Research on the Tendency to Seek Stability in College Students' Major Mobility Behavior

As anxiety over employment continues to spread in the current public opinion landscape, and universities shift to more open and inclusive policies on major changes, a noticeable trend has emerged among college students towards transitioning to more stable job-oriented majors, displaying an increasingly intense tendency. The underlying mechanisms driving this phenomenon warrant urgent scholarly investigation. Guided by the theory of Rational Choice, this study conducts in-depth interviews and data analysis based on one year of participatory observation involving 17 undergraduate students from top universities, constructing a model of the influencing factors behind the stability-seeking tendencies in undergraduate students' major mobility. The Research finds that undergraduate students' major-changing behaviors are judgments based on personal characteristics and resource endowments, making value-maximizing choices that take into account compatibility between between their major and expected employment, educational benefits, and short-term development needs. The behavior is filled with decisions regarding sunk costs, potential risks, and coping strategies in the consequences of their actions, and is also shaped by various factors including family, institutional policies, and social environment. Based on this, it is necessary to further optimize and adjust the setting of higher education disciplines and majors, strengthen the correct guidance of students' development direction and expand career planning channels, reflect on the harm of utilitarian educational values to avoid and surpass the orientation of educational alienation.