Otterbein's most enrolled majors are nursing, allied health and psychology, matching national trends that indicate the most popular majors are ones in the field of healthcare.
Jadelyn Hennon, a senior nursing major, said that she knew from a very young age that she wanted to be a nurse. Her grandma’s best friend and neighbor was placed in a nursing home after falling and breaking a hip.
Hennon said, “I would always go and visit her with my grandma and the nurses at the nursing home were amazing. They were the sweetest ladies. I always told my grandma I want to be like one of them when I grow up.”
The nursing webpage says that their program prepares nursing students to pass the National Council Licensure Examination – Registered Nurse. The webpage also says that 100 percent of Otterbein’s nursing students have passed the NCLEX-RN and the program has a 100 percent job placement rate after graduation.
Hennon said, “My favorite thing would probably be that I get to see so many different clinical sites. I’ve had rotations at Riverside and Nationwide Children’s. Some people have rotations at St. Ann’s. I feel like the different hospital systems we get to be a part of really helps you decide where you want to end up.”
There are also majors that people may not hear much about. The majors with the smallest number of student enrollment are art history, engineering physics and religion.
The webpage for the art history major says, “You’ll have the opportunity to study works in person at the on-campus Frank Museum of Art, as well as off campus at the many museums and collections in central Ohio and beyond.”
Abby Shump, a senior art history major, said that she started out with a studio art major with a focus in painting until she took an art history class with Dr. Amy Johnson that was required for her major.
Shump said, “The way that she taught and the way that you focus on art as a historical section is so much more interesting to me. It allowed me to catch up on that history that I had been muddling with in my brain and it just started making sense to me, and I ended up adding it as a major.”
Although there are many majors to choose from, Otterbein gives students an option to postpone choosing a major. They can be undeclared and sample classes from different disciplines to find out what field they are interested in. There are currently 62 undeclared students.
For previous stories about changes to the academic programs at Otterbein visit our previous stories.
