For many students at Bakersfield College, finding a major and taking the steps to graduate can be difficult. Biology major Oscar Gomez said that finding his major was rather hard.
“Finding a major was difficult because I had to find what interested me the most. I had to decide between biology and history. In the end, I went with the one that I loved the most,” he said.
Transfer services counselor Sue Granger-Dickson said that students should find what it is they are passionate about and what interests them in order to find a major.
“In many cases, you don’t have to have a specific major because lots of majors are good for different things.”
Granger-Dickson, who has been a counselor for 18 years, said that students must be specific in what it is that they want to do.
“Students need to figure out what they want to study, what careers they want to be eligible for, what kind of money they want to make, and then set a goal,” said Granger-Dickson.
Taking an educational planning class the first semester at BC will help students set a goal, create a plan and receive priority registration.
Marina Torres, a freshmen at BC, said that taking the educational planning course her first semester at BC definitely helped her narrow her options on picking a major.
“I wanted to be so many different things from a business manager to a model. I eventually found a balance and decided to become a theater major.”
Torres plans to hopefully graduate next year with a degree in theater arts.
If a student wants to be eligible for graduation, they must complete 60-degree applicable units and must meet one of the general education patterns.
The general education patterns can either be BC’s own pattern or the California State Universities general education Breadth list or the IGETC pattern.
Then, on top of all that, students need to complete major requirements. Students could often get confused when looking at assist.org because not all of the majors match BC’s majors said Granger-Dickson.
“What many students do who are transferring is that they are looking at assist.org and following major prep, and sometimes the majors don’t always match. So they’ll end up getting a liberal arts major.”
The state of California has a new associate degree for transfer program called the SB1440. This program will allow an upwards of 25 associate degrees for transfer. BC currently has 3, that require 60 units here and 60 units at a California State University.
“It guarantees your admission into a CSU campus, not necessarily a particular campus or major, but with a 2.0 GPA, 60 transfer units, and completion of the IGETC or Breadth pattern,” she said. The new SB1440 program is something students at BC should be very excited about because all of the degrees are the same at all community colleges.
“A student can now start at Porterville and come to BC without having to take any extra classes. When they transfer, all of their classes will be recognized as being valid for the degree. It will save time and money; it’s creating clear-cut pathways for transfer students.”
Remembering deadlines is another important thing students need to remember. The deadline to file for graduation is Apr. 2. Students must come into the counseling center and see a counselor or advisor and fill out a candidacy form.
“It’s actually an application where they need to apply and then the counselor or advisor must sign it and do a degree audit,” said Granger-Dickson.
Last year, 679 students graduated from BC, and this year Granger-Dickson hopes the numbers will be even higher.