Factors Contributing to Undergraduate Switching From STEM Majors: Has Anything Changed in the Last Two Decades?

• In Event: STEM Switching Reconsidered: Why Do Undergraduates Leave STEM Majors and Where Do They Go?

Abstract

By 2020, almost two-thirds of jobs in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) will require a bachelor’s degree or higher (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2012; Carnevale, Smith & Melton, 2011). While current research indicates increased student interest in STEM, the rate at which students leave STEM majors has remained persistently high (Eagan, Hurtado, Figueroa & Hughes, 2014; Hurtado, Eagan, & Hughes, 2012; NSF, 2012) and only about 40 percent of students entering college intending to major in a STEM field complete a STEM degree (Chen, 2015; Ferrare & Lee, 2014; Gates & Mirkin, 2012). The rates at which women and students of color switch out of STEM majors are higher yet. While numbers of women and students of color entering STEM majors have increased, they are still underrepresented in relation to their proportions in the U.S. population and both groups earn proportionately fewer STEM bachelor’s degrees than white males (Eagan, et al., 2014; Hurtado, et al., 2012; Rodriguez, Kirshstein, Amos, Jones, Espinosa & Watnick, 2012). This substantial loss of natural talent and interest in STEM underlies what has become a national imperative to retain students in STEM majors (Carnevale, et al., 2011; Rodriguez, et al., 2012). If colleges and universities retained just 10 percent of students who leave STEM majors, the U.S. could achieve its future national workforce needs (PCAST, 2012).

This paper discusses results from a large, multi-component, mixed-methods study exploring what has and has not changed in the contributory causes of switching from STEM majors since the publication of the influential book Talking about Leaving: Why Undergraduates Leave the Sciences (Seymour & Hewitt, 1997). Findings are presented from qualitative analysis of 94 individual “switcher” interviews conducted at six institutions of higher education representative of U.S. STEM education. Team members’ coding of the interview data was deductive—given prior research findings of issues affecting student persistence in STEM fields—as well as inductive—grounded in themes emergent in the interview data (Creswell, 2012). Following coding, team members conducted an analysis of the data based on grouped themes (Boyatzis, 1998). When meaningful, results are broken out by subsamples of gender, race/ethnicity, and/or “low math readiness.”

Our analysis reviewed the complex processes behind students’ decisions to leave or stay in STEM and identified factors that influenced these decisions in comparison to those presented in Talking about Leaving. These factors include difficulties students encountered with inadequate high-school preparation and transition to college, obtaining appropriate help, bases for choice of major, the culture of STEM majors and lack of belonging, loss of interest, and students’ educational experiences in introductory STEM courses.

Results from this study remain congruent with those presented in Talking about Leaving, indicating students’ high school and early college experiences significantly influence their decisions to switch from STEM majors. Findings point to the urgent need for investment in faculty and graduate student professional development in research-based pedagogies proven to enhance student learning outcomes (AAU, 2011; Freeman, McDonough, Smith, Okoroafor, Jordt & Wenderoth, 2014; NRC, 2015; PCAST, 2012).

Author

• Anne-Barrie Hunter, University of Colorado - Boulder