Metro State students are becoming increasingly more decisive, judging by a sizable decrease in students without a declared major. In fall 1999, 32 percent of the student body hadn't declared a major as compared to just 22.9 percent this fall.

"That's good news because students who haven't decided on a major are at greater risk of dropping out," said Lisa Ransdell, director of the Academic Advising Center. While not choosing a major isn't necessarily a bad thing and often indicates that a student is simply exploring different options, waiting too long can become an issue. "It becomes problematic during the sophomore year, after a student has completed a good number of credits," she said.

Because they are unsure about what they're working toward, undeclared students can sometimes be less motivated. Also, because students with majors receive departmental advising, students with declared majors receive more mentoring and advising than undecided students.

In 1998, with the help of the college's Title III grant, the advising center launched the Title III Undeclared Student Advising Project to help undeclared students choose majors. The initiative sought to raise retention among undeclared students by matching them with advisors and providing more intensive assistance.

The project focused on undeclared full-time freshman students. For each of the five years of the project, the retention rate increased and more students chose a major. During the fall 2002-03, academic year, the retention rate among undeclared full-time freshman was 64.5 percent, 5.9 percent higher than before the project began in 1997. Similarly, the major declaration rate (measured the next fall) was 11.4 percent, 9.1 percent higher than in 1997.

Students in the project were tracked throughout the year, and advisors regularly communicated with their advisees through letters and phone calls. Advisees were required to meet with their assigned advisor and received career counseling and career assessments. In addition, an undeclared advising brochure was created and is featured on the center Web site (http://www.mscd.edu/~advising/mjrdistxt.htm), giving students a sequence they can follow on their own or use with an advisor for help in structuring and simplifying their search for a major.

"Targeting undeclared students was a place where we could carve out our own retention commitment," Ransdell said. "We obviously had some pretty good success and we plan to continue with this approach."