<p>I am interested in hearing from NCF people about the process of finding a direction/declaring a major at that school. I think that very few have the blessing of leaving high school knowing what they want to study and pursue after undergraduate work is done. A smart and successful business man and community college teacher told me that undergraduates should try one major after another until something clicks. He felt that this was a much faster and surer way to get in a groove than to take an open-ended liberal arts program and hope for the distilled quintessence of personal truth to dawn. From what I've read about NCF I am unsure as to how this works out there.</p>
<p>Did you enter as a freshman feeling pretty certain what field you would enter? Did you change your mind? How did the New College program help you get on track? Did you eventually get interested in something you were pretty sure was not for you when you started out?</p>
<p>NCF is a bit tricky in this regard. Unlike most 4-yr universities, even many pre-requisites (save some in the ‘hard’ sciences- chem, bio, various math courses) are not offered on an annual basis at New College (most are every 2 years). This can make declaring a major a bit difficult. I transferred into New College w/ an A.A. knowing that I wanted to pursue anthropology, and was lucky/smart enough to pass all of my pre-req’s the first time out. I would recommend ‘casting the net wide’ for one’s first semester (provided your daughter/son is <em>not</em> transferring in), and take as many ‘Intro to x’ courses as possible in the first academic year. Unfortunately, I met too many students who realized they loved anthro, sociology, or other ‘x’ discipline only to realize they were too far into their academic calender to meet a department’s additional pre-req’s. Be sure to visit the NCF website, these pre-req’s will be explicated. One note tho: those who are pre-med have <em>many</em> pre-req’s, and are near utterly ‘tracked’ from their first semester (i.e., if you decide you want to go pre-med your second year in, you may be too late). Another tid-bit to consider, finishing NCF in 4 yrs is entirely possible, however, taking an additional year to finish one’s thesis is relatively commonplace (I did), and will result in a much higher-quality work.</p>
<p>A final note, @ NCF it is extremely important to build strong relationships w/ one’s professors; visit them, talk with them. This can make the difference between one getting ‘capped out’ of a given course, and even major. Anthropology, for example, is a pretty popular major, and I can definitely recall some students who simply could not get into the department’s pre-req’s, thus preventing them from declaring as anthro majors.</p>
<p><em>Another note: @ New College, students are strongly encouraged to be self-sufficient. If your son/daughter is dropping the ball and is unwilling to approach their academic advisor to talk about options (or changing majors), they will be in a world of hurt. I would recommend your daughter/son talk with friends and professors, alike, from around the campus to help better understand one’s interest. OH!!, and mini-classes are *imperative</em> in the first week of school. Tell your child to go to <em>as many</em> of these as humanly possible. Unlike the full-fledged version of each course, mini-classes allow any student, regardless of major, to explore the various departments’ course offerings. They only last 15 min, and they will gain a better understanding of a given course/major/professor and their unique expectations/demands.</p>