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Monday, June 15, 1998

Major decision awaits every Bruin

MAJORS: Choosing path to future career involves being open to interests, opportunities

By Michelle Navarro

Daily Bruin Senior Staff

Walking into Baskin Robbins and deciding which of the 31 flavors to pick is a difficult decision. King Kong Crunch or Vanilla Bean? Decisions, decisions.

Who knew it would be great practice for an even bigger choice made by every college student: what subject to major in.

If 31 flavors is hard, try choosing from 110 majors. What makes it even worse is the fact that, more than likely, one's major is an indicator of a future career.

This might be one reason why Jane Crawford, the director of counseling at the College of Letters and Science, estimated that UCLA students change their major at least three times throughout their undergraduate career.

At least.

"I went through a number of changes before I ended up as a neuroscience major at UCLA," said Eve Jokel, a fifth-year student.

Jokel not only made four major changes, but changed schools as well - from Pierce College and Berkeley to UCSD and finally UCLA.

Declaring a major isn't required of UCLA students until the completion of 90 units, or the beginning of junior status.

This gives anyone unsure of what direction to take to explore the options. Usually this may be accomplished through fulfilling the general education requirements, which skim the surface of majors offered at UCLA.

"We really don't put pressure on students to declare a major," said Crawford. "But, if a student wants to change majors many times, that's OK too."

Changing majors, according to Crawford, is a "fairly easy process." All it entails is a visit with the department advisor to discuss the change.

As long as the student is in good academic standing and has fulfilled any specific requirements or preparations pertaining to the new major, they are home free.

"The problem is, are (the students) just shopping, or is it a commitment?" Crawford pointed out. "There is really no way to tell if they are going to change their mind."

There are various reasons why students end up changing their minds, one being that the decision was made too early.

For example, many of those budding doctors in high school who opted to enter college as pre-med students end up switching majors.

"A lot of students come in thinking they'll be pre-med, and for one reason or another they change, or stay pre-med but major in something else," Crawford said.

In high school, many students believe the only road to medical school is the one paved in science. This misconception brings a flock of biology-bound freshman who actually could have majored in something completely unrelated.

What many of these students don't realize is that medical school is still a possibility, as long as the basic required classes for entrance are also taken.

When some discover this secret, it's off to talk to the counselor about changing over.

"There is that stereotype that they have to be a bio major," Crawford explained of students aspiring to go to medical school. "It's the same with political science students and pre-law."

Other students may simply change their major because they aren't happy with their performance or because they aren't sure that the department they are in is the best choice for them - or something better may come along and change a student's mind.

Sometimes a switch will be made to test the possibility of following a different career.

"I had a dream of becoming a producer," said Sam Hertzik, who graduated last year from UCLA with a degree in biology.

Hertzik originally began his undergraduate studies as a biology student, but then changed over to cinema.

However, it didn't stop there.

He then changed his major to psychobiology, and changed it once again to psychology. All this effort, only to return to biology in the end.

"I'm just weird like that. I am very volatile in nature," Hertzik said. "I actually kind of enjoyed the different perspectives."

When asked why he ultimately chose to go back to his biology roots, he smiled and said, "It was the most reasonable one, the most rational. Rational people make rational choices."

If a student is positive about where his interests lie, counselors say a declaration should be made as soon as possible.

"The sooner they declare a major, the sooner their records will be in the department," said Alison Nickerson, director of counseling for the Honors Program at the college of Letters and Science.

"Plus, they will be able to take courses in the department that may require you to be in that major," she continued.

In addition, some departments have several required courses. So it is beneficial to get a head start early on to prevent being stuck with quarters packed with such difficult courses.

"In some sciences it behooves (students) to get prepared early and to make the commitment soon," Crawford said.

Yet having that kind of certainty about a subject may be a problem. To help smooth out such worries, workshops centered around choosing a major are periodically offered throughout the year by the Career Center and the College of Letters and Science.

If that doesn't work, perhaps major-hopping, similar to what Hertzik and Jokel did, is the way to go.

"(I) was finally satisfied that I was in the right school, following the right program that finally gave me everything I wanted out of my undergrad education," Jokel said.

Either way, it does nothing but benefit a student to be absolutely sure and happy with his or her major.

"Students do their best work in a major they enjoy," Nickerson said. "They are more content with what they're doing, and sometimes that takes some exploration."