Do you know what you want to study in college?
Not every student can answer that question, and that’s perfectly OK! Over the course of your degree you will learn about, refine and maybe even change your interests. In fact, nearly a third of undergraduate students change their major at least once, according to the National Center for Educational Statistics.
We understand this can be difficult, which is why University of the Pacific supports students entering as undecided or “exploratory.” If you enter as exploratory, you will enroll in a seminar to learn about Pacific’s many degree programs. You will also be paired with an adviser who will help you match your interests with classes.
With that support in your corner, you can choose a major with confidence and still graduate in four years. Let’s break down how it works and whether it’s right for you.
Why choose the exploratory pathway?
Bella Murillo ’28 is an exploratory student trying to decide between biological sciences and public health and community wellness.
“I want to be sure, when I choose my major, that’s the one I want to keep,” she says. “I don’t want to keep going back and forth.”
Students enter Pacific as exploratory, or undecided, for different reasons. Some, like Murillo, do it because they’re deciding between degree programs. Others do it because they’re not sure what discipline they want to pursue yet.
“There are a lot of degrees that high school students don’t even know exist,” says Lee Skinner, the dean of College of the Pacific.
Skinner teaches the Dean’s Seminar, where exploratory students learn what degrees are available, what they entail and how they can use them in the working world.
“I have students who tell me, ‘Oh, I didn’t even realize that was a pathway,’” Skinner says, adding that it’s more than just an exploratory course. “We help students in the Dean’s Seminar understand what it means to think like a biologist or political scientist or artist.”
This guided adjustment is one of the benefits of not directly entering a degree program when you start college. It also means exploring your aspirations and your abilities. Advisers will talk with you about your long-term goals and help you create pathways toward that outcome.
Underlying this pathway is Pacific’s ethos of helping students develop and maintain that exploratory mindset, which is a key ingredient for innovation, bringing that into their workplace.
“We educate leaders,” Skinner says. “We see that our students tend to get promoted faster than their counterparts who graduate from other universities.”
For Pacific, helping students go on to successful careers is reflected in our student outcomes: in 2024, the Wall Street Journal/College Pulse ranked our university as the eighth best private school for social mobility nationally.
How does it work?
If you enter without declaring a major, you’ll take the Dean’s Seminar during your first fall semester. Over 15 weeks, you’ll learn about the fields you can pursue. This course focuses on hands-on experiences, where you will do activities like art workshops, political debating or using specialized equipment.
The seminar will also introduce you to other academic resources at the university like the academic support services hub, which offers support for research, math and writing.
Kirsten Calso ’27, who entered Pacific with an interest in biological sciences, took the course with Skinner and felt it was a great opportunity to learn about the breadth of Pacific’s programs.
“I specifically remember this one time she brought in a professor from the School of International Studies,” she says, “I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, that sounds so fun.’ It was definitely something that I would gravitate toward in the future.”
Along with the Dean’s Seminar, you’ll also work with an adviser who will help you develop a class schedule that fits your interests. One adviser, Professor Alan Lenzi, says he likes to look at students’ long-term goals and use that to identify majors that fit that outcome.
“It’s my job to help them find where their gifts are,” he says. “They’re exploring while they move toward a degree. And it also means exploring oneself.”
Lenzi approaches advising with a critical eye, giving students a career-oriented perspective on majors. For example, he says he might advise a student interested in business to take classes to understand the diversity of future partners, employers and clients. Adding a data science or economics major, for instance, might help them stand out to employers after graduation.
Advisers can also answer your questions about your classes, which has been helpful for students like Murillo.
“He’s good at getting back to me and being very helpful,” she said about her adviser. “It definitely helped calm my stress a lot.”
The goal of this system is to empower you with the information and perspectives to take your education into your own hands. You’ll have up to four semesters, the end of your second year, to decide on a major.
Will I still graduate in four years?
The exploratory pathway helps keep you on track to complete your degree in four years. Some students can feel like they’re behind their peers, but Lenzi pushes back on that idea.
“Being exploratory doesn’t mean that you’re behind the ball. It doesn’t mean that you don’t know what you want to do,” he says. Instead, think of it as not committing to a discipline you’re unsure about.
To earn a degree at Pacific, you’ll need to take major-specific courses and general education courses. You will also take courses outside your primary major as part of the breadth requirement. The classes you take as an exploratory student will generally fall into one of these categories, regardless of what major you pursue.
“You’re at a stage where it’s literally very exploratory,” Calso says of her first year. “You’re trying to narrow down on a discipline, taking these general education classes. Still, those are pretty much applicable in any degree I’m going to go into.”
Take, for example, an exploratory student who’s considering a history degree. In their first semester, they took the Dean’s Seminar, History 050, CORE 001 and a general education elective. The next semester they continue on to History 051 and CORE 002, along with two general education electives.
If that student declares as a history major at the start of their second year, they’ll have completed the required CORE and introductory history classes, clearing the way for more advanced study. Their electives will count toward the requirement for coursework outside the student’s major and may also count toward the general education program.
Compare that to a student who entered as a history major. They will have also taken the same CORE and history classes. Maybe they took more history classes rather than general education courses. But even if they’re ahead on major specific classes, they’ll still need to take courses outside their primary major for the breadth requirement.
So, by the start of the second year, this pair of theoretical students have made roughly similar strides toward completing their degree. But what if that exploratory student decides they want to keep exploring and choose a different major?
Exploratory students have until their fourth semester (typically at the end of the second year) to declare a major, so they’ll have time to try out other interests. In this case, those history courses and electives will now count toward the non-major coursework requirement. You can see how the exploratory pathway is flexible in these instances, designed to ensure your class choices help move you toward a degree in four years.