Design your own major

Parents Forum
1

<p>My oldest attended a college where the philosophy was- " if students knew what courses they needed for a solid undergrad experience- they would be college professors"- however my youngest has strong interests in different fields but double majoring isn’t as appealing as designing her own major.</p>

<p>Luckily- she can do that & stay at the university where she was already pursing a degree but I was wondering how many other schools have interdisciplinary majors & allow students more say over what path they pursue.</p>

<p>I knew about Evergreen, Hampshire & Brown, but it seems that there are many more places where you can do this.</p>

<p>[Individualized</a> Studies - Design Your Own Major - Overview](<a href=“Individualized Studies | College of Arts & Sciences - University of Washington”>Design Your Own Major | Individualized Studies)</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.brown.edu/Administration/focal-point/concentrations/Independent-Concentration[/url]”>http://www.brown.edu/Administration/focal-point/concentrations/Independent-Concentration&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>[Areas</a> of Study](<a href=“http://www.hampshire.edu/academics/2565.htm]Areas”>Areas of Study | Hampshire College)</p>

<p>[Designing</a> an Area of Emphasis at Evergreen](<a href=“http://www.evergreen.edu/advising/areaofemphasis.htm]Designing”>http://www.evergreen.edu/advising/areaofemphasis.htm)</p>

<p>[Student</a> Designed Major, Academics: St. Mary’s College of Maryland](<a href=“http://www.smcm.edu/studentdesigned/index.html]Student”>http://www.smcm.edu/studentdesigned/index.html)</p>

<p>[Can’t</a> Pick a College Major? Create One - WSJ.com](<a href=“http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703628204575618622095004264.html]Can’t”>http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703628204575618622095004264.html)</p>

2

<p>Bennington, Sarah Lawrence, Skidmore, Vassar, probably many, many more. The article you posted says 900 colleges offer this option!</p>

<p>Lesley in Cambridge also, and it has a “low residency” program for adults as well. Goddard and Union Institute fall into this category as well, with non-residential programs that are self-designed.</p>

3

<p>From talking to my older daughters peers- some of whom transferred out of Reed because of money/grades, it sounds like designing your own major can be a workable option for those people who maybe got bumped out of their engineering or architecture major ( as an example), but still wanted to retain that as a focus for their degree. ( or at least have the credits earned go towards their needed requirements)</p>

<p>College is pretty expensive to take longer than 5 or so years for an undergrad degree when you bomb out of Ochem or C++.</p>

<p>However- there are still schools like Evergreen where all the programs are self designed & I have known some very successful people who chose that path from the beginning.</p>