S may not want to major in business but would like to take a class or 2 to determine his interest in the subject. We toured UC Boulder and DU last weekend and in a week we will tour UMass Amherst and UVM. Initially we thought the bigger universities would allow more exploration of subjects but having to select a college within the university does not allow exploration of different subjects. At least that is what we are discovering. We will look into the additional suggestions. I think a school near skiing is a must.
Does anyone know of a career exploration inventory that might help inform college major? Thank you.
It does not seem conceptually different from the general education requirements at schools that are not normally seen as “open curriculum”. For example:
http://guide.wisc.edu/undergraduate/#requirementsforundergraduatestudytext-otp5
https://registrar.uoregon.edu/current-students/bachelors-degree
@intparent Central PA resident here. Dickinson is less than an hour from Roundtop and about an hour from Whitetail, both in PA. Not quite Vermont-caliber mountain ski resorts, but viable options. And the school has a ski and snowboard club. As do a lot of colleges and high schools in the area. 
http://www.dickinson.edu/info/20230/campus_recreation/1798/sport_clubs
OP: If your son is still interested in cybersecurity, he should consider Syracuse University. Probably will not satisfy his desire for snow skiing, but he can do that during breaks from school.
LAC’s seem like a good fit to “try out” any of those majors - though engineering and the sciences (Chem/Bio) have more strict paths than other majors. LAC’s by nature are exploratory and encourage “trying out” majors, AND allow you to do this and graduate in 4 years.
Look at Trinity University in San Antonio as a good example (great school, but no skiing).
It isn’t terribly practical, usually, to explore across pre-professional programs such as agriculture, architecture, business, engineering, and nursing if the programs are sponsored in specialized colleges/schools distinct from the college of arts and sciences (CAS). Even if it is possible (administratively) to switch schools, you may need more than 4 years to graduate if you do that.
So if a program is in a separate school, then there may be good reasons for not encouraging exploration from within the CAS. However, in many cases, a liberal arts college (or the CAS at a research university) will offer majors, minors, certificate programs, or “tracks” to cover fields such as architectural studies, business, or engineering from a liberal arts perspective. Google the school name + “majors and minors” for a program list.
Your best bet might be a mid-sized university with a CAS that covers programs in all/most of your interest areas. Check out places like Brandeis, URochester, and Wake Forest. UDenver might be a good choice, too.
Many LACs have flexible programs. I went to URichmond, and I doubled majored in Math and CS and also double minored in Music and Dance. It’s very common there for people to have multiple majors and/or minors, and to explore more than one interest. I also know people there who are/were double majors, triple minors, and also some triple majors, all who did or will graduate in 4 years. I knew a lot of business majors there that were pursuing second majors in the sciences or performing arts. And one of the guys I know that’s a triple major is international relations+ 2 languages.
I went to Syracuse for undergrad, and you applied for admission to a specific college, I believe… although I was a Musical Theatre major in the Drama Department in CVPA, so that may have had something to do with it. We did have students who switched out of Drama into different majors in different colleges at the university, so movement is possible.
I teach at James Madison. You apply to the university and can indicate a major, or enter undeclared. There are some majors where you need to complete requirements to be fully admitted to the major, but changing majors is definitely possible, as are double degrees and double majors. Not big skiing, but we have seasons, and small ski resort near by. We are about 2 hours from Washington DC.
Universities that require students to apply directly to a specific major or college are what you want to avoid - exploratory majors may reduce choices (at Purdue or Uiuc for instance, it’s very hard to get into engineering if you are in Exploratory).
Case Western, Brandeis, UDenver, Tulane may be better options, as well as all LACs.
Note that engineering is going to be more prescriptive than other majors, with specific sequences to follow. At many smaller universities, the first year business classes are cross referenced with other majors’ (freshman seminar, math, Economics, Foreign language, science) which allows easy switching.
My older daughter applied undeclared everywhere. She always leaned towards the social sciences, but she truly didn’t know what she wanted to major in and, she felt she needed to explore. We encouraged her to attend one of the less competitive UC campuses where she had been accepted. Having graduated last June within four years, I believe it was the right choice. Her merit scholarship came with priority registration, which allowed her to register in any course that she fancied in order to explore. When she suddenly wondered at the end of her sophomore year if she should switch to the college of natural sciences, she was able to register in a key chemistry course next fall quarter which would have allowed her to switch colleges and still graduate within four years. She took the course, and decided that she was definitely a social sciences student. She declared her major that quarter and never looked back. The point is that had she decided to pursue the natural sciences, she still could have; save probably for engineering, most other doors were still open to her at that point. She had acceptances at more selective universities, but I doubt she would have had the flexibility to explore and to change course if necessary.
By college your kid needs to choose a favorite among diverse interests. Related majors also to consider. In college one cannot do it all, but must narrow the field. By now he knows if STEM or social sciences/humanities are more to his liking. He needs to sit down and make lists of reasons to choose majors. Courses needed and courses no time for with the majors.
For STEM majors he will need to start with the math and science sequences freshman first semester. Will those requirements interest him or will he chafe at not having time for more than one in the fields for different majors? He should look at his current classes- if he had to drop any which would he keep/drop? Priorities.
Many schools now want a declared major. Important to look at the ease of changing majors later. Easier within a school/college but majors often have limited enrollments. His stats may not get him into some schools. Unweighted gpa matters. A university may be a better choice for some majors than a LAC. It will help him to look at various schools’ requirements for majors of interest. Looking at those can he see himself being excited about the advanced classes?
Many end up with MBA’s with different undergrad majors. He should look at undergrad business majors, their requirements and limits on other courses due to time constraints. Does he want to limit himself as an undergrad to just business? He should look at job requirements and jobs for after his degree with the majors of interest. Can he see himself immersed in any of the fields?
Dang. All of those were “safe” schools for me back in the day. Have no idea how I’d fare today.