The fourth annual Exploring Majors Fair will be held today from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Duke Ellington Ballroom.

The Exploring Majors Fair gives students the chance to speak with representatives from different academic programs offered at NIU, while learning about each major.

Steven Barleen, academic adviser and coordinator for the fair, said that it’s not only for those who are unhappy or undecided with their major, but also for students who want to find out about all the different opportunities open to them. Barleen also said that it gives students the opportunity to speak with a representative of their own program if they are set in their major.

“It’s really not only for the undecided, it’s for anybody,” Barleen said. “[Students] can also find out about minors, the study abroad program, the honors program or any number of other academic opportunities.”

Bob Wilkerson, a student service coordinator in the engineering program, has a display set up every year at the fair. He feels that students who aren’t undecided may find something about their program that will allow them to maximize their academic experience and increase the likelihood of future success. He gave an example of a program that biology majors could capitalize on.

“Some students who are majoring in biology could venture and look at our program, called biomedical engineering,” Wilkerson said. “It’s a new emphasis within the engineering department that we offer. A majority of their course work [in biology] would fit within their academic schedule [in biomedical engineering]. For students who are interested in going to [medical] school, if they major in biomedical engineering, they are more likely to be admitted into med school.”

Sam Flens, a junior psychology major, went to the fair as a freshman when he found his major had limited opportunities for him.

“I was originally a French major, until I found out all I could do was teach,” Flens said. “I went to kind of see what else I can do.”

He already had his new major in mind, so he feels that the Exploring Majors Fair wasn’t instrumental in his change, but he does feel that the fair can help those who may want to explore their possibilities.

“I would recommend that [freshmen] go, especially if they don’t know what they really want to do,” Flens said.

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