70 percent of students change major after enrollment, study finds

"Approximately 70 percent of students change their course of study during their time at the University, Dean of Admission Janet Rapelye said in a recent interview, citing an internal study she had seen." continues The Daily Princetonian.

Photo: The Daily Princetonian

Associate Dean of the College Elizabeth Colagiuri said she was unable to confirm the accuracy of this number but confirmed she was aware that this study had been conducted. This particular study was conducted at the time of the Class of 2018’s matriculation, Colagiuri said.

“At the point of matriculation, we typically survey students to find out what [academic] divisions they think they might be interested in majoring in,” Colagiuri explained. “It’s one of a number of surveys we conduct at various points in the Princeton experience.”

The study generally looked at which of the four major disciplines students were interested in concentrating in: humanities, social sciences, natural sciences and engineering.

Neither Rapelye nor Colagiuri provided information on which areas of concentration received the most members, but data included in the University’s Common Data Set, which is a standard disclosure form filled out by universities, suggests that one discipline that sees a net decline in students over the students’ time at Princeton is engineering.

Rapelye provided the distribution of freshmen enrolled as A.B. or B.S.E. for the Class of 2018, saying that 65 percent of the freshman class have declared themselves as intended A.B., 24 percent as intended B.S.E. and 11 percent still unsure.

The University website claims between 15 percent and 20 percent of students study engineering most years, and the Common Data Set from the 2013-14 year states that 19.5 percent of degrees awarded in the 2013 year were for engineering.
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Source: The Daily Princetonian