My senior D has some LACs on her college list. She has absolutely no idea what she wants to study - I mean NO idea. Although the schools she has in mind are great schools and may be a good fit otherwise, my concern is they inherently have less majors to choose from than larger schools. I’m concerned she may discover an interest that might lead to a course of study that the LAC doesn’t have and she would have to transfer. I know there is the “build your own major” option at many places but that seems difficult and limited. Should she think about removing LACs? Anyone have similar experiences?
Each school should be evaluated individually for suitability, not on the basis of whether or not it is a LAC.
For a very undecided student, some criteria would be desirable:
a. A good variety of majors in areas of possible interest.
b. Those majors are not restricted or competitive admission due to being filled to capacity.
c. Course, curriculum, and scheduling structure that reduces the risk of being shut out of a major due to not starting the prerequisite sequence first semester. (Admittedly, this can be hardest to evaluate and compare between schools.)
LACs, even though smaller, have dozens of majors. They are a perfect spot for an undecided student who wants to explore a bit. Unless she has a specific interest like nursing or engineering (although some LACs have engineering), I think you have nothing to worry about.
Do you know which areas she leans towards or which mesh with her academic strengths and interests? Is she more STEM, humanities, social sciences?
What LACs are on her list?
@ucbalumnus - Yes any school regardless of size or type needs to be evaluated but available majors seems to be a valid criteria. I suppose instead of LACs I could have just used “small school”
@doschicos - She has visited Davidson and W&L. She seems to be pretty strong across academic areas. Enjoys science but not particularly math. Likes History but doesn’t want to major in it (for job options. No offense to any history majors - I know that many have been successful).
I know she would not be interested in Foreign language majors, Art/Theatre/Music/Dance, or “____ studies” where ____ could be Asian, European, Gender, Classical, etc.
I guess she’s spent so much time studying and “doing the work” that she hasn’t developed or discovered her passion yet. Maybe we can find a “major fair” or career fair geared toward high school students.
I think you’ll find Davidson and W&L grads to quite well career-wise, regardless of major. I wouldn’t worry about pegging a 17/18 year old down on a career yet. I could be wrong but I kind of get the feeling it is more of a concern for you than for her? She’s bright. That combined with a strong education and work/internship experience during the summers will bode well for her.
Advice above is very good. I think your D should strive to find a school that is a good fit regardless of if it is a LAC or a larger university.
LACs typically offer a diverse array of majors (that should be able to satisfy most students) and often make it easy for students to switch majors or declare a major later on. For example, my D went to Lafayette College and she was able to change majors simply by emailing the Registrar and was able to add a minor onto her program mid-junior year. In addition some of her friends were able to create individualized majors based on their particular interests.
I might be a bit wary of universities that admit by major as it may prove to be difficult to move into certain (impacted) majors down the road.
She may want to think about LACs that have distribution requirements. They want students to sample before picking a major, and often, they make sure the best profs teach entry level classes. This system also typically doesn’t require students to declare a major before sophomore spring and doesn’t penalize the kid who waits. Many LACS allow students to create their own major, double-major, etc.
While some kids know what they love early on, many more do not and are often exposed to something in college that was not available in high school (geology, anthropolgy, etc.) that really excites them. I know it feels nerve-wracking at this point, but it can also be mind-opening.
Regarding not having to declare a major until the end of second year, that is common at both LACs and non-LACs, but some majors inherently require starting at least some of the prerequisites in the first year to avoid being delayed in progress toward graduation. Most of these are math and science and related majors (e.g. engineering). However, this may apply to some other majors, like music, or foreign language majors where one does not already know the language, although it looks like these examples are ones that she is not interested in.
Really, this is not a LAC versus non-LAC type of thing.
Some ideas on picking majors:
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Go to your college’s career center or HS Guidance Office and talk to them. They may have tests/tools that help you figure out what career (and therefore major) is best for you)
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What classes do you prefer? Science/Math? English/History? Foreign Languages?
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Read this article: What problem do you want to solve?
https://■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/pulse/20140804104444-17000124-let-s-kill-the-college-major -
Take an online quiz…there are many
http://www.luc.edu/undergrad/academiclife/whatsmymajorquiz/
http://www.slu.edu/beabilliken/quiz-college-majors -
Talk to the professor in your favorite class and see what they think
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Pre-med/sociology/public health/psychology are majors where you want to help people directly.
Business/engineering/comp sci are majors where you want to solve technical/organizational problems.
Which is more appealing to you?