Why science majors change their minds

The New York Times has an article in it about why STEM (Science, Technology Engineering, Math) majors wash out and do not complete college in the same majors as they entered. It was determined that 40% do not complete the STEM major, either switching majors or dropping out. If premed students are included the dropout and transfer to other majors increases to 60%. There were a few quotes in this article that I found interesting.

But, it turns out, middle and high school students are having most of the fun, building their erector sets and dropping eggs into water to test the first law of motion. The excitement quickly fades as students brush up against the reality of what David E. Goldberg, an emeritus engineering professor, calls “the math-science death march.” Freshmen in college wade through a blizzard of calculus, physics and chemistry in lecture halls with hundreds of other students.

There is no doubt that the main majors are difficult and growing more complex. Some students still lack math preparation or aren’t willing to work hard enough.

Other deterrents are the tough freshman classes, typically followed by two years of fairly abstract courses leading to a senior research or design project. “It’s dry and hard to get through, so if you can create an oasis in there, it would be a good thing,” says Dr. Goldberg,

The latest research also suggests that there could be more subtle problems at work, like the proliferation of grade inflation in the humanities and social sciences, which provides another incentive for students to leave STEM majors...After studying nearly a decade of transcripts at one college, Kevin Rask, a professor at Wake Forest University, concluded last year that the grades in the introductory math and science classes were among the lowest on campus.

Other bright students may have breezed through high school without developing disciplined habits. By contrast, students in China and India focus relentlessly on math and science from an early age.

As you read the article it does identify that many schools are working on more authentic projects and hands on activities even at the college level. It still doesn't eliminate the fact that many times - SCIENCE IS CHALLENGING!

Update: The National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) identified that Engineering majors spent more time studying and preparing for their classes than other majors. Science majors were just behind them in terms of hours per week studying. That is above and beyond the extra class time that lab classes include.