We know that approximately 60% of UGA students change their major at least once. We also know that if that change happens after their first 60-hours, it impacts their time to graduation. To address this issue, we have established six focus areas that cluster our 140+ majors into groups with significant overlap in core classes. The meta-majors reflect broad conceptions of post-UGA aspirations, are aligned to specific programs of study, and reflect the Holland Interest Inventory (which incoming students take as part of the Orientation Intake Survey). They are based on the overlapping core and recommended prerequisite courses for each major to mitigate the impact of two significant issues that students face by switching majors: accruing extra credits and increasing time to graduation.
The governing principle for the focus areas was to create a tool that would help students—ideally in consultation with their advisor—who switch their major stay on track for a four-year graduation if they switch to a major within a focus area.
We also decided to incorporate the Holland Interest Inventory categories into the focus area visualization; for example, orange is used to indicate a major that aligns with an “investigative” personality. Typically, three or four Holland categories are included in each focus area.
By including the Holland categories, we can go beyond curricular overlaps and respond to the maturation of students’ interests and goals over their 4-year tenure at UGA.
The focus areas have been used extensively in our Exploratory Center as a tool to help students navigate potential major changes to find the best for their aspirations and personality. Throughout Spring semester 2023, advisors in the Exploratory Center hosted workshops for the advisors within each focus area to explain the concept and provide guidance on how to use the focus areas with their advisees.
- We have validated the meta-majors using a 65% overlap in core courses for a major as the threshold.
- For majors that fall below the threshold, we will consult with departments/colleges to place them in the most appropriate meta-major.
- We will look for ways to improve the process for changing a major at UGA to decrease the number of major changes and will update the data on major changes annually
In addition to tracking numbers, we want to identify the majors that tend to lose students and those that tend to receive majors so we can work with departments to identify why they are losing students.
Based on our robust assessment of the overlap among majors in each meta-major we have moved some majors from one meta-major to another and are seeking feedback from colleges and departments
The Educational Affairs Committee will examine the policies that govern changing a major at UGA and suggest possible changes. We will also work with advisors to create a very short survey to be sent to students who change their major in any semester to gather information on why students are switching their major.
