Student with Changed Majors: Non-Humanities Student's Motives, Expectations, and Assessment of Studying Humanities

Among the past decade‘s developments gradually affectingthe academic culture in the fields of Human and Social Sciences has been the increasing interest ofthe students with non-relevant backgrounds in studying these disciplines. This phenomenon not only demonstrates a change in the functionality of university students, but also is indicative of the transformation of their social space. Using qualitative and quantitative methods, asample of MA and PhD students of Humanities and Social Sciences studying at Tehranpublic universities was selected. The study aims to identify the Non- Humanities students‘ motives, expectations, and assessment of their decision to change their field of study. The results showed that the decision should be considered as a rational act through which the students could fulfill their needs and be consistent with the changed identity values in the new academic culture of Iran. The three mainreasonsof changing the field of study were rational and purposeful reasons, rational and normative ones, and the desire for new experiences. It is noteworthy that in addition to the effect of this change of major on the academic culture, this phenomenon creates some opportunities aswell as limitations for the questioned students due to the shocks and distanciation they experience.