<p>Hate is a strong word but I needed your attention.</p>
<p>I was accepted to a small liberal arts college in California as an English major this year with the standing as a junior. So desperate was I to get into a rigorous university that I selected English as my major in lieu of being deemed unprepared as an undeclared major, despite the fact that I really dont love English nor do I intend to pursue a teaching position. I was originally under the impression that I would be attending a UC so my schedule consisted of the basics; mathematics, essay writing classes, et al. Anyway, I am still looking for something that seems of interest to me and Ive been notified by my university that adding a major/minor at any point during my undergraduate career is entirely feasible. Herein lies my question: would it be inappropriate to use my Junior year as an almost Freshman like year, wherein I select courses that strike my curiosity in hopes of discovery a field which is deeply interests me and will be my new major? I have money saved to the tune of $120,000 which will pay for all of my years ($35,000 per year), so 3 years is not an issue.</p>
<p>Don’t major in English unless you love it. But it’s a bad idea just to flounder around taking this and that. In your two previous years you must have noticed which subjects you prefer. Go to the department websites at the school where you will be attending for those subjects and acquaint yourself with the major requirements. Select, say, two of these, and include the “introduction to the major” course in each of them in your fall semester if at all possible. If there is a common course that is required in a number of the majors that interest you–for instance, many of the social sciences require a statistics class–take that too, right away. </p>
<p>So, for instance, if you think you might be interested in history and/or economics, you might take a major-level history class, the macroeconomics course for majors, statistics, and one or two other classes.</p>
<p>If you have declared an English major, you will most likely have been assigned an English professor as your advisor. Be open with your advisor about your doubts, and also, don’t hesitate to ask for advice from faculty in your “target departments.” Usually there is a Director of Undergraduate Studies in each department who can help you plan your program.</p>
<p>Most humanities/social sciences majors do not have a slew of prerequisites and do not require more than 8-10 upper-level classes, total, which averages out to 2/3 each semester over two years. So provided you are reasonably organized and come to a decision about your major next semester, and provided you don’t want to major in a science, you shouldn’t need a third year.</p>