Students considered different major possibilities at the Major Exploration Fair that was held at the Jack B. Kelley Student Center at West Texas A&M University on Oct. 24th.
Students had the opportunity to learn about different majors offered at WT and got to talk to faculty from many areas of study.
There were faculty and staff representing many different colleges. Some include the College of Nursing and Health Sciences, the Terry B. Rogers College of Education and Social Sciences, the Paul Engler College of Agriculture and Natural Sciences and the Sybil B. Harrington College of Fine Arts and Humanities.
Students were also made aware of what the process of changing majors or departments at WT looks like.
WT graduate student and Admissions Specialist for the Educator Preparation Program, Allan Baltazar explained what that process looks like for the Department of Education and Social Sciences.
“The first step that the student would take is to speak with their primary academic advisor,” Baltazar said. “Get insider suggestions on what directions they can take, what they’re considering and if they want to change their major. Another significant step would be to communicate with our department advisors.”
Baltazar explained that the process of changing majors can vary and that each college and department is different.
“Each department depends on the college as well, but each may have their own requirements and timeline,” Baltazar said. “It just depends on the amount of credits the students have.”
WT College of Nursing and Health Sciences Instructor, Laura Reyher, who is also the Director of Community Relations for the Laura and Joe Street School of Nursing explained what the application process looks like for students who want to change their majors to nursing.
“The first step would be to get in with our admissions counselor and talk about the prerequisites that you need to have,” Reyher said. “You have to be a student at WT, and then you will get the prerequisites all done and then you make a second admission to get into nursing school, then you will spend your last four semesters and then you’ll graduate with a bachelors of science and nursing. We only take sixty applicants every long semester and we often get many more applicants than that.”
Reyher also explained that there are programs at WT for the Department of Sports & Exercise Sciences, Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences, Health Sciences Degree, Family Nurse Practitioner, Master of Science in Nursing Degree, Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner Degree and the importance of these programs in the Texas panhandle.
“Especially in our rural areas so our mental health nurse practitioner is going to be super valuable for us to have out in the rural areas as well as just in our bigger cities,” Reyher said.
