An Exploratory Study on the Differences in Characteristics Between Students Who Chose a Major and Those Who Did Not Declared a Major

This study aimed to investigate the differences in characteristics between students who chose a major and those who did not among first-year students admitted to university without a declared major. The research was conducted to collect basic data for the development of appropriate educational programs. The subjects of the study were 92 first-year students admitted to a university through an undeclared major system, with data from 83 students who participated faithfully in the survey used for the analysis. The collected data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, cross-tabulation, and t-tests, after dividing the students into two groups: those who selected a major and those who did not. The results showed that the career self-regulation level of students who selected a major was significantly higher than that of those who did not. Psychological attributes, such as grit, positive psychological capital, self-esteem, and college life stress, which are known to positively affect career setting and exploration behaviors, did not show significant differences between the two groups. However, the group that selected a major tended to have higher average scores than the non-major group, suggesting that further research with a larger dataset may be needed. Based on these findings, it is recommended that the characteristics of students entering university without a declared major be surveyed at the beginning of the semester, and that appropriate extracurricular programs and curricula be designed after distinguishing between the heterogeneous groups.