Introduction

Major Exploration and Success Advising (MESA) was established on 1 September 2022; however, its heritage reaches much farther into the past.  The Academic Advisement office was established in the 1970s as the first professional advising unit at Baylor University.  In 2013, Academic Advisement was charged with advising all pre-major students and those declared as Undecided and became University Advisement.  With the goal to better serve students in pre-majors, those students’ advising assignments moved into the advising units in the various schools and colleges at Baylor, enabling University Advisement to become Major Exploration and Success Advising, the academic advising unit for exploratory and transitory students at Baylor University.

MESA’s Mission

MESA guides current and prospective student as they explore their options for academic programs.  By exploring their strengths, values, decision-making paradigm, and potential paths to their academic and professional goals, students are better able to make informed decisions concerning their major as early as possible in their academic journey and to discern God's callings at this point in their lives.

Students declare as an Undecided major for a variety of reasons.  Regardless of the reason, each one is exploring options for majors which align best with his or her interests, strengths, and goals.  These exploratory students are assigned an academic advisor in the Major Exploration and Success Advising (MESA) office who will help the student walk through the exploration process with the goal that students will gain a greater understand of themselves and the options they are exploring.  While it is important to give students time to truly explore and discern God’s callings on their lives, students also need to make an informed, timely decision that will enable them to graduate in a reasonable amount of time.  Thus, students will be required to work with their MESA advisor and complete tasks that will enable them to delve into the concepts of calling, values, decision-making styles, academic program options, and much more so that they can select the best path for their continued success as soon as possible.

Students can declare the major in either the Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science degree programs.  Also, there are two concentrations associated with the major.

• Exploratory - most students will be placed in this concentration while declared as Undecided and reflects the fact the student is exploring majors with MESA
• Undeclared - if a student is completely qualified for a specific major but needs to wait to declare based on the major change time frame, the student will be in this concentration

Major Requirements

• Degree requirements for the Undecided major are based on the College of Arts & Sciences Core Curriculum.
• Undecided majors will register for the Major Exploration new student experience sections in their first semester at Baylor.  Students who change to Undecided after their first semester at Baylor should register for the Major Exploration course the first semester they are declared as Undecided.
• Students may remain in the Undecided major no more than three consecutive regular terms (i.e., Fall/Spring/Fall).  Students who do not declare a degree-granting major within three regular terms will not be able to register for the subsequent semester. If a student who is declared as Undecided moves into a new, degree-granting major, then returns to the Undecided major, he or she may remain in the major for two consecutive terms (Fall/Spring).  Appeals to extend this time must be approved by the Director of MESA.