Roughly half (49%) of all second-year college students from the high school graduating class of 2013 declared a major in the same area as the major that they had planned to enter when they registered for the ACT. This finding is similar to that among ACT-tested first-year college students, as shown in Part 2 of this report series.

The consistency between college students’ planned and declared major area differs by the broad area in which they had selected a planned major (see Figure 1). At one extreme, roughly six out of 10 students (63%) who planned to major in the area of Business actually declared a major in this area by their second year of college. In only four other planned major areas—Engineering; Repair, Production, and Construction; Health Sciences and Technologies; and Arts: Visual and Performing—had 50% of second-year college students or more declared a major that was consistent with their plans. At the other extreme, roughly one-third of students or fewer declared a major that was consistent with their plans in five planned major areas: Philosophy, Religion, and Theology (31%); Architecture (22%); Engineering Technology and Drafting (14%); Area, Ethnic, and Multidisciplinary Studies (8%); and Health Administration and Assisting (5%).

The rate at which second-year students declared a major that is consistent with their plans also differs by college level. Only 41% of two-year college students declared a major that was consistent with their plans, as compared to 50% of four-year college students. This is due in part to there being fewer degree program offerings at two-year colleges compared to four-year colleges. There were some planned major areas, however, in which the planned-declared major consistency rate among two-year college students was relatively higher than the rate among their four-year college peers (See Table 1). For example, two-year college students were more than four times as likely as four-year college students to have declared a major that was located in their planned major area of Health Administration and Assisting; and they were more than twice as likely to have declared a major that was located in their planned major area of Engineering Technology and Drafting. On the contrary, four-year college students were 17 times as likely as two-year college students to have declared a major that was located in their planned major area of Philosophy, Religion, and Theology; and they were more than four times as likely to have declared a major that was located in their planned major area of Architecture.

Table 1. Planned Major Areas with Largest Discrepancies in Planned-Declared Major Consistency Rates by College Level

Although the overall planned-declared major consistency rate is the same for females and males (at 49%), this overall rate masks some important gender differences in consistency rates within specific planned major areas (see Table 2). At one end of the spectrum, females were twice as likely as males to have declared a major that was located in their planned major area of Health Administration and Assisting. They were also far more likely than males to have declared a major that was located in their planned major area of Education. At the other end of the spectrum, males were nearly twice as likely as females to have declared a major that was located in their planned major area of Philosophy, Religion, and Theology and in their planned major area of Engineering Technology and Drafting.

Table 2. Planned Major Areas with Largest Discrepancies in Planned-Declared Major Consistency Rates by Gender