Parent to parent: Working through major changes

By Jeff Hudson

At some point, just about every university student contemplates a change of major — the field in which studies are focused. My son Stephen and I discussed this several times during his first two years at UC Davis. And this past September, while Stephen and I helped my brother close a mountain cabin, Uncle John brought up the topic as well.

It’s normal. You shouldn’t feel alarmed when you sense that you’re about to have this particular conversation with your own daughter or son. But it will make things easier if you are mentally prepared.

A few points to consider:

• Don’t be hasty. A bad grade on a single midterm or a particular paper is not a good reason to switch. But bad grades in several courses might be an indication that a change is in order — particularly if your student has a growing feeling that the major is a mismatch, and the bad grades pile up over more than one quarter.
• Think about an internship to "test the waters." A short try-out with a company in the field your student is considering can help everyone size up whether your student is on the right path. In the late 1970s, I contemplated attending law school. But after a short internship at a law firm, I realized it wasn’t the best choice for me.
• Think about post-graduation career opportunities ... but don’t get too fixated on the subject. The reality is that students frequently go on to a career that’s only partly related to their major. I was an English major in the 1970s, and went on to work at a small daily newspaper in the 1980s. However, I spent most of that decade managing the newspaper’s computer systems, including number-crunching applications in the circulation and advertising departments. And it turned out that I was pretty good at that kind of work. Similarly, my college roommate Ed was a theater major with an emphasis on lighting and sound design, and he went into the telecommunications field.
• Consider the possibility of a double major. This was the point that Uncle John stressed to my son Stephen in September. As a college student 30 years ago, Uncle John majored in aviation with the hope of becoming an airline pilot. But for the past 20-some years, he’s worked for software companies in Silicon Valley. John urged my son to consider pairing his music major with something like computer science, along the lines of Stephen’s Aunt Lisa, who did a double major in music and math and later worked for Sun Microsystems and Plastic Logic. It’s possible to be good at more than one thing. At UC Davis, celebrated Professor Emeritus Eldridge Moores of geology also served for many years as a cellist in the UC Davis Symphony Orchestra.
• Realize that the world is going to change a lot. So your student should focus on skills he or she can adapt to new situations. In the 1970s when I was a high school student contemplating an English major in college and an eventual career in journalism, metro newspapers were both well established and enormously profitable. Personal computers didn’t exist. Three and a half decades later, the newspaper field has been turned upside down with the print edition increasingly playing second fiddle to the online product. And I deliver most of my articles via e-mail. Your son or daughter will undoubtedly see similar transformations in the next 30 years.
• Changing majors may involve staying in school longer than the traditional four years, perhaps a quarter, perhaps two, perhaps a year. Your student may need the extra time to complete all the requirements for the new major. And because some courses are offered in sequence (fall, winter, spring), your student may have to wait a quarter or two to enroll in a needed course. That impacts expenses including tuition, rent and more.

So be prepared to help your student figure out the facts regarding how much coursework a different major would entail, and be realistic about how much time, money and energy the new major would involve.