The Academic Counseling Center will host its “Discover Your Major Day” event Thursday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the University Center Ballroom, where students undecided about their majors can seek advice.
Students who haven’t chosen their major can stop by the event to gain insight on a variety of majors to figure out which one suits them best.
Jessica Flanigan, an academic counselor, coordinated the Discover Your Major Day to guide students towards a major. Flanigan said the purpose of the event is to expose students to all of the programs offered at the university.
“We have department majors, minors and certificate programs representing all of the different colleges,” Flanigan said.
The Academic Counseling Center works with many departments within the U of M to provide a variety of programs for students to choose from.
“A lot of freshmen come in undecided,” Flanigan said. “(They) come in knowing what they want to do, but after the first few days of classes, they change their mind about their major.”
Flanigan said some students declare a major at the beginning of their freshman year but end up changing it during the semester. Flanigan hopes Discover Your Major Day will help students find a degree they have an interest in and stick with it, rather than change majors and lose time and money put into their previous major.
“Our target audience is freshmen, but we invite sophomores, juniors and seniors to come to just kind of see what else is out there,” Flanigan said.
Even though some students have already declared a major, Flanigan tried to get more undecided freshmen to attend along with sophomores, juniors and seniors.
Flanigan said representatives from each department will be at the event with information for students to learn about their respective department. Students can interact with them and gain knowledge based upon their interests so they can more easily choose a career path.
Exercise, sport and movement sciences major Tyre Baker found his major after he attended both a previous Discover Your Major Day and various career fairs
Baker attended various career fairs until one day, he spoke to a representative from the Health and Sport Sciences department. Baker said a conversation linking a love of sports with the human anatomy ultimately helped him choose his major.
For any student who is undecided or considering a different major, Baker recommended attending the fair and deciding on their degree plan as soon as possible.
