Event History Analysis for Investigating the Likelihood and Timing of Changing Majors

Abstract

Students change their majors for various reasons, and academic advisors often assume the role of facilitating that change through institutional agreements or contracts. Therefore, advisors need to identify time periods during enrollment with the greatest likelihood that students will seek to change majors. They must also examine the student characteristics associated with changing majors so that advisors can identify students to avoid delays to graduation. The relationship between student characteristics and the likelihood of changing majors over time was studied through event history analysis techniques applied to enrollment data for a cohort of first-time first-year students.