College and university educators have the responsibility to encourage healthy and active lifestyles among their students. Results from several studies indicate that many students develop behaviors that increase their likelihood of adverse health outcomes later in life (Douglas, et. al., 1997). The desired outcome for all wellness courses is to impact and bring about healthy lifestyle choices. The purpose of this study was to compare health and kinesiology majors and non-majors in relation to high-risk lifestyle behaviors and to assess whether knowledge from being a Major influenced positive behavior choices. Subject pools consisted of 100 students randomly chosen from three Major courses and 100 students from three non-major courses. There was an equal distribution of males and females and year classification. The instrument used was compiled from four nationally recognized surveys including the National College Health Risk Behavior Survey and National College Health Assessment. The factors addressed were safety, prevention, alcohol, tobacco, drugs, sex, exercise, nutrient/weight control. Frequency data was obtained. Independent group t-tests and a one-way ANOVA were used to answer the hypotheses. All data was analyzed at the 0.5 significance level. The results showed a significant difference between high-risk behaviors of majors and non-majors (p < .00001). Majors were found to have significantly less high-risk behaviors than their non-major counterparts. This finding suggests a connection between knowledge and behavior. There was a significant difference between the high-risk behaviors of males and females, with males having more risky behaviors than females. There was no significant difference between school classifications. There was, however, a trend for freshman to have more risky behaviors than seniors. The main differences among the individual categories were found in exercise, prevention, and nutrition/weight control. Majors had less high-risk behaviors in exercise, meaning they exercised regularly; in prevention- they took more preventive measures such as wearing sunscreen and going for regular doctor visits and self-checks; in nutrition/weight control- more balanced meals and less use of weight control devices such as diet pills and unhealthy dieting practices. Of overall concern is the rate of alcohol and tobacco use among all the groups, and the categories of prevention, exercise and nutrition had at least one-third of all respondents reporting high-risk behaviors. Additional studies should be completed to further identify risky behaviors and how knowledge can help lower these behaviors among college students. Other factors should also be explored for behavior change that goes beyond a knowledge base.Keyword(s): college level issues, health promotion