Undergraduate Changes of Major
GVSU Office of
Institutional Analysis
September, 2019
Following are some statistics showing the frequency with which GVSU undergraduates make changes to their major program. Please note the following points about how changes are identified:
Since there are 3 semesters in a year, the maximum annual number of changes that can be recorded for an individual student is 3;
The following table shows the number of each kind of transition per year for recent academic years. The prevalence of major changes has remained relatively steady with a peak in 2013-14 as measured by the number and percentage of students experiencing at least one change, as well as the average number of changes per student. The percentage adding new has remained steady since 2015-16. The percentage of students undergoing secondary admission to a major has increased since 2016-17.
Transitions in undergraduate major by academic year
|
2013-14 |
2014-15 |
2015-16 |
2016-17 |
2017-18 |
2018-19 |
Total |
20853 |
21193 |
21361 |
21605 |
21151 |
20824 |
Changes per student |
||||||
0 |
17136 |
17833 |
18237 |
18620 |
18259 |
17941 |
1 |
3393 |
3046 |
2883 |
2739 |
2635 |
2648 |
2 |
320 |
311 |
239 |
246 |
254 |
231 |
3 |
4 |
3 |
2 |
|
3 |
4 |
New majors per student |
||||||
0 |
19867 |
20081 |
20421 |
20726 |
20238 |
19896 |
1 |
985 |
1111 |
938 |
878 |
913 |
928 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
|
|
Secondary admissions per student |
||||||
0 |
19809 |
20046 |
20278 |
20206 |
19766 |
19403 |
1 |
1044 |
1147 |
1083 |
1399 |
1385 |
1421 |
Changes |
0.19 |
0.17 |
0.16 |
0.15 |
0.15 |
0.15 |
New Majors |
0.05 |
0.05 |
0.04 |
0.04 |
0.04 |
0.04 |
Secondary Admissions |
0.05 |
0.05 |
0.05 |
0.06 |
0.07 |
0.07 |
The next table shows the number of transitions experienced over the whole undergraduate academic careers of students earning bachelors degrees in recent years. Only students who started at GVSU as new freshmen (FTIACs) within 6 years of their graduation date are included. Almost 50% of degree recipients did not change their majors at all. The average number of changes is about 1 per student. About 30% of the degree recipients had undergone a secondary admission process.
Transitions in major over undergraduate career, by graduating class
|
2012-13 |
2013-14 |
2014-15 |
2015-16 |
2016-17 |
2017-18 |
2018-19 |
Total N |
2598 |
2362 |
2464 |
2566 |
2666 |
2874 |
2815 |
Changes per graduate |
|||||||
0 |
1186 |
1052 |
1133 |
1251 |
1239 |
1448 |
1424 |
1 |
945 |
858 |
929 |
886 |
936 |
946 |
959 |
2 |
355 |
336 |
296 |
316 |
345 |
356 |
330 |
3 |
75 |
87 |
74 |
92 |
118 |
99 |
81 |
4 |
32 |
25 |
27 |
18 |
23 |
22 |
19 |
5 |
4 |
4 |
4 |
3 |
5 |
3 |
1 |
6 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
|
|
|
1 |
New Majors per graduate |
|||||||
0 |
2026 |
1831 |
1892 |
1950 |
2042 |
2223 |
2185 |
1 |
540 |
508 |
542 |
582 |
592 |
628 |
601 |
2 |
31 |
23 |
30 |
34 |
31 |
22 |
29 |
Secondary Admissions |
|||||||
0 |
2135 |
1985 |
1977 |
2048 |
2073 |
2199 |
2075 |
1 |
463 |
377 |
487 |
518 |
593 |
675 |
740 |
Averages |
|||||||
Changes |
0.78 |
0.81 |
0.76 |
0.73 |
0.79 |
0.72 |
0.69 |
New Majors |
0.23 |
0.23 |
0.24 |
0.25 |
0.25 |
0.23 |
0.23 |
Secondary Admissions |
0.18 |
0.16 |
0.2 |
0.2 |
0.2 |
0.2 |
0.3 |