NCAA Major: undeclared

[Amber]

During NCAA broadcasts I sometimes see gymnast from all classes (fr, so, jr, sr) with an undeclared major. What do they do at schoo?, they do not seem to work towards any profession. When they graduate, what do they graduate in? Can someone explain to me how this works?

 

[irichluck21]

Undeclared means that they have not chosen their major yet.
Often times a student might be undecided about what they want to concentrate on.
Also transfers are sometimes listed as undeclared.

When I transferred initially I was listed as undeclared, even though I was a junior because I had completed my required classes and electives for undergrad. But not all of my classes were counted (though the credits were) toward the new universities requirements. Until those were completed I could not declare my intended major.

Eventually they will have to declare a major. It is not uncommon for people to change their majors. I did as did my brother. We intended one career path and changed minds.

I had a student teacher intern, not actually student teaching yet but into his first semester of the education program, it was introduction so this was the very first education class he was taking. Although he enjoyed his experience and thought I was a great teacher and easy to work with, seeing the amount of paperwork, lesson planning, preparation, managing student behaviors, documentation, grading, and having witness negative conversations with parents (basically parents screaming at me because "not my child") he stated that it was way too much work and aggravation for the pay and he didn't see himself cut out for it despite enjoying teaching. He ended up going into business. He runs a small business that the owner hired him for and he ended up coaching middle school basketball.

My brother thought maybe the medical field was for him, but after a few medical pre-classes (pre-med) he changed his mind and went into accounting.

Home school athletes might have undeclared because they have completed high school requirements but maybe not have been exposed to electives that might interest them into their particular future field.

 

[cuuf]

Typically, you would have to "declare" a major and enter a college at a university at the end of your sophomore year. It would be unusual to see a Jr or Sr as an undeclared. Fr and Sp years traditionally are your general education years, so you basic math, english, science, humanites course. Then Jr and Sr years are degree specific courses offered by the college that you declare

 

[Amber]

Thanks for the explanations!

 

[makam]

I went to nerd school which was a bit more intense/focused than most div 1 universities and you could be undeclared for mayyyybe your whole freshman year but in sophomore year, things really started splitting off into major-specific classes. If you were doing chemistry or computer science or electrical engineering, you had to know pretty well by then or else you would have to repeat a year (or more). Switching majors was possible but could set you back so you wouldn't graduate with your class.

But most of the nerds coming in knew basically what their goal was and most had a declared major day 1. You could start in computer engineering and switch to computer science or math with little loss, but if you did a few years of chemistry and decided mechanical engineering was your call, you were going to add at least a year to college (but would have a great minor or double major).

We did not have a gymnastics team.