<p>My daughter will be a College Sophomore this fall. At our urging, she went to school last year with an "undeclared" major, although she thought she would eventually decide upon a science major to pursue pharmacy. She took several science and math classes and did well but she now believes this is not the field she wants to pursue. However, she is having a lot of angst because she has no idea what she wants to study. I personally have no problem that she is undecided, but I hate that she is having anxiety over this. She loves her school and the friends she has made. Any suggestions on how I can help her?</p>
<p>I’m 61 and still “undeclared”. I’ve had a great life, always been employed, and always paid the bills, put both kids through college, and am looking forward to my 5th or 6th career (but who’s counting?)</p>
<p>Help her by telling her my story, and hundreds like it.</p>
<p>I’ve had at least 6-7 distinctly different careers in my life, along with two very different graduate degrees. The only constant is my address, my marriage, and my kids.</p>
<p>Most colleges have a “liberal studies” or “general studies” degree that doesn’t require a traditional major, an excellent option for a good student who is just not ready to commit to a specific direction yet. Some people do quite well with such a degree, because it can segue into just about anything. Perhaps learning about this option will quell her anxiety about choosing a major.</p>
<p>^Really? No college I or my kids went to!</p>
<p>Mathmom, I think it’s very common at large universities. Maybe not at liberal arts colleges because that what you’re already supposed to be studying there. </p>
<p>However, it also has a reputation for being for the “dumb” and “lazy” kids who didn’t want to put the effort in to get a BA or BS.</p>
<p>We had a conversation with our rising sophomore D about this last night. She has a declared major and will be done with the req’s in 2 semesters. It’s not necessarily a “marketable” degree (history) but she enjoys the subject. She is realistic and would like to be employed in 3 years, so she’s taking a couple of survey classes this Fall to see if those directions may interest her. She knows she needs a second major and has no idea what it should be. </p>
<p>DH & I explained to her the benefit of going to her school’s career center when she returns to campus. There are lots of skill & aptitude type testing they can do, plus we’re strongly encouraging her to apply for internships for next summer so she can start testing out some workplace situations as well as getting some real world experience. Sometimes it’s just as important to figure out what you don’t like as what you do.</p>
<p>Best of luck to your D!</p>
<p>KYparent, my S will be college senior this year. He has a major but still doesn’t know what he wants to do. Be glad your D is only a soph. She still has time to figure it out.</p>
<p>The only place I’ve seen it is with Extension Schools. None of us went to LACs.</p>
<p>Many colleges and universities have an academic advising and career center where trained counselors work with students to help them identify possible majors that might be on interest to them… ex. where I teach – [Career</a> and Academic Planning - James Madison University](<a href=“http://www.jmu.edu/cap/]Career”>University Career Center - JMU) – some of the resources on the site are available to anyone (not just JMU students). </p>
<p>Depending on the requirements at her school you D may need to declare a major by the end of her sophomore year in order to be able to graduate within four years. Although, if she is already feeling angst ridden I probably would not mention that just now ;). </p>
<p>Best of Luck!</p>
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<p>It wasn’t common when we were in college. (I’m making the leap that we’re both old enough to have college-age kids!) But it’s pretty common now. I think such programs were developed in recognition of the fact that many career fields are interdisciplinary but can’t be majored in as such.</p>
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<p>That’s because it’s possible to complete such a degree with a bunch of unchallenging courses. But it’s also possible to complete it with lots of upper-level courses in several different and substantial subjects, just not enough of any one of them to constitute a major. Someone with a general-studies degree who concentrated on math, chemistry, physics, etc., is no more of an academic slouch than someone who majored in just one of those subjects, and has comparable chances of being accepted to a good graduate or medical school.</p>
<p>My own situation is partly illustrative. My BS from a third-tier public university is in mathematics with a “general science” minor. I fulfilled the minor requirement with a smattering of chemistry, physics, and computer science courses. That was enough to get me into a top-20 graduate program in materials engineering, a field that I didn’t study at all as an undergraduate and didn’t even know existed until I was a college junior.</p>
<p>[College</a> of Literature, Science, and the Arts | Students](<a href=“http://www.lsa.umich.edu/bgs]College”>http://www.lsa.umich.edu/bgs)</p>
<p>Bachelor in General Studies.</p>
<p>This was around at U-Mich when I attended in the dark ages. My cousin graduated with that degree. It’s still there.</p>
<p>My kid did the angst thing about a major, and then when she did select a major, it looked to me as if she played Wheel of Fortune. However, she is enjoying this major that came out of nowhere, is doing fieldwork and getting paid and getting recognition and awards. We just had to trust her judgement. Finally, she is happy and that makes me happy.</p>
<p>Are there available interdepartmental majors that would incorporate several of the OP’s daughter’s interests?</p>
<p>I am looking for work myself (at age 60) and still find that most jobs that I run into are not at all related to a college major. The employers see a college degree as a sign of possible competence, in general, and perseverance. Of course, there are some majors that are very vocational, and if a student is truly motivated in that direction, that’s great. But in some ways, having early, concrete goals may even be limiting in some ways.</p>
<p>I just spent a year doing internships in historic preservation. There are plenty of jobs in a field such as history, but, again, studying history gets a BA that is useful on the general job market too, and students gain skills in research, reading and writing that are invaluable in many fields.</p>
<p>To the OP, your daughter’s situation is perfectly fine. She can explore some more this fall and choose a major at whatever time the college requires it. Why is she so anxious about this? There are lots of things to be anxious about in this difficult life, but being undecided at 18 about your life direction is not a terrible situation: it leads to exploration and more fulfillment later.</p>
<p>Maybe try to detach college studies and career worries. She can get a BA or BS in whatever she likes. Internships don’t need to be tied to major either, but can point the way to jobs. It will all work out!</p>
<p>I suspect daughter’s anxiety is her desire to complete her undergrad degree in 4 years. We have some good conversations thanks to some of the conversations here. Ultimately, I want her to study something that she is interested in…just for the sake of learning, exploring…if she wants to take the requisite courses to apply to a PharmD program but I don’t necessarily want her to feel pressured to major in science to get there. Thanks for your responses.</p>
<p>She definitely needs to go to her career advising center, as mentioned above. She should take aptitude and interest tests. This will give her focus so she can choose one of her likes as a major. It is a shame students can get by with a general degree at some schools- the idea of college is to not only get the breadth of education but some depth in one (or two) fields. I know UW (Madison) requires a significant number of upper division courses in a major.</p>
<p>We learned at orientation this summer that “Undeclared” is the most popular major at our son’s university. One of the skits in the Revue was about two doctors/parents who were ashamed to tell their friends that their daughter was “undeclared.”</p>
<p>And the school does have a general studies major in the College of Arts & Science. We used to joke that it was developed after a friend of ours had been in school for seven years and taked every class offered (joking), so they finally gave him a degree. He is a successful, 56-year-old, insurance executive.</p>
<p>At the LAC where my niece just graduated, students don’t declare their major until spring of their sophomore year.</p>
<p>Not time to panic yet.</p>