer for a small, local business. I learned that I did not enjoy it as a career, but rather it was best left as a hobby. I now have a BA in psychology. I’m exploring other options now, such as graduate school or a 2nd bachelors because I do not plan to pursue clinical or counseling psychology. I feel flexible enough to pursue pretty much anything I want to because I kept an open mind and took a good variety of courses. I could make a smooth transition into nursing (already had the psych, bio, and other gen. ed. requirements), or accounting (had some business courses, statistics, etc.). </p>
<p>If possible, I would suggest for your child to attend college for at least the first year as an undeclared major and work on getting general education requirements out of the way.</p>
<p>We didn’t help either of our kiddos choose majors. One entered college with a major and got both a bachelors and masters in THAT field. The other entered undeclared, chose her own major during her freshman year, and got her degree in that major with a second major added during her junior year.</p>
<p>I think my kids were exceptions as most everyone else I know switched majors at least once.</p>
<p>since beginning thinking of college, DD has changed her mind 4 times. All for good reasons, and thoughtfully. will be interesting i say . . .</p>
<p>Over the course of four years, D changed her major from neuroscience to a double major in bio/psych to just psych. During her junior year, she took a psych research course and decided she wants to do survey research, so, after taking another research course, a couple of math courses, and stat courses, is going to grad school for that!</p>
<p>My older son has known since he was in 2nd grade what he’d do when he grew up - a computer programmer. He put it in his fifth grade year book too. He did have a minor (but only because CMU required it), he chose physics. No particular surprise there either.</p>
<p>Younger son chose his college because of its reputation in International Relations. Having to learn Arabic has been challenging (couldn’t he have chosen an easier language?), but half way into his sophomore year, and applying to junior year abroad programs in the Middle East, I see no signs of him switching.</p>
<p>Being undecided is fine – but a student considering several majors should plan his/her freshman schedule so that s/he can go into any major that s/he is interested in without delaying graduation. Some students do not plan properly, decide that they like something late in sophomore year, and then realize that a long sequence of prerequisites will prevent them from graduating on time if they declare that major.</p>
<p>Strangely, both D’s went to schools requiring cores for about the first 2 years- gave D1 time to sort it out- slight variation on the original major and a new minor by graduation-and grad school well, that was in yet another field , so far D2 had time to choose a double major and has not changed it yet. If they had had to choose in the first year- i am sure the 3 average would have been about right. The idea of cores at both their schools I think was great and partially may have been an attraction for D2.</p>
<p>I think I read something a while ago that said 90% of all college students change their major at least once. This did include kids moving from Chemistry to Biology but still on the pre-med track but still, it’s a change. Having a general idea of what they would like to do is helpful in the college search process but finding a school that is a good fit is more important. I wouldn’t worry too much about which major at this point.</p>
<p>ucbalumnus made some very good points above.</p>
<p>There is no harm in going into college with two or three potential majors in mind (e.g., “I’m thinking of majoring in either math, computer science, or economics”) and designing a schedule that starts you on the road to all of them. </p>
<p>But if you have no idea at all, you could get yourself in a situation where you will not be able to graduate in 8 semesters.</p>
<p>Older son changed from Physics to Mechanical Engineering. Younger son changed from Chemistry and History to Chemical Engineering and Psychology, and after taking all the premed courses, decided not to go the med school route.</p>
<p>DS1 started out in math (eye to becoming a college prof), segued into econ/business, added film studies concentration, masters in sports management, now works at a D1 uni in compliance.</p>
<p>Very few students graduate with the major they expected as high schoolers. Keep the options open, but keep to the 4 year plan.</p>
<p>“Keep the options open, but keep to the 4 year plan.”</p>
<p>Brilliant. Should be framed on the wall of every college student and parent.</p>
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<p>I don’t think it’s “very few.” Both my kids did, as did about half of their friends.</p>
<p>I got my degrees in, and am working in the field I identified as a goal back in HS. My older s, who changed from physics to Mech E, found an autobiography he wrote for a school project in the 4th grade. In it , he said he wanted to be a Mech E!! :eek: He had no memory of writing that, and was surprised he even knew what a mech E was back then! He has long talked about wanting to work on green energy alternatives, and is in the green design field, though not in the automotive industry as he had expressed an interest in as a kid.</p>
<p>My daughter wanted a degree in public health since about 10th/11th grade. Started college with a major in public health in one of the small number of schools that offer that major. The school also encouraged community service and she trained as an ESL teacher through the school and decided she wanted to major in linguistics.</p>
<p>Transferred schools and graduated with a degree in Psychology and Linguistics with a minor in Global Health. She graduates in several months from grad school with a Masters in Public Health.</p>
<p>Our oldest wanted to be a priest when he was in about 4th grade–he works in the mortgage industry now :D.</p>
<p>You betcha she did. Her first major required job shadowing during first semester. Was a great thing as she realized the job itself was not as cool as all the technology it used. She switched to a related field. Good thing, too, as many of the pre-reqs were the same. She will still have to take one summer school class to get a pre-req and be on track to graduate in 4 years. Some majors are 4 years of nothing but requirements, others have some flexibility. Sometimes, switching majors will mean an extra semester/year and there’s darn little that can be done about it. </p>
<p>I will honestly say that in 21 years of working with college students, fewer than half remain in the major they expressed interest in as a freshman.</p>
<p>Nope, S was absolutely positive and never veered away from his choice.<br>
D thought about changing but decided to stay with the first choice.</p>
<p>Slightly off topic- my room mate (30 years ago) decided she didn’t like her original major, and proceeded to take a ton of intro courses in the curriculum. I specifically remember her trying out Education, Chemistry, P.E. Psychology, Geology, and I think there were others. She ended up going back to math.</p>
<p>This is also slightly off topic but is related and provides a glimpse of what is possible. My college gf told me when I met her when she was 18 that at the age of 10 she had decided her life plan and she was determined to stick to it. She was going to be pre-med when she went to college, go to med school, meet a fellow med student there to marry (bad for me, a guy who had no interest in medical school), and then become a pediatrician. She did stick to it, in every aspect.</p>