<p>I was just wondering what some student-designed majors look like, what are good colleges for them, and do they look better than a regular major? Anything else you can think of please add, thanks.</p>
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<p>What do you want to study? At most colleges it’s tricky to get a self-designed major approved because you need to design a coherent program of study with sufficient breadth and depth from the courses offered by other departments, which does not overlap too much with any single major already out there. </p>
<p>At my own college, self-designed majors are the college’s way of letting students complete a major in fields in which we offer classes but don’t have an approved major (yet): linguistics, international relations, creative writing, theater, dance. The first computer science graduates from my college completed self-designed majors, back when the college only employed two CS faculty through the math department. Very rarely does someone succeed in getting a truly self-designed major approved. I have heard rumors of someone majoring in Mediterranean Studies (probably a blend of history, foreign languages and archeology) but that’s about it.</p>
<p>Other colleges are a bit more open about self-designed majors, but the rules from the first paragraph still apply.</p>
<p>And no, self-designed majors don’t look better than regular majors. In fact, they can look worse if you major in something very obscure. You are usually better off completing an approved major and taking other interesting or relevant courses as electives. You can complete a second major or a minor (or two or three) if that helps your goals.</p>