The Memorial Union’s Great Hall buzzed and bustled with student shoppers from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 8.

They were not, however, shopping for clothes. These students were doing some major shopping at Iowa State’s Major Fair.

Started by the request of students, the Major Fair places all of the offered ISU majors in one location. The Major Fair provides an easy, helpful way for students to find all the wanted material they seek on different majors.

Shoppers’ questions regarding the many majors offered at Iowa State were answered by academic advisers and professors.

“It gives students the opportunity to look at different majors, since there are 103 majors here at Iowa State,” said Bruce Allen, academic adviser for the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. “It enables them to come around and get an idea of what they’re all about. They get an opportunity to talk with the representatives from each of the different academic areas.”

The fair is directed toward the largest major at Iowa State: open option.

Tables were stacked with candy and pamphlets, and info-dealers were hoping to seize students’ attention and give a bit of direction. Some students carried a more focused area of interest, such as journalism or English, but were just unsure of where to direct their skills.

Other students were still extensively exploring their options at Iowa State, looking at information covering a wide spectrum from the College of Design to the College of Business. Open option freshman Rachel Brockhoff is utilizing the Major Fair for a little soul-searching.

“I still don’t know what I’m going to do. … I’m really indecisive, so finding a major is kind of hard,” Brockhoff said. “But there [are] a lot of helpful people here. They’ve been giving me a lot of information.”

The most common attendees of the fair were open option students still on the hunt for a major. There were, however, a significant number of those unhappy with their current major searching for a fresh start.

Currently a freshman in undecided engineering, Ryan Biggs found the fair very helpful in his decision to switch to architecture.

“You can’t quite get all the information looking online,” Biggs said. “Having somebody help you lay it out, where your path is going to be, you can visualize: If I transferred, this is what I’m going to do.”

For those who are still shopping and have not quite found their style, talking with an academic adviser and taking classes that seem interesting is recommended.