College Students Abandon Tech Majors, Seeking Careers AI Can't Automate
Josephine Timperman arrived at Miami University two years ago with a clear plan: major in business analytics, learn technical skills, land a good job. The rise of artificial intelligence upended that strategy.
The statistical analysis and coding skills she was learning can now be automated. "Everyone has a fear that entry-level jobs will be taken by AI," the 20-year-old said.
A few weeks ago, Timperman switched to marketing. She's betting that critical thinking and interpersonal skills - areas where humans still outperform machines - will prove more durable than technical expertise.
The uncertainty reaches across campus
About 70% of college students see AI as a threat to their job prospects, according to a 2025 poll by the Institute of Politics at Harvard Kennedy School. The concern appears most acute among students pursuing technology and vocational degrees, where the pressure to learn AI skills collides with fear of being replaced by those same tools.
Students studying healthcare and natural sciences report less anxiety about AI displacement, Gallup found.
"The fact that so many students say it's because of AI - that is startling," said Courtney Brown, a vice president at Lumina, an education nonprofit. "We see students change majors all the time. But it's usually for a ton of different reasons."
About half of Generation Z workers - 48% - say the risks of AI in the workforce outweigh possible benefits, according to recent Gallup polling of people ages 14 to 29.
Advisers don't have answers
The challenge for students is that the people they'd normally turn to for guidance have none. "Students are having to navigate this on their own, without a GPS," Brown said.
At a Stanford University panel last month, leaders from prominent universities acknowledged the gap. Brown University President Christina Paxson said: "We need to think really hard about what students need to learn to be successful in the job market in 10, 20, 30 years. And none of us know."
Paxson pointed to communication and critical thinking as likely constants. "The fundamentals of a liberal education are probably more important than learning how to code in Java right now," she said.
Even computer science majors are reconsidering
The anxiety reaches beyond business and data science programs. Ben Aybar, 22, graduated last spring from the University of Chicago with a computer science degree and applied for about 50 software engineering jobs without getting a single interview. He enrolled in a master's program and now does AI consulting part-time.
"People who know how to use AI will be very valuable," Aybar said. "Being able to talk to people and interact with people in a very human way I think is more valuable than ever."
Ava Lawless, a data science major at the University of Virginia, finds herself in a bind. Some advisers say data scientists are safe because they build AI models. Job reports suggest otherwise.
"It makes me feel a bit hopeless for the future," Lawless said. "What if by the time I graduate there's not even a job market for this anymore?"
She's considering switching to studio art, her minor. "If I'm going to be unemployed, I might as well do something I love," she said.
For educators navigating these conversations, resources like an AI Learning Path for Teachers can help advisers and professors understand AI capabilities well enough to guide students through genuine uncertainty rather than speculation.
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