DD w/interest in 2 wildly different poss. majors - thinking Brown might be a good fit - what others?

[Anonymous]

DD has strong interest in two possible majors -- so much so that she is likely to want to take a bunch of courses in each area before deciding a career path or even double majoring though the two paths are quite different, no synergy whatsoever. I'm trying to think of colleges where ticking off a number of required courses or a number courses within a majoring is not the normal route in order to allow her enough flexibility to fully explore the two possible paths. Brown seems like an option but given its acceptance rate I'd love to hear about others if anyone can think of any.

TIA

[Anonymous]

OP back. Thinking I should have titled this

"When you want to go to college and NOT declare a major"

: )

[Anonymous]

Why are you being coy about what the majors are? That might help people help you.

[Anonymous]

I didn't declare a major for the first two years.

I thought at most universities that the first two years were just filling gen eds...which should help one choose a major.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I didn't declare a major for the first two years.

I thought at most universities that the first two years were just filling gen eds...which should help one choose a major.

Something like engineering will have more specific requirements to follow.

[Anonymous]

You can do double major or dual degree programs.

[Anonymous]

What are the two majors?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I didn't declare a major for the first two years.

I thought at most universities that the first two years were just filling gen eds...which should help one choose a major.

Something like engineering will have more specific requirements to follow.

Well then my advice would be to apply to the more difficult of the colleges to get into if you're undecided. I started as an undecided major in a college of engineering. Once I realized I didn't like engineering, it was really easy to switch to another college (business, in my case). During my first two years, I took classes that satisfied gen eds in a business and engineering curriculum.

[Anonymous]

Are you looking for an open curriculum - schools that are looser on requirements Brown, Univ of Rochester and Wesleyan. But it does depend on what she wants to major in.

[Anonymous]

Except for the large state universities or CMU where transfer is tough to impossible between colleges, I think what she wants is very achievable everywhere else. Now if one of the majors is engineering, she'll need to apply for that but if she gets in and doesn't like it, it's easy to transfer out.

[Anonymous]

Princeton doesn't allow double majors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I didn't declare a major for the first two years.

I thought at most universities that the first two years were just filling gen eds...which should help one choose a major.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DD has strong interest in two possible majors -- so much so that she is likely to want to take a bunch of courses in each area before deciding a career path or even double majoring though the two paths are quite different, no synergy whatsoever. I'm trying to think of colleges where ticking off a number of required courses or a number courses within a majoring is not the normal route in order to allow her enough flexibility to fully explore the two possible paths. Brown seems like an option but given its acceptance rate I'd love to hear about others if anyone can think of any.

TIA

Same dilemma my daughter faced. She is equally interested in chemistry and gender studies / social justice. She will be starting Brown in the fall.

[Anonymous]

Double majors are really common now (even occasionally triple) and at most places, someone will be able to figure out a way to double in whatever their choice might be, though obviously the fewer required courses, the easier it might be. I find the trend of colleges asking students what they want to major in just totally wrongheaded -- nobody should have to make that decision until they know more, as most kids have not been exposed to say half of the available majors.

[Anonymous]

We may be able to provide better guidance if you shared the majors.