The origin of this program came from thinking back to our freshman year of college and some of the issues we faced. In high school, you choose a field of study for many different reasons: pressure from parents, want to make a lot of money, or because one of your friends chose that major. After your first semester, you are in a position where you may not be interested in the field of study you chose. So now what do you do. There are many majors to choose from but you really do not know what they are all about. We decided to have a program at the end of the semester for the students who were interested in switching majors. We invited faculty and students to come give a brief overview of their respected schools and answer questions.

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Other options was the name of our program. In mid-November, we emailed all the Deans of all the different schools that were at Purdue. We asked if they would be interested in sending a representive from their respected schools to give a brief overview about the opportunies that are available to the students if they did decide to choose a career in that field of study. Each Dean either replied to our message or gave us the contact information of the person we needed to contact. Out of the 14 schools at Purdue, we were able to get a representative from 10 of the schools. For the schools that were not represented, we got an upperclassmen from floors two and three who were students in that field to give a presentation. This way, the upperclassmen floors would be able to participate in the program, as well as the freshmen. The representatives from the different schools gave five minute presentations on the many opportunities that are available in the respected fields. The representives ranged from college students to professors, from student counsel members to administrators. They all brought handouts and programs for everybody. Dan and myself gave a brief introduction on what the program would deal with and how one would CODO over to a different field of study. Questions were answered at the end of the presentations and food was also served at the end. This allowed the students to mingle and speak directly to the representatives in a more comfortable setting.

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The goal of this program was to give students, primarily the freshmen floors, an opportunity to learn about the different career options that are open to them. Many freshmen change their major after their first semester in college. We wanted to give the students the chance to learn about the different fields of study from experienced individuals. This program was designed to ease the transition from one field of study to another. Changing majors can be a stressful event for a student. We wanted to show the students that changing majors was not the ended of the road, it could be the beginning of a exciting journey. Our goal was also to get the students to interact with faculty and staff; it is never too early to work on your networking skills. The upperclassmen were given the the chance develop their communication, presentation, and leadership skills.

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We feel that the program was a major success. The presenters were great. They gave the students valuable information that they may have never received in any other setting. The students really seemed to enjoy the program. They even stayed after for more than an hour mingling with the presenters. The faculty from the different schools even volunteered to come back next year to give another presentation. Many of the students walked out of this program with more options and had a career in mind. Overall, it was great.

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The program was a huge success. The students and the presenters seemed to enjoy the program. The freshmen were given more options to choose from in their journey towards the right career. The presenters got to share their wisdom and knowledge about the careers that they have grew to love. The freshmen are now aware of the CODO procedures and what it takes to switch majors. The upperclassmen got to practice their communition skills in front of a large crowd. The room was packed with people. There were people standing in the hall listen to our presentation. It was in the largest area we have at Young Hall. I was proud of the success of the program and plan to conduct this program every year until I graduate.

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This program can easily be adapted to any university. Changing majors is very common and can be very stressful. This program can help ease the stress of the students and lead the students towards the right career paths. Our residents have enough things to worry about, this can be our way, as resident assistants, to say we been there and we know what they are going through. Many of us ourselves have switched majors or at least thought about. We know how stressful this can be. We can show them that we do care about their academic success and we are here to help. I am sure the faculty at most if not all universities would be willing to help also.

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