More Than Half of College Students Experience Doubt About Their Choice of Major
Higher Education Research Analyst
Senior Data Reporter
Higher Education Research Analyst
Senior Data Reporter
Data Summary
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It's typical for college students to have doubts about choosing the right major at least occasionally — more than half (54%) do. -
Salary (53%), job prospects (48%), and student loan debt (43%) are surveyed students' top reported reasons for doubting their field of study. -
27% say the rise of AI in the workforce causes them to doubt or reconsider their college major. -
Students majoring in high-paying STEM fields are more likely than other students to report reconsidering their major (27% vs. 20%). -
Nursing and healthcare students are more likely than students in other fields to say they never or very rarely doubt their major choice (28% vs. 23%). -
Humanities students are more likely than others to blame their field-of-study doubts on post-graduation salaries (64% vs. 45%).
When college students declare a major, it can determine the course of their studies and potentially their future in the workforce. BestColleges survey data shows that many students wonder if they've made the right decision.
Of 1,000 current undergraduate and graduate students, about 1 in 5 (21%) report experiencing doubts about choosing the right major or field of study frequently or very frequently. One-third (33%) say they occasionally have doubts, and 38% rarely or very rarely have doubts.
Just 8% of students say they never have doubts about their major.
Salary, job prospects, and student loan debt are the most common reasons students have doubts about their prospective fields.
Over half of students (53%) who say they have doubts about choosing the right major cite salary after graduation as the reason, 48% list job prospects after graduation, and 43% point to student loan debt.
Additionally, 41% of students express doubts due to a lack of interest or passion for the field, and 27% say the rise of AI in the workforce causes them to doubt or reconsider their college major.
Some students surveyed report other
reasons for having doubts about their major, writing in responses, including fears about not being good enough
for their industry, tuition costs, and stress or mental health concerns.
According to the American College Health Association, students commonly experience mental health challenges, with 3 in 4 students reporting moderate to serious psychological distress in 2023.
Students Eyeing High-Paying STEM Fields Still Have Their Doubts
Students studying STEM are more likely than other students to report having frequent or very frequent doubts about their choice of major.
Twenty-seven percent of STEM students report having doubts frequently or very frequently compared to 20% of humanities students, 19% of business students, and 19% of students in healthcare or nursing.
STEM majors could be poised for higher-than-average salaries after graduation. Engineering fields, in particular, dominate the list of top-paying college majors. However, STEM students don't seem comforted by promising salaries in light of AI concerns.
In fact, STEM students are more likely than others to express doubts due to the rise of AI in the workforce. One-third of STEM students (33%) versus one-quarter of non-STEM students (25%) say that the rise of AI causes them to doubt or reconsider their choice of major.
Nursing and healthcare students are the most likely to say they never or very rarely have doubts about their choice of major: 28% of these students experience doubts never or rarely, compared to 24% of humanities majors, 22% of business majors, and 20% of STEM majors.
Humanities majors are no more likely than other students to experience doubts in their field of study. But when they do waver, they are far more likely than non-humanities majors to blame their doubts on post-graduation salaries (64% vs. 45%). Learn more about humanities majors' and other students' salary expectations in our college value survey report.
Methodology
This survey was conducted from Mar. 20-28, 2024, and was fielded by Pure Spectrum. Survey participants included 1,000 respondents nationwide who were currently enrolled in an on-campus (52%), online (16%), or hybrid (32%) undergraduate or graduate degree program. Respondents were 18-62 years of age, with the majority (77%) ages 18-24, and currently pursuing an associate, bachelor's, master's, doctoral, or professional degree. The respondents for the survey were screened by various quality checks, including systems like Relevant ID, and responses were manually reviewed to ensure consistency and accuracy.
In this report, STEM majors include biological and physical sciences, computer and information sciences and support services, engineering, mathematics, and statistics. Nursing and healthcare majors include nursing and health professions and related programs. Humanities includes communication, journalism, and related programs; humanities and liberal arts (e.g., philosophy, religion, history, English, languages, arts); education; psychology, sociology, and social sciences; and criminal justice, law enforcement, fire science, and related protective services. Business majors include business, management, marketing, and related services.
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