<p>My daughter wants to major in Gender Studies and pair it with an undetermined second major (politics, social work, psychology are possibilities). How can I really find out which colleges offer good programs in her areas of interest? I've read through many college's websites and most just have general statements and course lists. </p>
<p>I'm trying to narrow down our list of schools to visit during the spring break. We're looking at LACs in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic. I'd greatly appreciate any resources or ideas!</p>
<p>Honestly, I think that the courses offered are the biggest part. When I was looking for colleges to apply to it made a big difference to see the course lists. Also look at possible internship opportunities that the school has. There’s often a list of past internships that students have had so you can see the kind of connections the school has which can help with field experience and really help prepare your child for their career. Make sure she looks into colleges as well so she can see if the college has what she wants.</p>
<p>Thanks for replying My concern about relying on course lists is based on my own experience. I earned my Master’s a few years ago and saw many courses in the catalog that were never offered in the four years I was a student. Also, after I got there, I found out that there were only two core faculty members for the department; most courses were taught by adjuncts. </p>
<p>While my experience was not impacted greatly, I would want more stability and diversity of offerings for a young undergrad, as well as professors who are actively contributing to the body of knowledge in the field.</p>
<p>I think it is difficult to find out about undergrad programs. My daughter was looking at languages and physics when she was applying to undergrad schools. She visited one university and met with a department head for about 90 minutes. The department head was very informative and asked my daughter where she was considering; she then told DD about the other schools. </p>
<p>I e-mailed a department head at Stanford and he also was very helpful about language programs. Funny, too. He said that Stanford really was the best and DD should go there if we could swing it. Another thing I did was contact a couple of top graduate programs and ask what schools sent them well prepared students. That did not work as well because the most common comment was that their school prepared their grad students best.</p>
<p>I think Barrons’ comment had to do with the job prospects of the major. I would also want to know where the graduates in that major got jobs. Just the practical side of me.</p>
<p>Don’t use the catalog, use the actual course schedule. Often the website will have the course schedule for the past few years available. You’ll see how many courses are actually offered and who is teaching them. We had to do this because my son was looking for a specific type of history at LACs. They generally only have four or five faculty and he wanted to make sure that they offered at least two classes each semester (not at the same time slot) that he would be interested in taking.</p>
<p>As a first cut, go to ipeds-college navigator and look up specific colleges, search under "Programs/Major’. It will give you a sense of how many grads that the college had in that major last year (or the year before). If you see 5 grads in math, for example, you can immediately assume that such a college has very few upper division math courses, and thus, not a strong program.</p>
<p>I agree about the recommendation for Rugg’s, however the newer editions are now online access only (PDF). It might not make a difference but since the OP mentioned Gender Studies which is a relatively new major, I wonder if it is covered? He adds more majors each edition but I don’t think I saw any mention of Gender Studies.
I like Rugg’s guide a lot. It is a great **starting place **for this type of research, though you do need to follow up on your own.</p>
<p>When a student expresses interest in an interdisciplinary major in the humanities/social sciences, I wouldn’t narrow things down too much based on that major. It’s very likely to change. I would focus on criteria like selectivity, location, and campus culture and then just make sure that gender studies is an option.</p>
<p>When a high school student plans an interdisciplinary major AND states an intent to double major, that’s often a signal that their underlying interests are actually very broad. They mistakenly believe that a double major widens the focus of an education, when it is more likely to narrow it. This makes me even more confident that narrowing based on major shouldn’t be your priority here.</p>
<p>Applying a finer filter should make the selection process, easier, not harder. A filter than narrows the list to 300 schools isn’t very helpful. </p>
<p>Also, the OP is mentioning fields that are closely related. It’s not possible to have a good gender studies program without good English and history programs. They all go hand in hand. If the student wants to major in film studies and chemistry, that’s a different kind of analysis.</p>
<p>I suggest kids find someone doing the job they want to be doing (or doing the hiring for that job) and ask them for schools to consider. If they know where they’d like to live, seek out someone in that general area if possible and ask them as many hiring folks have their regional preferences.</p>
<p>If you get a whole slew of colleges, chances are, it doesn’t matter too much and you’ll have many choices. If everyone zeros in on the same places, you know those are good. Beware of others. The more narrow the major or desired field, the more this way of locating schools tends to be a good one.</p>
<p>We’ve found many people (though not all) are super helpful for tactful teens who are interested in a common future.</p>
<p>Thank you all, these are excellent suggestions! I just learned about Rugg’s last week but haven’t consulted it yet. NCES is another great idea. I am also going to try some academic journals to see who’s publishing the latest research as well.</p>
<p>My daughter has quite a few “filters” in addition to the major interest – D3 swimming, choir, an active Jewish population, diverse students, city or suburb. I’m glad she has ideas but phew! </p>
<p>I truly appreciate the helpful feedback – thanks!!</p>
My concern about relying on course lists is based on my own experience. I earned my Master’s a few years ago and saw many courses in the catalog that were never offered in the four years I was a student. Also, after I got there, I found out that there were only two core faculty members for the department; most courses were taught by adjuncts. </p>