Chapter 23: Choosing A College Major: Perspectives of the Advisor and the Advisee

What follows are the insights of a veteran dean regarding the challenge of advising for the major. As someone who has toiled in the vineyards of higher education, advising students for the past 35 years, this author is convinced that there is a constructive and healthy way to think about the subject of the major and its declaration that can be universally applied.

Declaring a major is an important undergraduate rite of passage. It is at this point that a student makes a public declaration of scholarly interest and commits to a focused program of study for his or her remaining years of college. Important, to be sure, as it will have a significant impact over how one directs one’s intellectual energies for the balance of the college career. But it is not life or death. And the decision is not irreversible.