Why don’t some college students know what their major is?
Mar.23, 2010 in
College Tutoring
I work as a Spanish tutor in a college tutoring lab. When students come in for tutoring, we have to sign them in by entering their information (name, student ID number, major, etc.) into the computer. One thing that I have noticed, though, is that whenever I ask some students what their major is, they have to stop and think about it! Why don’t some students know what their major is? I’m assuming that they’re going to college in order to get career training of some sort, so I can’t help but think that they of all people should know what program they’re enrolled in!
March 23rd, 2010 at 11:11 pm
because they are at school to major in keg stands.
March 23rd, 2010 at 11:50 pm
here is what I think:
not all students that go to college, want to go to college. Some go to college because of their parents, others because they have no other option, so if someone doesn’t really know if they wanna go to college or not, it is easy to expect that they don’t know their major
also, sometimes students are undecided and they don’t know what they wanna go when they start working for real, so they just take general classes like being in a general concentration major and they take these general classes meanwhile they decide
or it is their first semester and they are sooo lost that they barely remember their name =)
March 24th, 2010 at 12:07 am
Some students aren’t really in college for what they want. I remember that some students apply to U of Illinois in something they didn’t want, just to get in. Then they transferer after a year because the competition is too tough for the major they really wanted. Just like engineering. Score bad on the ACT and/or bad GPA, you don’t get in. Take the same scenario and apply to a less competitive major, you are in. I wouldn’t remember my major either. You still have to take the same gen eds like spanish, that’s where you see it.
March 24th, 2010 at 12:46 am
Not all students go to college for career training. I know I certainly didn’t. I went because I had to, my parents would have disowned me if I didn’t go. A lot of students go to college without knowing what career they want and use college to try different subjects in different fields so they can choose a major. There are many ‘undeclared’ freshman and sophomores in college and many who switch majors before graduating.
Some people say that the purpose of a college education is to teach critical thinking, because with that skill you can do any job. That is why some have liberal arts majors that have nothing to do with the career they end up in.
If you went to college for career training, perhaps you are better off in a trade school ? I had classes in computer science, they had nothing to do with the job I got fixing computers.
If you knew career you wanted before you went to college, you are fortunate as I myself am I late bloomer and have been struggling to find a career that fits me. I think I finally found it recently, though there are no jobs in that field nor do I have experience in it, I am 40……