A student has a seemingly simple question:
“What happens if I change my major?”
But the answer isn’t always simple. Which courses still count? What new requirements would the student need to complete? Would changing majors affect their path to graduation?
A what-if degree audit helps answer those questions before the student makes the change.
What Is a What-If Degree Audit?
A traditional degree audit shows what a student has completed and what remains in their current program.
A what-if audit takes the same academic history and applies it to a different degree, major, minor, or concentration. Students and advisors see exactly which completed courses still count and which requirements would remain.
That makes What-If useful for more than checking progress toward graduation. It turns degree audit into an academic planning tool for exploring different paths.
See the Impact Before Changing Majors
Students rarely consider changing majors before completing any coursework. They may already have credits in general education, prerequisites, electives, transfer courses, and courses required by their current program.
A What-If audit lets students explore these questions on their own, or work through them with an advisor:
- Which completed courses apply to the new program?
- What additional requirements would remain?
- Are there new prerequisite sequences to consider?
- How might the change affect the student’s path to graduation?
Instead of comparing degree requirements by hand, students explore their options directly, while advisors spend more of the advising appointment discussing those options.
What-If Planning in FlightPath
FlightPath makes exploring another academic path straightforward. Students log in and experiment with different programs themselves, or their advisors can explore those options with them during an advising session.
Choose another degree, major, minor, or concentration, and FlightPath shows how the student’s existing coursework applies and what requirements would remain.
FlightPath’s What-If tools work with the same academic requirements used throughout the platform, including prerequisites, minimum grades, transfer equivalencies, substitutions, exceptions, concentrations, electives, and multiple academic programs.
Most importantly, exploring another program doesn’t change the student’s current academic plan. Students are free to explore different possibilities without committing to a change.
Because FlightPath brings degree audit, academic planning, and advising together, students can explore their options independently and then bring what they’ve learned into a more informed advising conversation.
Explore First, Decide Later
A What-If audit isn’t supposed to decide whether a student should change majors. It gives students the freedom to explore their options and gives advisors better information when guidance is needed.
When a student wonders “What happens if I change majors?”, they shouldn’t have to change their official program just to find out.
With FlightPath, they explore the possibilities first.