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How And When to Decide On A Major
Liberal Arts Education versus Technical Education
Choosing a Major
Taking Advantage of Electives
Major/Elective Combinations
Relating Majors to Careers
How to Declare a Major
   
 

How and When to Decide On A Major: Assessing Your Interests

Students at the College of Charleston must declare their major before earning 60 hours. Students may have to do some careful thinking about themselves to determine what will suit them. Therefore, before deciding a major one should ask him/herself the following:

  • What are my interests?
  • What are my hobbies?
  • What were my favorite high school and college courses? Which ones did I excel at?
  • What do I see myself doing in a future career?
  • What do I hate doing?
  • What do I most enjoy doing?
  • What are my strengths? weaknesses?
  • What are my intellectual interests?
  • The self exploration needed to answer these questions may well be one of the more important parts of your college education. You will discover a lot about yourself during your college years.
The self exploration needed to answer these questions may well be one of the more important parts of your college education. You will discover a lot about yourself during your college years.


 Liberal Arts Education versus Technical Education

An understanding of major begins with an understanding of the difference in education one receives from a liberal arts school and a technical, professional school. The basic distinction is theoretical versus applied. A liberal arts college or university offers theoretical understanding of academic fields of study. The purpose of this education is to provide a broad, general education and the further development of basic, transferable skills which can be applied to a wide variety of career fields. Technical and professional colleges and the special schools of large universities teach students how to apply the theory. The purpose of this education is to provide specialized training and specific skills for a particular occupation or career field.

Offering predominantly a liberal arts education, the College of Charleston does not have as its primary purpose the training of people for specific occupations or careers. Rather, it gives students a broad educational background from which to go in many career directions. The minimum degree requirements are designed to provide students with this broad knowledge base as well as to introduce them to the entire curriculum. Almost half (56 of 122 hours) of the College of Charleston degree involves working on minimum degree requirements.


Choosing a Major

The College also requires each student to major in at least one subject, called a discipline, to develop some expertise in at least one subject as well as to develop in the mind in advanced intellectual skills. Most majors require approximately 36 hours of study although some like Accounting require as many as 63 hours. Majors are best chosen on the basis of interest in the subject and aptitude or ability to do well academically in the subject.

Look back at the subjects you have taken in high school and college and identify the ones you have enjoyed taking the most or the ones you would like to study more in depth. Then consider which subjects you have done the best in academically. Those subjects that you have both enjoyed the most and done the best in academically are usually the best choices for a major. Majors that do not fit your interest or aptitude are usually not good choices. In a liberal arts college, choosing a major means choosing an academic subject that you would like to study in depth. The reason a major is so important is because it is an academic requirement for graduation; not because it will determine what career or occupation you can go into.


Taking Advantage of Electives

Pick a minor. Combining the minimum or core academic requirements with most majors at the College still leaves some 30 hours of electives needed for graduation. A well-chosen minor, usually requiring 18-21 hours, or concentrated study in several subjects can be an excellent way to complete the hours needed to graduate. Look at ways to creatively combine courses that provide additional opportunities for growth and study. Many of today's exciting career opportunities call for unusual combinations of knowledge and skills, such as arts management (fine arts and business), medical illustration (biology and art), music therapy (music and psychology), international business (foreign language and business), preservation planning (history and urban studies), news commentator (political science and drama), personnel management (psychology and business), scientific/technical writing (science and English), public relations (English and psychology), etc. Think of combinations of courses.

Take a second major. If you are having difficulty deciding between two majors, take them both or at least take as many courses as you can in both. You will need to complete the requirements for at least one of them to graduate, so even if you are not able to finish the requirements in both, you will still have understanding and knowledge in two major subjects to offer.
Pursue a special interest or hobby. Select one of the many interdiciplinary studies programs at the College such as International Studies, American Studies, Jewish Studies, Women's Studies, Environmental Studies, Arts Management, International Business, African-American Studies, African Studies, Communications, Criminal Justice, Discovery Infomatics, Global Logistics & Transportation, or Religious Studies. If none of the existing programs fit your particular interest or concern, create your own interdiciplinary program by combining other courses.

Spend a semester or year abroad at another campus. It is possible to spend a semester in Washington or go to a foreign country or attend another U.S. college. Careful planning is required to do this because of transferring credits, but it can be a very meaningful and exciting addition to your education. Contact the Office of International Education & Programs for additional information.

Develop an occupations-related skill. Supplement your core requirements and major courses with electives that are more applied and help you develop a skill area. Courses in accounting, computer science, acting, drawing, playing a musical instrument, technical writing, journalism or a particular sport can help you develop such skills.

Prepare for graduate school. Most graduate and professional schools do not require a specific major for admission into their school. You do not have to be a science major to go to medical school, a political science major to go to law school, a business major to go into a M.B.A. program, or a psychology major to go into a clinical psychology program. You usually do need, however, to have a core background in these subjects to be considered for admission, so by supplementing your major with core courses in a particular subject you still have the same opportunity to be accepted into graduate school. Most medical schools, for example, recommend that a student have a year of biology, a year of chemistry, a year of physics, a year of organic chemistry and calculus to be a strong candidate for admission.


Major/Elective Combinations

Nearly one-third of the courses you take for a college degree are ELECTIVES: you can take between 30-40 hours worth of anything you want. The minimum degree requirement and your major requirement each take one of the other thirds.

For people who plan to look for full-time employment with their bachelor's degree, it is often helpful to supplement a MAJOR with ELECTIVES that develop a SKILL area as employers look for SKILLS.

Designing your own unique combination of MAJOR and ELECTIVES combination.

  • Arts Management (fine arts and business administration)
  • Medical Illustration (biology and art)
  • Music Therapy (Music and psychology)
  • International Business (Foreign language and business)
  • Genetics counseling (biology and psychology)
  • Preservation Planning (history and urban studies)
  • News Commentator (political science and speech or drama)
  • Pharmaceutical sales (chemistry and business)
  • Personnel Management (psychology and business)
  • Scientific Writing (science and English)
  • Public Relations (English and psychology)

Electives can be used in many creative ways and offer the opportunity to combine interests and concerns. The exciting part is that you are completely free to use them any way you want.


Relating Majors to Careers

The relationship between a liberal arts major and a career is not nearly as direct as most people think. While majors like accounting, computer science, education or communication can be directly related to particular career fields, most majors at the College of Charleston provide general intellectual training not directly related to specific careers. The basic knowledge and skills developed in a major can be applied to a number of different career fields. Liberal arts majors do not restrict graduates to a few career choices; rather, they allow for a number of different career options. Choosing a major, then is not the same as choosing an occupation or a career.


Career choices should be based on a genuine interest in the work and on having the abilities or skills needed for the work, not necessarily on a particular major. Career choices are also dependent upon good career information and the best career information usually comes from personal research and work experience outside the classroom. When studying a particular subject, you learn more about the theories and principles of the subject than about the application of the subject to work. Knowledge about the application comes from working in the field or reading about the field or talking with people in the field.


Majors do relate directly to careers in one significant way; they help with the further development of individual skills needed in a career. English majors, for example, usually develop excellent communication skills, especially writing skills. Mathematics majors develop good analytical and problem-solving skills; history and science majors develop research skills, etc.. Jobs and careers are not so much determined by majors, but on what you can do and what you want to do. You are not usually hired on the basis of your knowledge of the major, but on the skills and interests you have developed by studying the major.


Career decisions require not only more specific information about a career field and the personal skills needed to be successful in a field, but are more complex and often need to be made several times during a lifetime. According to the experts, the av erage American is making 7-10 jobs changes and 3-5 career changes in a lifetime. Decisions about an undergraduate major are usually made once or twice during college only. A four-year undergraduate education basically provides a foundation of knowledge and skills upon which sound career decisions can be made throughout life.


How to Declare a Major

Go to the Department in which you wish to declare a major and file the appropriate paperwork there. To declare a new major or a dual major, please declare in both departments and be advised in each of the departments.

If you are changing from a major declared in an academic department to the category of "Undecided" (or no major), please go to the Academic Advising and Planning Center.
 
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