2. Overview
● You're not alone
● Strategies
-Written exercises
-Asking the right questions
-Career Services
-Research
-Gaining experience
-Career exploration
● How to declare
● References
(2)
3. You're not alone
● About 1/3 of entering college students are
undeclared
● More than 50% of college students change
their major at least once (Office of Undeclared Majors, n.d.)
(3)
4. Where are you at?
● Do you have an idea of what majors interest
you? Or are you completely clueless?
Don't worry! SDSU offers
tons of services to assist everyone. However, it
is up to you to be proactive and take
advantage of the services offered.
(4)
(5)
5. Written Exercises
● Reflect
● What are your interests, goals, hopes, and
life expectations? (Slowinski & Hammock, 2003)
● Evaluate your experiences
(6)
(7)
6. Asking yourself the right questions
● What majors interest me?
-Why?
-What has influenced this interest?
-What do I know about these majors?
(8)
7. Career Services is key
● Visit SDSU Career Services! SSE-1200
● Meet with a Career Counselor
● Career Services offers assessments with a
referral from a career counselor
http://career.sdsu.edu/current/assessments.html
● Understand that many careers do not require
a specific major
● There are usually many paths that can lead
you to your desired career
(9)
(10)
8. Research
● Review SDSU General catalog and
familiarize yourself with major requirements
and course descriptions
● Talk to the major departments and ask what
kinds of things their alumni are doing
● Talk to current students in the major, and
find out if there is an academic club you can
join
(11)
9. Gaining Experience
● Course work
● Remember, every major at SDSU is
impacted, which means it is important for
students to maintain a good GPA
(12)
10. Career Exploration (Slowinski & Hammock, 2003)
● Job shadowing
● Informational Interviews
● Talking with family, friends, and
professionals
● Internships/volunteer work
● Start to build a network
(13)
11. How to declare
● Once you have decided on a major, pick up
a declaration of major form from the Office of
the Registrar, or the Academic Advising
Center
● Take the form to your major adviser and
have it signed
● Turn in the signed form to the Office of the
Registrar
● You will then be a pre-major until you
complete the major pre-requirements
12. References
Office of Undeclared Majors, San Diego State University (n.d.) Undeclared Students, Frequently Asked Questions.
Retrieved from http://dus.sdsu.edu/dus/undeclared/faq.aspx
Slowinski, Patrick T., and Hammock, W. Kerry (2003) Undecided/open students.Retrieved from the NACADA
Clearinghouse of Academic Advising Resources Web site: [
http://www.nacada.ksu.edu/Resources/Clearinghouse/View-Articles/Advising-Undeclared-Students.aspx]
