<p>A number of kids from our high school started out in college majoring in something they evidently could not handle the workload for, because next thing I hear, they are transferred to another college majoring in something more manageable.</p>
<p>This seems to happen especially to kids starting out as engineering majors. Has anyone else noticed this phenomena?</p>
<p>It’s pretty common for engineering majors. The ‘attrition rate’ of switching out of engineering to another major can easily be over 30%. There are lots of reasons including the amount of work required (lots of difficult HW), difficulty of the material, large number of courses/credits required, reality of the GPA hit due to harsh grading typical in engineering at some colleges, people who just decide it’s not for them (ex: the guy who likes to play video games all day so they pursue computer science and then find out it’s not like playing video games all day), and people whose interests simply change when they discover other major areas.</p>
<p>Very common for engineering majors for the reasons listed above. I had two college roommates who changed out of engineering.</p>
<p>It’s not only very common, it’s also not something I would criticize.</p>
<p>Kids don’t get a chance to learn what engineering is really like in high school. They simply know that it’s a career field for people who are interested in science and math. They need to try it out before deciding whether it’s for them.</p>
<p>Most people who think they are interested in engineering try it in college. Some find it isn’t for them and change majors. Others like it and stick with it. It’s better than trying to move into engineering from another major (often very difficult)</p>
<p>My older brother’s roommate was going on a scholarship to UConn (he was OOS), prospectively majoring in Statistics. He couldn’t handle it because, as my brother said, “He doesn’t know algebra.” Ended up losing his scholarship and transferring to another school to do a different major.</p>
<p>A Physics teacher at my school (who I had for a couple Pre-Engineering courses) actually had dropped out of Engineering into Applied Physics.</p>
<p>It’s also common for students to have to leave the Physician Assistant program. My daughter (now in 4th year) loses classmates every year, even this far in… lost three of forty during summer session.</p>
<p>Oh gosh yes, I think the percentage of kids that switch majors in college is pretty high. Most kids might “think” they are interested in something when they leave high school, but in college they might find a particular major more difficult or not as interesting as they thought and some are exposed to coursework they have never experienced before that can inspire them.</p>
<p>I’ve never thought of it as a “downgrade” - simply a switch to something which is better suited to them. So many kids are in engineering for the wrong reasons, and they’re not fields which you can survive very well if your heart isn’t in it.</p>
<p>I’m going to say…I take offense at the notion that switching your major is “downgrading” it. The VAST MAJORITY of college students switch majors, and usually multiple times before they land on something they wish to get their degree in. Are you saying that the vast majority of college majors are “downgrading” their majors? </p>
<p>Part of going to college is ferreting out what you may want to actually be “when you grow up”. Most 18 year olds don’t have that all figured out. Some do…but most don’t. I applaud students who look at multiple options and THINK about their majors for themselves.</p>
<p>My s changed from chemistry too chemical engineering. Did he “upgrade”?</p>
<p>Some switch to majors they had never considered before college. This is one of the benefits of distribution requirements or whatever the required general coursework is called at a school.</p>
<p>The department where I teach has a minimum GPA requirement for graduation. So some students do, in fact, “downgrade” to majors with less stringent requirements if they can’t make the grade. </p>
<p>I teach Communication. :)</p>
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<p>He upgraded his job and career prospects after graduation.</p>
<p>As far as “upgrade” or “downgrade” other than in the context of something measurable like job and career prospects*, it is not really an accurate term compared to just “change one’s major”.</p>
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<li>Of course, a lot of people have misconceptions about what majors actually do lead to good job and career prospects.</li>
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<p>When I was in college (Fred Flintstone and I were classmates), almost none of the engineers where I went dropped out of engineering. Math was a different story. To remain a math major, you had to get at least a B in freshman calc, and that was very hard to do. (Engineers needed only a passing grade in calc.) The economics department got most of its majors that way.</p>
<p>longtime lurker here - Students at my LAC regularly downgraded majors once they became doubtful about their med school prospects. All it took for many was one “C”, and sometimes these were actually the brightest and most ambitious students (the ones you would probably want for your doctor) who miscalulated and overloaded, took too many difficut courses at the same time, or became too involved in EC’s.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, my LAC was second tier and did not offer too many exciting alternatives for students who left the pre-med track. (These were mostly bio or chem majors.) Those who stayed in the science majors sometimes got into top-tier grad schools by performing well and outshining their pre-med classmates in upper-level classes, but that was back in the day when grad schools did not look carefully at research experience.</p>
<p>My son started out as a business major. After 3 years, he decided he wanted to switch to engineering and will graduate in December with a degree in Electrical Engineering. This spring, when he was interviewing for internships, there was much discussion about his “upgrade” to engineering. He landed a well-paid internship and when they called him, they told him that the fact that he had moved into engineering instead of out of it was the tipping factor. He was a young college freshman and had no idea what he wanted to do with his life. As a second semester sophomore, he had to declare a major and was pretty much pushed into a business major by his advisor. We knew it was a bad choice for him from the start, but it took him a couple of semesters to figure it out.</p>
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<p>Is changing away from biology or chemistry necessarily a “downgrade”? (Although it should be noted that majoring in biology or chemistry is not needed for pre-med purposes.)</p>
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<p>Most students find it hard to switch into engineering (or physics) because of the long prerequisite chains starting with math and physics in freshman year. Was he taking those courses all along even as a business major?</p>
<p>I don’t think OP is referring to students who just change their major as “downgrading”. Rather, students who don’t get great grades in bio/chem/whatever (pre-med) switching to something else after their dreams of being a doctor are dashed. Or students who don’t get into their school’s business school majoring in Econ instead.</p>