Research Blog #6: Visual

A Major Decision

The picture to the right illustrates the growing epidemic of college students who are deciding to be undecided in their first year of college. With the pressure higher than ever to find a major and stick to it due to the high cost of a college education, we still find students choosing to remain undecided. This growing number is concerning because indecision among students means that graduation rates will begin to lower. However, this number is not a clear estimate of how many undecided students there really are- most first-year students pick a course of study that they believe they are interested in, only to find themselves switching to a different discipline later in their education. This statistic has caused pressure for many four-year public universities to decrease the time-to-degree completion rates, which is displayed in a national ranking. This presents an interesting question: are colleges really concerned about the financial being of their students, or are they more concerned about how their institution presents itself in statistics?

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Research Blog #2: Scouting the Territory

In Blog #1, I had a few different options of which direction I wanted to go in. After researching all the topics, I decided to further research the pros and cons of the "undecided" major because there is a debate on if it is worth the monetary cost to go to school without a major or concentration. When looking online, I found a lot of research from universities on how to deal with their undecided students. There are many articles that discuss the pros and cons of entering college undecided. Additionally, I found an article about the origin of indecisiveness along with many studies of students who chose the undecided path when entering college. Key terms used in articles : advising, options, direction, epidemic, exploratory, specialization, retention, influence, developmental phase, attitudes. Books and scholarly articles: Bad College Advice- the Undeclared Major : Forbes article discussing how expensive and time consuming the undeclared major is and how it is a bad...

Literature Review #4

Phase-Adequate Engagement at the Post-School Transition Author, Julia Dietrich MLA Citation : Dietrich, J., Parker, P., Salmela-Aro, K. (2012). Phase-adequate engagement at the post-school transition. Developmental Psychology, 48, 1575- 1593. Summary: This article is about the transition from High School to College or career pathways. The transition presents developmental challenges that are handled differently by every individual. Coping with these challenges differs depending on the individual, their social network and cultural conditions. Once an adolescent choses a vocation, they must do all necessary tasks to fulfill their goal. How these individuals deal with the necessary steps of completion will determine their post-school transition patterns. Information About Author: Julia Dietrich, is a research associate at the Institute of Educational Science in the Department of Educational Psychology. Phili...

Literature Review #1

The Undecided College Student: An Academic and Career Advising Challenge MLA Citation: Gordon, Virginia N., and George E Steele. The Undecided College Student: an Academic and Career Advising Challenge . Charles C. Thomas Publishers, 2015. This reading addresses all important topics concerning undecided college students. It acknowledges that there is not one sole cause of indecision in students. This book also addresses the cultural differences in decision making. For example, Americans for the most part make their own career decisions while Taiwanese students conform to familial and societal expectations. Throughout the book there are case studies that investigate why students are undecided and how they can be grouped together to better understand causation including family influences and emotional intelligence. Author Virginia N. Gordon is an expert in the field of academic advising. She has been a professor of education at Ohio State University for 21 years. Here she pr...

Research in the Disciplines: College!

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