Major Movement: Examining Meta-Major Switching at Community Colleges

Evidence of inefficient course-taking patterns at community colleges has spurred policy conversations about how to ensure effective course sequences. Structural reforms, like guided pathways, seek to reduce major switching as a means to streamline student course taking and eliminate unnecessary cred...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inReview of higher education Vol. 44; no. 2; pp. 189 - 235
Main Authors Schudde, Lauren T, Ryu, Wonsun, Brown, Raymond Stanley
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States Johns Hopkins University Press 2020
Subjects
Academic Persistence
Career Counseling
College Freshmen
College students
Community College Students
Community Colleges
Conversation
Course Selection (Students)
Educational Attainment
Educational Objectives
Enrollment
Expectation
Gender Differences
Graduation
Higher education
Institutional Characteristics
Intellectual Disciplines
Longitudinal Studies
Majors (Students)
Postsecondary Education
Predictor Variables
Public Colleges
Racial Differences
Reforms
Science Curriculum
Socioeconomic Background
STEM education
Student Characteristics
Student Experience
meta-major
guided pathways
major choice
community college
regression
major switching
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Summary:Evidence of inefficient course-taking patterns at community colleges has spurred policy conversations about how to ensure effective course sequences. Structural reforms, like guided pathways, seek to reduce major switching as a means to streamline student course taking and eliminate unnecessary credits. By placing students into broad fields of study--called meta-majors--and encouraging persistence within that general field (where coursework narrows toward a specific program over time), community colleges may help students progress toward their desired degree. But how often do students leave that meta-major, and what predicts meta-major switching? We use national data to examine meta-major switching at community colleges. Our findings suggest that almost 40 percent of students switch between meta-majors (eight broad major fields, plus undecided) between their first and third years of college. We describe the varied destinations and predictors across origin meta-majors and consider implications for colleges as they seek to assess ongoing reforms.
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ISSN:0162-5748
1090-7009
1090-7009
DOI:10.1353/rhe.2020.0044