WHAT LEADS TO UNI STUDENTS CHANGING DEGREES, DEFERRING AND OR DROPPING OUT?
After spending the uni break surrounded by friends who have deferred, changed subjects or dropped out, I’ve been curious about the reasoning to why this happens so often. I’m intrigued to know why people do it, as personally, I love the degrees I’m doing and haven’t really thought about changing. Yet I do think about how it may be hard to get a job after uni, a reason which may influence students in changing their subject, dropping out or deferring.
The emotional reasoning to why people do it and the factors which contribute to the regular occurrences of it, can provide a more emotional insight on student experience. Whether it’s cause they don’t like the subject, being homesick, being lost or fears over employment. These I believe will be some of the main reasons yet I am intrigued to find out more.
As shown by SBS NEWS, in 2017 the drop out rate was at a decade-long high. Researching for more relevant statistics is hard to find as they are not distributed over the internet. Yet, the emotional factors have been studied before and can be easily analysed. An article by The Shorthorn, written in 2012, listed 10 popular reasons as to why students changed their major. With no real evidence shown that the research was completed, I want to be able to show credibility and reliability to my research and really focus on achieving emotional responses rather than physical stats and percentages.
By running surveys on students from the uni from different degrees and differing ages, I hope to encounter an array of reasons and opinions on the topic. This will help myself to narrow down a popular reason as to why students stop their degree. Already in my tweet I had feedback from fellow uni students which has influenced my decision to stick with this topic as I’m sure there will be many more insights. Surveying people from different subjects may also link certain emotional reasons to subjects.
James.M
James Muggeridge 