HOW CAN I FIND A COLLEGE WHERE I CAN DESIGN MY OWN MAJOR?

Updated December 6, 2022 · 1 Min Read

Students who want to study more than one subject often look for schools that offer design your own major programs. These programs allow students to pick and choose the courses they want to take based on what they want to study and what they hope to do with their degrees. These programs are different from ...

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Students who want to study more than one subject often look for schools that offer design your own major programs. These programs allow students to pick and choose the courses they want to take based on what they want to study and what they hope to do with their degrees. These programs are different from interdisciplinary majors that usually limit the classes that students can take to those available from select disciplines and departments. Students can find programs that let them design their own majors in a few different ways.

Check Online

Checking online is one of the first things that students can and should do. Many websites gather information about multiple colleges and list which schools offer majors in different fields. Awesomeness TV provides one such list. Students can find out what schools give them the chance to design their own major programs and which schools offer similar programs like interdisciplinary degree options. This also allows them to see what students had to say about their own experiences at that school. They can check out tuition costs, the financial aid that is available and even if they need to take any general education classes.

Ranking: 30 Best Liberal Arts Colleges in the West, Ranked by Return on Investment (ROI)

Contact Colleges

After an online search provides a good list of which colleges offer design-your-own major programs, scheduling a campus tour is the next step. Campus tours are so important because these tours give students the chance to see the campus up close. They can check out the dorm rooms designed for freshmen, find out what resources are available in the library and even eat in restaurants on and near the campus. Campus tours also allow students to sit in on some of the classes that they will take. They can find out how the professors act, how often teachers interact with students, the work that students do in their classes and how students draw connections between all their classes.

Talk to Students

It's equally important that prospective students talk to current students of design-your-own-major programs and graduates of those programs. Contacting the admissions office prior to a campus tour is a good way to arrange a meeting with design-your-own major students ahead of time. By talking to students currently enrolled in such a program, future students learn whether current students wish they focused their studies down on just two subjects or whether they wish they stuck with a traditional degree program. By talking to someone in the alumni office, students can also find out where graduates work and what they do with their design-your-own major degrees and what current students plan to do with their own degrees later. Current students can give prospective students guidance on designing their own programs too.

Consider All Options

Students should consider all their options before looking for or enrolling in one of these programs. Double majoring in two subjects is just one way students can study more than one subject. Emily Atteberry of USA Today points out that it's often difficult for students to earn two degrees in just four years though. It may take five or even six years to complete a double major. An interdisciplinary program is another suitable option. These programs allow students to study multiple subjects and graduate in four years. These programs are often available from liberal arts colleges.

Students enrolling in college today can declare a major in one subject and minor in another or double major and study two topics in detail. Some schools now offer design-your-own-major that allows students to build their own majors from the ground up and study a range of subjects while working on their degrees.

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