Why Do Students Leave STEM?

For several decades, persistently high undergraduate attrition rates in STEM majors have sparked concern about the nation's workforce needs and equity for populations that have been historically excluded from these fields. This session will present findings from the \textit{Talking about Leaving Revisited} study of undergraduate persistence in STEM majors. This study replicated the seminal \textit{Talking about Leaving} study by revisiting the original six institutions which collectively represent the range of institutional types in the U.S. higher education system. Drawing on academic records data and in-depth interviews with students, this plenary session will explore what has and has not changed in students' STEM learning experiences in the past 25 years. The session will focus on who is most likely to leave STEM majors for non-STEM fields and when they are most likely to switch majors Additionally, the complex array of factors underlying students' switching decisions will be discussed, including the influence of students' early encounters with STEM foundational courses on their educational trajectories.