Major Decisions: Motivations for Selecting a Major, Satisfaction, and Belonging

Abstract

In this paper, we analyzed the relationship between students' motivations for choosing academic majors and their satisfaction and sense of belonging on campus. Based on a multi-institutional survey of students who attended large, public, research universities in 2009, the results suggest that external extrinsic motivations for selecting a major tend to be negatively associated with students' satisfaction and sense of belonging. Intrinsic motivations and internal extrinsic motivations tend to be positively related to students' satisfaction and sense of belonging .