Colleges for students who have no idea what they want to do?

College Search & Selection
1

Hi everyone! Im an 18 year old student on a gap year and I’m lost as ever. I’m looking for schools where exploration is encouraged. I read about how brown has an “open curriculum” and while I wish I could go to brown, I don’t think I can get into any school lower than a 40% or 50% acceptance rate. My GPA is 3.5 weighted, and my SAT scores are 1160 (650 in English and 510 in math).

If it were up to me, I’d be going to a medium sized university with small class sizes in a city or a suburb. I live in New England and I’d like to stay around here, but I’ll go anywhere if there’s a school that’s a good fit. I’ve been doing my research but it’s hard to find schools that will accept me. Any suggestions? Thank you for your time!

2

What about a state university? They tend to offer a lot of majors. Consider getting (library may have it) the Collegeboard Book of Majors. Go through with a couple different colors of sticky notes - one color for “looks amazing!” and one for “I might be interested…”. Look for patterns (you might find that you gravitate to related subjects).

Look for a school that offers the top 3 that appeal to you. Try to take a class or two in each area freshman year to see what you think. Spend time in the career office to see what internships and jobs people in this majors pursue. That should help you focus in on a major (or major/minor combination).

Lots of students aren’t sure of their majors at first or change majors. Don’t feel like you have to have it completely figured out.

3

Thank you for your comment! I’d go to my state school if I lived anywhere else. Are there any state schools you’d recommend? Is it unusual for students to go to a state school out of state?

Also, I’m going to go to Barnes & noble right now and look for that book. I was under the impression that colleges assign you core classes based on your major. Is this not the case? Is it a waste of time or money to take classes that aren’t required for the degree I end up pursuing? Thanks again, I appreciate this advice!

4

What is your state?

If you are in either Massachusetts or New Hampshire, then U.Mass Lowell or UNH might be a good choice. If you are in Maine then U.Maine Orono might be a good choice. If you qualify for the Flagship match program, then U.Maine might be worth considering regardless of where in New England you are from.

Many students change their major at least as late as the end of freshman year. Some change their majors later than that. Most or all universities in North America actually require you to take courses outside of your major. As one example, I have seen a case of a student with a completely different major (languages) starting freshman year taking biology for biology majors. This was in case she wanted to change her major to biology, which she did. Schools will often allow this sort of thing, although sometimes it will require getting the professor for the class that you want to take to give you permission to do so.

I might also add that rarely but sometimes if a student changes their major later than the end of freshman year, it may require either a few summer classes or an extra year in university to get all of the required classes taken for the eventual major. As such, if you are really unsure what you want to study, it is not a bad idea, if possible, to go to a university which you could afford even if you end up taking more than 4 years to graduate. For example, both of my daughters did take at least one class over the summer.

Do you have any idea what you might want to study?

5

I’ve seen this information regarding students in New England who can enroll across their state border and have the benefit of in-state tuition,and share it with you in case it fits your scenario, @clareabear:

[From a 2012 post here at CC]

“…New England Regional Student program, where reduced tuition is offered to New England students if their home state does not offer certain majors. Here is the UCONN link, (New England Regional Student Program :: Undergraduate Admissions :: University of Connecticut)”

This link works: https://admissions.uconn.edu/cost-aid/tuition/rsp

6

It is generally more expensive to go out of state to a public university. Don’t write off your own state schools. Your family has paid taxes that support those schools, and make them cheaper for you to attend. You can move to another state after college.

Most colleges expect you to take classes in a variety of areas in addition to whatever is required for your major. But few are “assigned”. For example, they might require you to take a writing intensive class — but there are many classes that can satisfy that requirement. You might be surprised and find something you like in those classes, too — I found my career through a course I had to take for graduation that I was not very excited about going into it.

If you review graduation requirements online for a given college, you will notice that a major has a fair number of requirements, but there also are a considerable number of credits required to graduate beyond the major courses. Four year colleges are not vocational — they want you to learn to think and analyze, and be exposed to areas you might not try otherwise. Be open to it.

7

@DadTwoGirls thanks for your response, I live in Connecticut! My parents can afford a private college for me with financial aid, but I’d like to avoid graduating in an overwhelming amount of debt if I can.

I’m not mathematically minded, unless it’s basic algebra, so I don’t think most STEM majors are for me. I know I want to minor in business, not because I’m interested in it but because it’s good to know. In high school I enjoyed my social studies classes (20th century history, psychology, etc) and creative classes (writing, photography, etc) the most. Other than that I have no idea.

8

Hi!

All of the above advice is really good.

Private schools that you may consider include –

  • Drew University
  • Hampshire College (part of 5-college consortium and you can take classes at any of 5 schools -- also a program that encourages exploration.
  • Muhlenberg
  • Knox in Illinois
  • Lake Forest in Illinois
  • St. Lawrence in NY
  • Hobart and William Smith in NY
  • If you're female, consider Simmons -- in Boston and part of a consortium
  • Another women's school you may want to consider is Agnes Scott or Hollins U
  • Further afield, maybe consider the women's school Mills in the Bay Area (can cross register at several places)
  • Earlham
  • Beloit
  • St. Olaf
  • Washington College
  • Very far away, consider Quest U in Canada -- encourages exploration
  • Sarah Lawrence near NYC
  • Wagner
  • Wheaton in Massachusetts
  • Wells in NY -- can take some classes at Cornell
  • Alfred in NY (the private school not the state school) has unique glass technology programs and ceramics -- the best in the country

And there are several more possibilities

If you’re concerned about the costs, you may want to consult College Navigator and click on the tab for each school. That will give you an estimate of the cost for each school. If you like a school you can get a better estimate by running the Net Price Calculator

9

Just gonna throw Tulane into the hat :slight_smile:

10

There is a lot to consider about college in addition to a major, if you are undecided. Smalll Liberal Arts College’s (LACs), are great for exposing you to a variety of majors and experiences. You are lucky in New England to have so many options close by. Check out the website for “Colleges that Change Lives” as a starting point. Many of these schools offer Merit Aid for your stats. Another school to consider is Springfield College. They have a very interesting variety of majors to choose from, and my D (with similar stats) was offered their highest merit award there.

11

I’ll give you a couple of offbeat options:

How about Prescott College in Prescott, AZ. Very cool LITTLE school in a cool little town. Great weather (it’s not super-hot there, like in Phoenix, higher altitude). But really the campus is the global environment. Students build their own curriculum, and it’s very environmentally oriented. We know a student who went there very recently who spent their college years pretty much in high mountains all around the world. There’s a film featuring her.

http://www.prescott.edu

How about UNC-Asheville? It is a public LAC in a great, great town. I believe total costs for OOS freshmen would be under $40k, without aid, pretty cheap for an OOS public. Asheville and UNC-A are big arts centers.

Kalamazoo College in Michigan is really an underrated LAC. You can get an outstanding education there.

http://www.kzoo.edu/k-plan/

I don’t know Trinity University in San Antonio, TX, but people seem to love it. And San Antonio is great. And you wouldn’t have to be there in the summer, when it is just too hot (but winters are great).

https://new.trinity.edu

Okay, how about the opposite of a city or a suburb–a mountain. I just love the admissions video and would like to live here. Great academics too.

http://admission.sewanee.edu

What about international study? Use your college years to see the world. Besides Great Britain and Australia, the Netherlands has “University Colleges” attached to several large universities. These are patterned after US LACs. Classes are in English (though Dutch students may prefer Dutch in social settings, which might be a challenge). There are ones in Amsterdam and Utrecht and several other cities. You can easily travel all over northern Europe from these cities. I don’t think they cost US students more than $15k or so per year and it is a 3-year program. Here’s a link for University College Utrecht,

https://www.uu.nl/en/organisation/university-college-utrecht

I’d think you’d be competitive at all these schools. Good luck!

12

@WeLoveLyman Tulane is not realistic for this applicant given recent SAT ranges and very low admission rate.

13

@Temperantia Sorry–was focused on exploration aspect of the college. :slight_smile: Thanks for pointing that out!