The Guide to Choosing and Declaring a Major

Read through this guide and find exercises for thinking about the major and links to resources.

As a sophomore, you are currently in a position to make one of the most exciting choices in your academic career at Wesleyan--that of your major. Specifically, the major you choose will help to determine your future course of study at Wesleyan and the path of your liberal arts undergraduate education. At this point, the process may seem daunting. You might have trouble eliminating options, you might not see any options that interest you, or you might not know where to begin.

This document was created to help you come to a decision, wherever you might be in the process. Even if you have reached a firm decision already, you are encouraged to read this Guide in an effort to examine and evaluate your academic priorities.

Where do I begin? I don’t know what I want!

If you do not know where to begin, you might try the following exercise using WesMaps. Take a piece of paper and crease it to create three columns. On the top line of each column, write "Must Have," "Interested," and "Not Interested," respectively. As you peruse courses in WesMaps, keep a running list in those three categories. Challenge yourself to read course entries in every department and program, even those in which you do not have a strong aptitude or initial interest. You may be surprised at what you find there.

Now look more closely at your lists. Try to answer the following questions:

• Is it possible to take all the courses I have in the "Must Have" column prior to graduation?
• What are the similarities between the courses on this list?
• Do they all fall in one department/program?<
• Are they all in one of the three divisions of the curriculum (HA, SBS, NSM)?
• Do they represent an interdisciplinary approach to the same subject matter?

• What are the similarities between the courses on my "Not Interested" list?
• What are the differences?
• Do they all fall in one department/program?
• Are they all in one of the three divisions of the curriculum (HA, SBS, NSM)?
• Have I ever taken a course at Wesleyan in any of the departments/programs represented on this list?
• Do they draw on different or similar skills (reading, writing, research, test-taking, etc.)?

• What are the similarities between the courses on my "Interested" list?
• Do they all fall into one department/program?
• Are they all in one of the three divisions of the curriculum (HA, SBS, NSM)?
• Do they represent an interdisciplinary approach to the same subject matter?
• Have I ever taken a course at Wesleyan in any of the departments/programs represented on this list? 
• What is the basis for my interest in these courses (professor, subject, kind of work, etc.)?

The "Not Interested" column should show you that out of the 45+ possible majors, you are well on your way to choosing one or two. Your "Must Have" list most likely has a theme running through it that will help to inform your choice. Think about other ways you could incorporate your interests, such as by majoring in an interdisciplinary program, doing a double major, or taking elective courses outside of your major for both enrichment and course diversity in your junior and senior years.

I want too many things. I’m all over the Curriculum!

If you are one of those people who listed almost every course from the curriculum in your "Must Have" or "Interested" column from the first exercise, then this one should help you begin to realize how you can pursue all your interests, whether you choose to major in them or not.

If you were ten people, what would each of you major in? Take a pencil and a blank sheet of paper and write down each life. Okay, if you want more than ten, go ahead. Write them all down. When you are finished, take a look at your list. For each life, quickly write down an answer to the following questions (don’t think too much at this stage):

• Which discipline would you consider pursuing in a graduate program?
• Which discipline would you be comfortable reading about on your own?
• Which discipline can you learn about through work experience?
• Which discipline can you imagine devoting yourself to this coming year?
• Which discipline could you take one or two courses in prior to graduation?
• What faculty members from different disciplines can you take courses with?
• What faculty members from different disciplines can you engage in discussion about topics of interest to you?

Answering these questions should give you a realistic look at the fact that you can pursue your many varied interests in several ways. You don’t have to major in them all. Majors at a good liberal arts university prepare you for a variety of professional and scholarly opportunities after college.

Plan out a tentative course schedule for each of your remaining semesters at Wesleyan. Now look at that plan and pretend you are looking at your schedule for the next two years.

• Are you excited?
• Are you horrified?

• How would you feel about it?
• Does it represent a true liberal arts education?
• Do you feel that you took advantage of the diversity of the Wesleyan curriculum?
• What are some ways to continue your education post-graduation?

There isn’t a major at Wesleyan that fits my interests.

Being passionate about an academic discipline means stopping by those sections of the library stacks on the way to do research for another class and getting lost there for hours at a time, waking up in the middle of the night to jot down notes for a paper you are writing, or taking the classroom discussion a step further with a friend, a classmate, or one of your professors. If one of the 45+ majors does not appeal to you in this way, what are you passionate about? What are your escapes? When procrastinating, what do you read for pleasure? What are some of your academic distractions?

In this thinking, though, be careful not to fall prey to myths. If you are lucky enough to feel such "passion," then that makes your choice easier. However, do not wait for a major to call to you as if it is the only perfect choice in a sea of good choices. Rather than thinking about what will be perfect, consider instead what you enjoy and find fulfilling. In which classes have you cared about the issues at hand? When you have read the work of a scientist, anthropologist, writer, cinematographer, historian, economist, mathematician, or dancer, have you felt you might like to do the work that you’ve been reading or viewing by these scholars and artists?

The University Major: One interesting approach to the major at Wesleyan is the University Major. This major affords students the opportunity to design a program that responds to their individual interests and aptitudes. It requires students to use the methodologies of two or more disciplines, and gives them the chance to work independently on an entire program. Students need to develop the necessary background and coherently integrate the courses in order to achieve their objectives. Not all proposals are approved, and students are required to declare another major in March before submitting the University Major proposal in early April. If this possibility sounds intriguing to you, feel free to stop by the Deans' Office to pick up information about how to apply.

Taking time away from Wesleyan may be another solution to discovering your interests. If you are not sure why you are in college, you might benefit from some serious reflection on this question. There are a variety of ways for you to productively utilize a leave of absence. One such program is College Venture. To support students taking time off from school, Wesleyan participates in a Consortium with seven other colleges and universities to provide students on a non-academic leave with exciting and challenging work opportunities. Venture jobs are full-time, paid positions in a variety of fields, such as the environment, education, business, social change, government, and the arts. Through College Venture, students can explore career possibilities, take time to think through their personal priorities and goals, experience work in their field of academic concentration, and just have a needed break from school. More information on College Venture and other internship opportunities, can be found in the Career Resource Center or at www.wesleyan.edu/crc/.

Seeking advice from others: who and what are the resources?

There are several university publications that are essential tools to choosing a major:

The Student Handbook includes a variety of documents of interest to the Wesleyan Community. Knowing and understanding Wesleyan's academic regulations and graduation requirements is essential to your academic success.

Wesmaps is Wesleyan’s curriculum on-line and an excellent source for planning your program of study. You can access it using any on-line browser.  This view of the curriculum allows more flexible access to course information, because of the grouping of courses into meaningful categories, the powerful search mechanism it contains, and the availability of the most up-to-date information.  This allows for greater opportunities to explore the curriculum and better identify themes across departments.

Department Home Pages are the webpages maintained by individual departments.  These pages are a great source for general information about majors as well as about specific requirement listings.

The Faculty were once in your position. They all went through the process of choosing a major and are now experts in their fields. As such, they are an invaluable resource for you. Check this website's list of Department and Program Experts for Advising to identify specific faculty with whom to speak. You also should consult with your faculty advisor and professors or, for that matter, any other member of the faculty.

You might ask them how they chose their majors. You also might ask them to help you understand some of the pros and cons of declaring a major in their field at Wesleyan and post-Wesleyan. Asking faculty members for additional information also can help your decision-making. For example, would they recommend any journals or books that would give you a better understanding of serious scholarship in their particular area? What are they currently researching?

The Deans' Office is another place to turn to in this process. Feel free to come in during drop-in hours or to make an appointment to meet with your class dean to discuss your unique situation. Some feel it is useful to meet with someone who is not involved in one specific department as you can talk through your own thoughts on a subject.