New MajorQuest guides students in choosing a major

The Division of Undergraduate Studies released a newly designed version of MajorQuest last week to help Penn State students find majors that relate to their areas of interest. The new site at http://dus.psu.edu/students/majorquest introduces an improved interactive tool that prompts students to select one or more of their interests, such as art and design, cyber information, environment and sustainability, helping people, sports and teaching. MajorQuest then filters Penn State’s more-than-160 majors and lists those that incorporate all the selected interests. Students can also narrow their searches by campus and can view the Undergraduate Admissions map of campuses for visual context.David Smith, associate dean for advising, said, “MajorQuest is an important University-wide resource. It offers an excellent starting point for students who need help articulating their interests and then connecting them to majors that fit them well.”To further assist students in their search results, the revamped MajorQuest displays familiar hyperlinks under each major, including the Undergraduate Bulletin description, the major’s website, its entrance-to-major requirements and recommended academic plan. Additionally, a new link under each major leads to a one-stop profile page that features these and other Web resources to help students learn even more about the major, including videos to watch, and clubs and listservs to join.The majority of students enrolled in DUS are exploratory and considering majors across multiple colleges. These students comprise the primary audience for MajorQuest, however, undergraduates across the system as well as prospective students can benefit from the site as a resource to learn more about their intended areas of study plus compare them to other, similar majors offered at Penn State.The Division of Undergraduate Studies, a unit within the Office of Undergraduate Education, is Penn State’s largest unit of enrollment for first-year students, leads the development of advising policies and practices, manages the University-wide academic information network, and provides general academic advising for current and prospective Penn State students.