<p>It may be useful to distinguish between academic majors and those with more of a "trade" connotation, such as welding, although some of the "trade" ones can be quite interesting.</p>
<p>With that in mind, I'll add a few:</p>
<p>Agricultural economics (or just about any true ag major at a good ag school, such as agribusiness)
Packaging
Hotel management (a hot major at Cornell and Michigan State)</p>
<p>My major seems to be unheard of to the people I talk with. Although with all the environmental problems we have, I don't know why it is. Most of the other majors at my college are also unfamiliar, but PackMom posted most, but I'll add the ones I don't see there.</p>
<p>I think geology, which is not really a weird major, is very overlooked, especially by girls. I think it is a wonderful field, and often try to get science-type kids at least to consider it. There are many, many interesting jobs that are open for geology majors.</p>
<p>Professional Golf Management Program.The four-and -one-half year program leads to a bachelor's degree in Business Administration with a major in Marketing, and a specialization in Professional Golf Management.The annual salary range for experienced golf course superintendents and head pros is from the $50s to over $100,000. (programs are few and far between and very difficult to get into)</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Most college majors are things high school students haven't had any exposure to in an academic setting. Most high school students barely have a clue what sociology or anthropology are. Most high school students barely have a clue what MATH at a university level is. How many high school students have real experience studying philosophy in a classroom? Every other kid on CC seems to want to major in linguistics at college, and I'm never sure whether they have any idea what they are talking about.</p></li>
<li><p>C'mon! Where are the really weird majors? Professional Golf Management I'll accept as weird. (Not just "Golf Management", it has to be "Professional", too. Amateur golf managers need not apply.) Maybe Turfgrass Management, too (a great double-major with PGM). But the rest of these? History of Science? Not remotely weird!</p></li>
</ol>
<p>JHS -- history of science isn't weird -- but I have the impression it is somewhat new as a major in which you can get a degree. But then, at my age "somewhat new" means in the last 30 years...;) In any case, the thread is uncommon majors, no necessarily "weird."</p>
<p>Operations Research ... essentially applied math ... modeling and solving large complex business problems with (hopefully) deterministic mathematical equations.</p>
<p>For example, an airline schedule. Not the schedule we the flying public sees but the schedule the airline has ... which plane should fly which route and which crew should fly which route. Looking for the lowest cost answer (flying expense and also hotel and food expenses) while maintaining the flight schedule and minimizing wear and tear on the planes. This is harder than it sounds ... all the crews have a home base so getting them to flights can cost big bucks ... the flights tend to start in the east in the morning and end up out west by the end of the day. This is a very complex logistics problem. If you like linear alegbra you'll probably like the OR approach to solve this problem.</p>
<p>Re: Operations Research, is that what someone who wants to get into logistics would major in? I know that the military and WalMart, among others, have significant logistics needs.</p>
<p>Operations Research was THE hot field when I was in law school 25 years ago. OR dealt with things like logistics, but really on system designs. One of my close friends was a PhD student in OR and had an internship with the CIA -- he was working on modelling the effects of nuclear-blast EMP on national communications systems. (He was depressed ALL the time that year.)</p>
<p>There are a lot of popular interdisciplinary programs that are more widely seen. The first that comes to mind is a Human Rights major, which is normally created independently. </p>
<p>"New" majors (that used to be interdisciplinary) include: African American Studies, American Studies, Jewish Studies, Gender Studies, Latin American Studies, etc.</p>
<p>I've never heard high schoolers talk about Public Policy, but it's a popular major at a lot of schools. The same goes for Geography (as mentioned) and Urban Studies.</p>
<p>How about Neuroscience (not unusual) but with/Behavioral Biology - combined. I had to read our son's college website and still don't quite get it. Especially Bevaviorly Bio?? Unusual but becoming very popular. Guess you can do lots with this major! Sounds hard to me.</p>
<p>History of Science is not uncommon. It is a large department at Harvard.</p>
<p>Some uncommon majors: Sanskrit and Indian Studies; Celtic Studies; Mind, Brain, Body (a new field); environmental policy (becoming more popular); folklore and mythology.</p>