<p>I'm a junior in high school, and I've been looking at colleges. The hard part is that I don't really know what I want to do. I'm great at math and science, but I really enjoy music as well. I've narrowed down my possible majors to the following: Math, Engineering, Computer Science, Forensic Science, Criminal Justice, and Music. </p>
<p>I know that's still A LOT of very different topics, and I know some are more science and others are liberal arts. Do you know of any colleges that have all or most of these majors? </p>
<p>Colleges that I've found with all of them are:
Cal State LA
Penn State
University of Central Florida
George Mason University </p>
<p>None of these really seem like a great fit to me, though. Do you have any suggestions of other places that I should look at? </p>
<p>Carnegie Mellon was my dream school up until last year, when Forensic Science and Criminal Justice made my list.</p>
<p>For that combination of majors, you are most likely looking at state universities. Can you afford the full cost of an out of state public school? Most of them won’t give very generous need-based aid. </p>
<p>What is it about Carnegie Mellon you like, but you think isn’t provided by the others you’ve listed?</p>
<p>Have you looked at Vanderbilt? They have everything on your list but Criminal Justice… I don’t know what your test scores look like, but as long as they are above 25, that could constitute one of your reach/match schools. Another factor is region. Are you looking close to home or everywhere? I assume location isn’t an issue since you have LA, Penn State, and Florida all on your list (lol) University of Miami also has all these programs (Criminology is listed, but it’s the same as CJ) Just think about the weather you like, the selectivity of the colleges, and take your grades and scores into consideration.</p>
<p>What do you know about criminal justice? If you majored in it, what would you hope to do with a degree in the field? Have you considered sociology, chemistry, or any of the much broader, and IMO more rigorous majors virtually every reputable college offers? </p>
<p>Yeah, I have to agree with the above. My younger sister-in-law has a degree in criminal justice; her goal was originally to go to law school. She changed her mind in her senior year and decided she needed a break, so her new goal became being a probation officer in the juvenile justice system. She still hasn’t found a job, and she graduated from college last year. She decided to do a one-year online MA in criminal justice and I just hope she’s not paying too much for it, because I’m not sure it’ll help her much.</p>
<p>I think forensic science is too specialized for undergrad; you could study that on the graduate level, if you wanted. And you could study sociology instead of criminal justice at most places. CJ is really just a specialty of sociology anyway. For FS you could double-major in sociology and chemistry, or major in one and minor in the other.</p>
<p>Also, I am of the mindset that your college list should be build mostly on quality of life factors. Most students change their major and there are a lot of majors that can be substituted for other ones.</p>
<p>Criminal justice isn’t a very good major. It mostly leads to law enforcement jobs, in the police or correctional system.
As juillet said, Forensic Science is more a Master’s level degree than undergrad (as a minor that you add to physical anthropology or chemistry, for instance, that’s fine.)
I agree with Juillet: don’t build your college list based on majors. Math, CS, and music will be present and strong at many places.
For instance, look at St Olaf and Lawrence, as both colleges are very strong in both science/math and music.</p>