Creating Your Own Major

Colleges and Universities A-Z Lafayette College
1

I’m a Junior in High School and I absolutely adore Lafayette. I’ve had family who went there and I lived in the area most of my life. The only problem is they do not offer Nutrition/Dietetics or Kinesiology. On Lafayette’s website they emphasized the fact you can create your own major. Has anyone had experience with this? I would like some more information the process and information on what courses are available to take to create this major. (I’m picking AP and Dual classes for my senior year and I need to know what classes I can finish while still in high school). Thanks!

2

@snbodelle‌ swagonomics

yah im assuming its like an interdisciplinary make-your-own-degree kinda thing, which is cool yo

+1

3

I knew of one student who did that, and they basically took a bunch of courses in different departments based on the recommendations of their adviser, and created an “Archeology” major, which isn’t offered at Lafayette. Here’s an article on a bunch of students who created their own majors (in case you haven’t read it)
http://news.lafayette.edu/2012/05/07/self-designed-majors-allow-students-to-chart-unique-courses-of-study/

I’d encourage you to email/call a dean at Lafayette, and talk about it. If you still live in the area, you could even set up a meeting and go talk to them personally. Here’s the contact info of the Deans. You can talk to Dean D’Agostino, or Dean Clemence, or actually any Dean of advising.

http://deanofthecollege.lafayette.edu/staff

You might even be able to get a more official contact, if you talk to admissions and tell them you want to talk about creating your own major. You already seem to have an idea of what you want to do, so you’ll have specific questions. You can tell them that, and they’ll be able to find you someone who’ll be able to answer your questions best.

4

My D has a friend who created her own major. The issue for you might be that Lafayette may or may not offer the classes you need to create the majors you are interested in. If you google “Lafayette College Course Catalog” you can look through and see if you think you can piece together one of the majors you want. And I agree with @sixstringsrocker that it also makes sense to talk to a Dean to see exactly what is possible.