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

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

Nearly a quarter of high-achieving students enter college as scientific, technical, engineering or mathematics (STEM) majors, yet a third of these students ultimately switch to a non-STEM field (Chen, 2015). This symposium focuses on talented students’ pathways into and out of STEM majors at six public and private institutions. Drawing on extensive student transcripts and interviews with 94 switchers from STEM to non-STEM majors, the panelists bring different methodological, analytical, and theoretical orientations to bear on the larger question of why talented undergraduates leave STEM. Together, these papers reveal common trajectories that are not of the conventionally-conceived STEM to non-STEM type. These patterns suggest that reconsidering undergraduate STEM pathways may be warranted.

Sub Unit

• Division J - Postsecondary Education / Division J - Section 2: College Student Access, Success, and Outcomes

Chair

• Mark R. Connolly, University of Wisconsin - Madison

Papers

• Patterns of Choice Among Students Who Switch out of STEM Majors - Tim J. Weston, University of Colorado - Boulder

• Factors Contributing to Undergraduate Switching From STEM Majors: Has Anything Changed in the Last Two Decades? - Anne-Barrie Hunter, University of Colorado - Boulder

• "Chemistry Is Not in the Cards ...": When High-Performing STEM Students Switch to Arts or Humanities - Dana Holland, University of Colorado - Boulder

• "I Don't Think This Is Me": The Role of Uninformed Choices in Attrition From Engineering - Heather L. Thiry, University of Colorado - Boulder

• Students Who Switch out of STEM Majors May Still Pursue STEM Goals - Raquel Harper, University of Colorado - Boulder

Discussants

• Jillian L. Kinzie, Indiana University

• Elaine Seymour, University of Colorado - Boulder