BACK IN 2013, Yonsei University abolished its College of Liberal Studies for not serving its original purpose. This system was established in 2009 to give students more freedom in choosing their majors and prepare them to be integrated individuals, but there was an unprecedented problem[1]. A vast majority of students ended up flocking to a few popular majors such as Business to avoid the difficult path of applying to these competitive majors from the start[2]. With students overflowing in certain fields, it was difficult to maintain a reasonable student quota per major, leading the university to abolish the college and merge its student quota with that of the Underwood International College[3]. Despite its unsuccessful outcome, the university’s current system poses even more problems as it pressures students to make one of the most difficult and life-changing decisions during their high school years.

   The decision of which field we want to dedicate our future years to concerns many factors; we have to know what we excel at, what we enjoy, and what career we want to pursue. Many students struggle when deciding on a major due to lack of knowledge and experience. Our first 12 years of education only teach us the fundamental subjects’ basics. While some international curriculums such as the International Baccalaureate offer a wider range of courses including Economics, Business, and Psychology, they still do not cover the numerous specialized fields that exist in our universities today. With the limited scope of the materials learned, we do not know enough to fully understand our options. 

   Not only do we lack knowledge regarding the majors, but we also do not have the practical experience that could give us a bigger picture. Although this varies among different schools, most of our learning involves textbook-based studying rather than hands-on experience. We may know what the subject consists of, but we are not aware of the many career paths that apply such knowledge. Even though some students engage in extra-curricular activities and workshops to enrich their outlook, it is challenging to gain internship opportunities due to our young age. Our lack of experience—in addition to our insufficient knowledge—is why we should not be expected to decide on a major during high school. 

   Even after we make this decision, we continue to encounter challenges. We begin to focus on particular subjects and activities to be the perfectly prepared candidate for college applications. We get accepted to the university of our choice, reassured that we have our future thoroughly planned out, only to realize that this major and career path is far from our expectations. After taking introductory courses, some students realize that they made the wrong choice and undergo a slump. “I chose to major in Bio-convergence because I wanted to work in a bioindustry. But it turns out I wasn’t necessarily interested in the biology subject per se—I was more passionate about chemistry and physics. I could have gone to a different major and still work at a bioindustry.” says Jung Seung-yeon (Jr., UIC., BC), as she regrets not fully understanding what her major really covers. While switching majors is also an option, many find it to be a difficult decision due to the overwhelming amount of new content and the revised credit requirements.

   In order to prevent cases where we end up choosing the wrong major, changes must be made to the current university system. We should be allowed to choose or create a self-interdisciplinary major when they are ready. While Yonsei University’s Underwood International College and Global Leaders Division already allow students to declare a major within their respective divisions after their freshmen year, this does not suffice due to the limited scope of majors they provide. Some of the world’s renowned universities, such as Vanderbilt University and Seoul National University, apply an improved system where they allow students to pursue a “self-designed curriculum” by submitting a proposal to fulfill their academic interests in a converged society[4][5]. While this change may create similar problems with Yonsei’s previously abolished system, supporting students to make a well-informed major decision should be the priority. Universities could set specific GPA requirements for these students to meet when choosing or designing a certain major to maintain the student quota per department. This way, students can explore various courses and experiences in their first year and decide their major according to both their academic abilities and interests. Only then would students be able to make well-informed decisions with sufficient knowledge and experience and be prepared for the interdisciplinary fields in the world we live in today. 

[1] EBS News

[2] Naver News

[3] News1

[4] Vanderbilt Hustler

[5] Seoul National University