NC State offers over 100 different majors, with over 300 graduate and undergraduate degree programs across 68 departments. 

Some students make the transition from high school to college knowing exactly what they want to study and pursue as a career. Some 18-year-olds, however, understandably need a bit more time and exploration to find a path that best suits them. The University College’s Exploratory Studies program helps incoming NC State students do exactly that, functioning to meet the needs of first-year students who wish to explore their options to find a “best-fit” major.

The program admits the second-largest incoming class of students each year, next to engineering.

“The Exploratory Studies program is for students who are not just undecided, but for students who may not have a direct pathway or an idea towards a career or an academic program that they want to pursue in college,” said Shannon Pugh, Exploratory Studies’ director. “The program allows students an opportunity to take a look at all other programs across campus and across the colleges. Exploratory Studies gives the students an opportunity to align those interests, and also try to find career opportunities that match their ultimate goals.” 

Guidance In and Out of the Classroom

Each of the three main courses that Exploratory Studies offers for first year students – University Studies Courses (USC) 101, 102 and 201 – are taught by academic advisors who serve students within the program. 

This allows the advisors to build even closer relationships with the students, and guide them through the major selection process to identify a best-fit major.

“Being able to see them in class allows me to get to know them better as a student, which helps me advise them better, figure out what the best practice is, the best approach is to work with the student, really understanding what they need more. It really helps me to check in on them, too,” said Maddie Moore, an academic advisor and lecturer with the program. 

The students, along with their General Education Program (GEP) required courses, take USC 101 in the fall as a 16-week course and 102 in the summer as an eight-week course.

“Being able to see them in class allows me to get to know them better as a student.”

USC 101 helps students learn about their personal skills, interests, values and strengths as they make well-informed decisions about the major they want to pursue. Topics range from major and career decision-making; assessment of interests, skills and values; available university resources; overview of university majors and minors as well as policies and procedures. Students perform activities such as Clifton Strengths assessments to learn about their own strengths. 

“In USC 101, a lot of it, for me, is that students have the opportunity to learn about themselves and who they are, and have that translated to finding something for their future that is going to make them happy,” said Hannah Kriner-Lee, one of the program’s academic advisors and lecturers. “I think a lot of times, the focus is ‘I want a major that can make me a lot of money.’ But just because you have a lot of money doesn’t mean you have happiness. That’s something I really want my students to take away. You have to find something that you’re going to be happy doing every single day, that you’re going to wake up and be excited for and really look forward to doing every day at work.”

In USC 101, students take what they learned about different majors and their possible fits for them in USC 102 and apply that information to possible career paths, learning ways to research different fields and learn career exploration skills that they can carry forward with them from the program. 

Throughout the semester, students also meet individually with their advisors at least twice per semester, spending time going over the specific majors that they’re interested in and the best way to set themself up for success in moving into that major. These sessions also support the Division of Academic and Student Affairs’ mission to support the whole student, as the advisors guide them in adjusting to college life, and direct them to campus resources that can aid their journey. 

“It’s called academic advising, but we really focus holistically on the student,” Kriner-Lee said. “So when students are struggling with things outside of academics, I’m there to support them through that and help connect them to campus resources like the Counseling Center or student organizations if they’re looking to get involved with something. The one-on-one sessions are about holistically focusing on the individual, not a group of everyone.” 

“I consider what I do a privilege and an honor.”

Students who start college in the spring take USC 201 Spring Connect, which is a 16-week, hybrid combination of USC 101 and 102, allowing them to focus on major and career exploration as they prepare to apply to their chosen major. 

“I consider what I do a privilege and an honor,” said Cassandra Mitchell, an academic advisor and lecturer in Exploratory Studies. “It’s a noble profession to help students find their path, pursue their passions and reach their dreams. There’s a quote that I always think about when I start talking about why I’m in higher education and doing what I do. An educator is like a candle, which consumes itself while shedding light upon others. I always think about it when people ask me why I love my work. That’s exactly how I see my role – to enlighten students, to guide them and to share what I know and will help propel them to the next level, helping the next generation move forward. Exploratory Studies enables me to do that every single day.”

Major Exploration Fair

One of the most important events on the Exploratory Studies’ annual calendar is the Major Exploration Fair in the fall. In the Talley Student Union State Ballroom, representatives from every college at NC State, every academic program, gather to allow students to ask questions about majors they’re interested in. 

The event features about 90 tables, and every first-year student in the Exploratory Studies program is required to attend, and complete an assignment for their USC 101 course based on the fair. Approximately 817 students attended this year’s event. 

Hristiyana Zhelezova, the Exploratory Studies academic advisor and lecturer in charge of the fair, explained that it’s critical for students to have this opportunity to learn first-hand information about their potential chosen majors from department heads, faculty and student ambassadors. 

“As professional advisors, we can give them all of the resources that we know, but they’re also published online, they’re on the website,” Zhelezova said. “We can open the catalog, we can see the course descriptions, we can explain the differences based on the way they are published, but they really want to hear from the departments, because even in one college, the departments have differences and nuances in specific things that are interesting to the students. When students hear from the departments it helps their decision making: they either feel more motivated and they realize that’s their major, or they realize it’s very different from just reading from the catalog and explore something else. So it’s really important to explore and hear from the departments, not just overall from the college.” 

In the spring, the program holds another smaller exploration fair, that has representation from each of the 10 colleges, and is open to all NC State students, not just those in Exploratory Studies. The spring fair also includes representatives from different minors across NC State, as well as the military ROTC programs. 

“I wasn’t going in uninformed.”

For students who have completed the Exploratory Studies program and found their chosen major, that information has proved invaluable. Alex Handest, a second-year student who is now studying environmental engineering, felt empowered to make a complete, informed decision. 

“I wasn’t going in uninformed,” Handest said. “I wasn’t going in saying that I like environmental science but I don’t know exactly what it would entail. After I looked into it, I did know. I was able to pick a major knowing exactly what went into that major, instead of just kind of going off what I think it is. We all know somebody who changed their major freshman or sophomore year, because they’re realizing it wasn’t exactly what they thought it would be. I think that’s not an issue you encounter in the Exploratory Studies program. By the time you pick your major, settle on something and you go into it, you know exactly what it’s going to be.” 

Student Support and Success

Exploratory Studies also employs student ambassadors, second-year students who have spent at least a year in the program and are either still part of it or have moved into their major. 

This year, Moore and Kriner-Lee are also leading a mentorship program, in which those experienced Exploratory Studies students pair with an incoming first-year student to help them adjust to college life and learn about what to expect from the program. 

“We’ve already heard from some of our students that are the mentees that they felt like they’ve already had a contact and a connection on campus that they can rely on,” Moore said. “And going back, putting myself in their place, I know as an 18-year-old I felt more comfortable approaching another student to ask questions compared to someone that’s seen in a professional position. That was our main goal with it. We wanted our students to feel like they had another student there to connect with.”

“If it wasn’t for that program, I’d probably still be lost right now.”

One of these mentors, Raleighva Mulawaldo, who plans to study business administration, spoke of a desire to help other students have the same experiences she had within the Exploratory Studies program, which have helped her gain valuable experience, and even earn a $500 scholarship. 

“I’m very grateful. If it wasn’t for that program, I’d probably still be lost right now,” Mulawaldo said. “It’s helped me build connections. One of our projects is interviewing a professional in the work field that we want to go into. When I interviewed my person, she gave me an insight into what I wanted to do, and also confirmed that I wanted to be like her in her field. I feel very grateful.”

That assignment about interviewing a professional in his chosen field also proved incredibly valuable to Handest. 

Handest interviewed a local professional with NOVA Engineering, and that conversation led to him landing a summer internship with the company, in which he traveled to Texas to work with one of their teams. 

Surveys have shown that students who participate in the program to find their best-fit major are significantly less likely to change their major after moving into it. 

“I believe that it’s a very impactful and highly-engaging experience,” Pugh said. “It gives students an opportunity to acclimate to college life. It gives them a hub and a home to understand what college life looks like, especially if they have no idea what major they’re interested in pursuing. With that, it gives them the autonomy to develop relationships, create a community amongst themselves and identify pathways and resources on campus. We’ve had students engage in study abroad opportunities, and these are students who may not have ever left their town, whether it was in rural North Carolina or a rural state, county or city. We’ve seen them engaging in some of the leadership opportunities across campus and with the entrepreneurship group as well. We’ve also had students talk about the time to earn a degree and having timely graduation because they followed the path that was provided for them by their academic advisor.”

For the academic advisors and lecturers, having established relationships with these students who have gone through the program and found success also provides them with ready-made examples to show their current students of what’s possible. 

“I love when they come back and are speaking to my current students about what they’re doing, and telling them that the best resource they had was their advisor,” Kriner-Lee said. “It’s a good feeling. Ultimately, I just want to see students succeed and be happy in what they’re doing.”

Due to the individual care they receive through their courses and advising sessions in the program, countless students who have participated in Exploratory Studies have built the confidence and skillset to find that success and happiness as their college journey moves forward. 

“It felt like there were people who were invested in my success and wanted to see me succeed,” Handest said. “I felt like my advisor was very invested in my success as a student, and cared about whether I did well or poorly. There was a period in the second semester where my grades took a little bit of a dip, and my advisor reached out to me and asked to meet with me and work out a plan of action. It just really felt like I had a community that was aware of what was happening to me, and was willing to help me if I ever felt like I needed it.”