5 ms·

Coming from a European country, I really have a hard time understanding this no-major thing. As a matter of fact I even have trouble understanding majors at all

by carlob 9y ago

Coming from a European country, I really have a hard time understanding this no-major thing. As a matter of fact I even have trouble understanding majors at all. Across the pond, when you go to university to study X you study X (and if X requires Y as a prerequisite also Y). Nobody prevents you from walking into a lecture hall in comparative linguistics if you are studying biology, you just won't get any credits for it. Experiencing a large range of topics, helping you understand what you want to do, and teaching you to think is supposed to be the role of high school around here.

projectileboy 9y ago
The goal of a liberal arts education (which is not unique to the United States) is to provide a well-rounded base of knowledge combined with critical thinking skills. For college students on this track, specifying a major becomes less important.
- pc86 9y ago
  Majors are still important in a liberal arts education, unless you're majoring in Liberal Arts, in which case your career prospects are probably going to suffer substantially.
- hawkice 9y ago
  Can you graduate without a major? It never even occurred to me to try or ask anyone about it.
  - rankam 9y ago
    Some schools have an interdisciplinary degree which is close, I think. If I recall, you essentially have an advisor that oversees the classes you take and makes sure that you have "enough" credits in each subject (STEM, literature, humanities, etc) but you don't have to declare that X subject will be the focus of my studies.
  - moftz 9y ago
    If you don't have a major, then what are you really graduating from? Some schools have majors called "University Studies" that lets you essentially be undeclared for awhile until you figure out what you want to do but you can't graduate with this on a diploma. You still have to pick something. If you want a liberal arts education, then choose majors like English. If you want something specific, pick something specific.
jfaucett 9y ago
agree. The 2 years core curriulum in the US college majors is an indictment of US high schools IMHO. I like the system here in Germany a lot better, its not perfect but it doesnt waste your time as much and gives you way more options.
- emodendroket 9y ago
  I think most Americans have a lot of resistance to the idea of a system that consigns you to a particular fate by age 10.
  - pc86 9y ago
    Seriously. What happens if, as I did in the US, I'm convinced I want to be a doctor but at age 19 realize I really don't like chemistry, nor am I particularly good at it, and want to do something different?
    - chrisseaton 9y ago
      In Europe if you wan't to be a doctor and you were 19 you'd already be in first year of a specific medicine degree.
    - detaro 9y ago
      In the specific example, you'd probably noticed that you don't like chemistry in your high school chemistry classes already. And if you didn't, you'd switch to a different university/specialization after the first year or so, transferring credits for overlapping courses if there are any. That's not a very big deal, at least in Germany switching once even means you'll get the state education loans for longer if you need them.
- eesmith 9y ago
  The US doesn't track people early into career-focused educations but prefers a broader - or depending on your viewpoint, less focused - education. For example, someone studying computer science in college may be required to also take courses in fine arts, history, and English literature. This can feel like a waste of time for those who are definite that they want, say, a CS degree. I think the US should have more technical/career colleges, along with a higher respect for them. But it can also give more options to change fields as an adult.
emodendroket 9y ago
You "have a hard time understanding"? What's your question? You just seem to be stating it's different.
chrisseaton 9y ago
Part of the European system is that you are admitted to a certain college and only to study a certain subject. I got into my college ('university') to study computer science, and I had interview and tests to check aptitude for that specific subject, but I wouldn't have been admitted to study something like medicine or music instead as I wouldn't have had the aptitude for that. When you go to college in the US does one of the departments have to say 'yes this person had aptitude for our major'? Is it possible to get into a college and then realise you don't have aptitude for any of the majors?
- nesyt 9y ago
  Different universities work differently in the US. Some have categories of majors, like UW [0], where some are free to declare but others have requirements/prerequisites. [0]: http://www.washington.edu/uaa/advising/academic-planning/majors-and-minors/list-of-undergraduate-majors/ http://www.washington.edu/uaa/advising/academic-planning/maj...
- rankam 9y ago
  Typically, when referring to college in the US, people mean university. Universities are made up of colleges (College of Business, College of Arts & Science, College of Fine Arts, etc). Colleges within universities can have their own admission criteria so if, for example, you started majoring in History and failed all of your classes and wanted to study Finance, the College of Business could reject your application to change majors into their college. However, what usually happens is someone starts majoring in X, eventually realizes that they want to major in Y and there is no problem with them switching.
parent5446 9y ago
There are many people that think they know what they want to do in high school, and maybe even get some experience doing it, but then begin to hate it once they've been doing it intensively for more than a year. The purpose of being a student isn't to restrict yourself to a specific set of knowledge you expect to learn; it's to explore knowledge and develop important skills for use in the workplace. Granted things vary depending on the profession you end up applying for.
a-saleh 9y ago
Actually, at my uni, you probably could attend comparative linguistics. It wouldn´t help you get the biology degree much, but you still would receive credits. I.e. my wife, as she completed her molecular-genetics masters (120 credits, after 180 credit bc. in biology), would have over 20 credits in choir singing and additional 20 in finish language?
tzs 9y ago
> Across the pond, when you go to university to study X you study X (and if X requires Y as a prerequisite also Y). Nobody prevents you from walking into a lecture hall in comparative linguistics if you are studying biology, you just won't get any credits for it. Experiencing a large range of topics, helping you understand what you want to do, and teaching you to think is supposed to be the role of high school around here. Do you only get credit for X and its prerequisites? In the US, it generally works like this. If you want to get a degree in X, you "major" in X. There will be four kinds of classes you have to take to get that degree. 1. Classes in X and its prerequisites. You will need to take a certain number of units of X. That will come from a mix of classes that are required for all X majors, and classes you can choose freely from the school's X classes. There may be things kind of in between optional and required, such as multiple sequences of related classes where you have to choose one of the sequences. 2. Specific classes that everyone has to take regardless of major. This set may be empty in some schools. 3. Breadth classes. For example, at Caltech everyone has to take a certain number of units of humanities and social sciences, equivalent to taking one humanities or social science class per term. 1/4 must be humanities, 1/4 social sciences, and the remaining 1/2 whatever mix you want. 4. The school may have a total unit requirement, that may be higher than the sum of the number of units required by #1, #2, and #3. You can generally choose these from anything the school offers. So, over here you probably would get credit as a biology major if you decided to take comparative linguistics.

by carlob 9y ago

projectileboy 9y ago

The goal of a liberal arts education (which is not unique to the United States) is to provide a well-rounded base of knowledge combined with critical thinking skills. For college students on this track, specifying a major becomes less important.

pc86 9y ago
Majors are still important in a liberal arts education, unless you're majoring in Liberal Arts, in which case your career prospects are probably going to suffer substantially.
hawkice 9y ago
Can you graduate without a major? It never even occurred to me to try or ask anyone about it.
- rankam 9y ago
  Some schools have an interdisciplinary degree which is close, I think. If I recall, you essentially have an advisor that oversees the classes you take and makes sure that you have "enough" credits in each subject (STEM, literature, humanities, etc) but you don't have to declare that X subject will be the focus of my studies.
- moftz 9y ago
  If you don't have a major, then what are you really graduating from? Some schools have majors called "University Studies" that lets you essentially be undeclared for awhile until you figure out what you want to do but you can't graduate with this on a diploma. You still have to pick something. If you want a liberal arts education, then choose majors like English. If you want something specific, pick something specific.

jfaucett 9y ago

agree. The 2 years core curriulum in the US college majors is an indictment of US high schools IMHO. I like the system here in Germany a lot better, its not perfect but it doesnt waste your time as much and gives you way more options.

emodendroket 9y ago
I think most Americans have a lot of resistance to the idea of a system that consigns you to a particular fate by age 10.
- pc86 9y ago
  Seriously. What happens if, as I did in the US, I'm convinced I want to be a doctor but at age 19 realize I really don't like chemistry, nor am I particularly good at it, and want to do something different?
  - chrisseaton 9y ago
    In Europe if you wan't to be a doctor and you were 19 you'd already be in first year of a specific medicine degree.
  - detaro 9y ago
    In the specific example, you'd probably noticed that you don't like chemistry in your high school chemistry classes already. And if you didn't, you'd switch to a different university/specialization after the first year or so, transferring credits for overlapping courses if there are any. That's not a very big deal, at least in Germany switching once even means you'll get the state education loans for longer if you need them.
eesmith 9y ago
The US doesn't track people early into career-focused educations but prefers a broader - or depending on your viewpoint, less focused - education. For example, someone studying computer science in college may be required to also take courses in fine arts, history, and English literature. This can feel like a waste of time for those who are definite that they want, say, a CS degree. I think the US should have more technical/career colleges, along with a higher respect for them. But it can also give more options to change fields as an adult.

emodendroket 9y ago

You "have a hard time understanding"? What's your question? You just seem to be stating it's different.

chrisseaton 9y ago

Part of the European system is that you are admitted to a certain college and only to study a certain subject. I got into my college ('university') to study computer science, and I had interview and tests to check aptitude for that specific subject, but I wouldn't have been admitted to study something like medicine or music instead as I wouldn't have had the aptitude for that. When you go to college in the US does one of the departments have to say 'yes this person had aptitude for our major'? Is it possible to get into a college and then realise you don't have aptitude for any of the majors?

nesyt 9y ago
Different universities work differently in the US. Some have categories of majors, like UW [0], where some are free to declare but others have requirements/prerequisites. [0]: http://www.washington.edu/uaa/advising/academic-planning/majors-and-minors/list-of-undergraduate-majors/ http://www.washington.edu/uaa/advising/academic-planning/maj...
rankam 9y ago
Typically, when referring to college in the US, people mean university. Universities are made up of colleges (College of Business, College of Arts & Science, College of Fine Arts, etc). Colleges within universities can have their own admission criteria so if, for example, you started majoring in History and failed all of your classes and wanted to study Finance, the College of Business could reject your application to change majors into their college. However, what usually happens is someone starts majoring in X, eventually realizes that they want to major in Y and there is no problem with them switching.

parent5446 9y ago

There are many people that think they know what they want to do in high school, and maybe even get some experience doing it, but then begin to hate it once they've been doing it intensively for more than a year. The purpose of being a student isn't to restrict yourself to a specific set of knowledge you expect to learn; it's to explore knowledge and develop important skills for use in the workplace. Granted things vary depending on the profession you end up applying for.

a-saleh 9y ago

Actually, at my uni, you probably could attend comparative linguistics. It wouldn´t help you get the biology degree much, but you still would receive credits. I.e. my wife, as she completed her molecular-genetics masters (120 credits, after 180 credit bc. in biology), would have over 20 credits in choir singing and additional 20 in finish language?

tzs 9y ago

> Across the pond, when you go to university to study X you study X (and if X requires Y as a prerequisite also Y). Nobody prevents you from walking into a lecture hall in comparative linguistics if you are studying biology, you just won't get any credits for it. Experiencing a large range of topics, helping you understand what you want to do, and teaching you to think is supposed to be the role of high school around here. Do you only get credit for X and its prerequisites? In the US, it generally works like this. If you want to get a degree in X, you "major" in X. There will be four kinds of classes you have to take to get that degree. 1. Classes in X and its prerequisites. You will need to take a certain number of units of X. That will come from a mix of classes that are required for all X majors, and classes you can choose freely from the school's X classes. There may be things kind of in between optional and required, such as multiple sequences of related classes where you have to choose one of the sequences. 2. Specific classes that everyone has to take regardless of major. This set may be empty in some schools. 3. Breadth classes. For example, at Caltech everyone has to take a certain number of units of humanities and social sciences, equivalent to taking one humanities or social science class per term. 1/4 must be humanities, 1/4 social sciences, and the remaining 1/2 whatever mix you want. 4. The school may have a total unit requirement, that may be higher than the sum of the number of units required by #1, #2, and #3. You can generally choose these from anything the school offers. So, over here you probably would get credit as a biology major if you decided to take comparative linguistics.