Students Who Switch out of STEM Majors May Still Pursue STEM Goals

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

Abstract

According to a 2009 survey conducted by the Higher Education Research Institute (2010), about 34 percent of entering U.S. freshmen college students intend to major in a STEM subject. And of these students, between 18 and 42 percent persist and graduate in STEM (differences range by race and ethnicity). Similarly, Chen (2015) evaluated enrollment data from a 2004/2009 longitudinal study, and found that about 28 percent of STEM entrants had switched majors by graduation, and 20 percent of the students had left college completely.

However, the existing data on diversion rates may not accurately portray the number of students who still study majors with some STEM content or who continue to pursue STEM-related careers after graduation. STEM education is defined quite narrowly by the U.S. Department of Education’s Classification of Instructional Programs into the following six fields: computer and information sciences; engineering and engineering technologies; biological and biomedical sciences; mathematics and statistics; physical sciences; and science technologies (U.S. Department of Education, 2011). Meanwhile the National Science Foundation defines STEM more broadly to include mathematics, natural sciences, engineering, and computer and information sciences, as well as social and behavior sciences (such as psychology, economics, and political science) (National Science Foundation, 2015). NSF’s definition may offer a more accurately inclusive description of STEM fields.

In our interview study that investigates patterns of persistence and loss in STEM disciplines among students across six universities, we discovered that many students do not necessarily leave STEM disciplines completely. Some students are switching to majors that are not traditionally classified as STEM disciplines, but still require substantial math and/or science (such as construction management, biopsychology, and nutrition). Others plan on pursuing graduate education in STEM, but have switched to non-STEM majors while still completing the necessary STEM requisites for their desired graduate programs (e.g., medical, dental, and nursing schools; and advanced degrees in statistical sociology, biostatistics, and mathematics). About 20 percent of our 94 switcher students could be classified in this category of pursuing STEM goals without a STEM degree.

We found students may be choosing alternative pathways to their desired STEM goals for a variety of career-focused reasons. One of the most common of these is as a tactic to increase their chances of acceptance into competitive STEM graduate programs. This often takes the form of choosing a major that will enable them to increase their GPA, or that takes them less time to complete, or that is less expensive. Other reasons included an awareness of job opportunities that require more multi- and inter-disciplinary knowledge, and their desire to work in non-research or non-laboratory environments that still involve science. These moves by STEM-qualified and STEM career-focused undergraduates raise the question of whether some math- or science-heavy non-STEM majors should be re-evaluated for inclusion in STEM-defined education and whether undergraduate students who still plan to pursue STEM graduate education should be classified as STEM leavers.

This paper describes the prevalence and profile of these alternative STEM-pathway switchers, and includes the reasons why they choose to switch.

Author

• Raquel Harper, University of Colorado - Boulder