Exploring Factors Influencing the Retention of Physics Majors*

This talk examines the retention of physics majors at a two

moderately sized physics departments which struggle with

increasing the number of graduates. The two institutions have

undergraduate populations with substantially different levels of

high school preparation. Survival analysis identifies the point of

highest risk for two potential paths out of the major: leaving

college and changing majors. Substantial risk of losing majors

exists through the first two years of college. The results for

changing major while staying in college were very different

between the two institutions. Logistic regression is used to

explore the factors related to retention in general and through

the first two years of college. The factors most related to the

risk of leaving the major were different for changing to another

major and leaving college altogether. At the less selective

institution, math readiness is a crucial factor predicting

retention.