Imagine Magazine - Johns Hopkins - November/December 2015 - (Page 43)

planning ahead for college Consider Your Major When Choosing a College by Linda E. Brody, Ed.D. Sarah hopes to become a clinical psychologist. After enrolling in a prestigious university, she finds that its psychology department focuses on experimental psychology with few clinical offerings. Mike attends his first-choice college where he is a classics major. With an interest in classical archaeology, he is disappointed to find that the college lacks courses in excavation techniques and faculty that do field work. Jamie, who is interested in aeronautical engineering, turned down a university with connections to NASA to attend one he considered more prestigious, but there are limited opportunities to do aeronautical research. Emma is premed at a liberal arts college she loves, but she wishes there were more opportunities to participate in cutting-edge medical research. Each of these students chose a school with a strong academic reputation, but they failed to investigate specific offerings in their majors. When asked if they should have made a different choice, they all responded, "Probably, yes." You can avoid this kind of regret by making sure that the college you choose has the resources you need to meet your academic goals. Departmental Offerings Every college or university has its stronger and weaker departments, so assess the specific department in which you plan to major. Review the backgrounds and research interests of faculty members, and check course offerings. Do they align with what you want to study? Are the courses actually offered and not just listed for possible future scheduling? While smaller colleges may offer fewer courses than larger schools, they might have ample opportunities in your area of interest. For example, with a campus art museum and the nearby Clark Museum, Williams has resources in art history beyond what you might expect for its size, and Washington College in Maryland has gained recognition for its writing program thanks to the Sophie Kerr lectures and Writing Prize. Among small engineering schools, Harvey Mudd and Rose-Hulman have won accolades for their academic offerings and quality of instruction. If you plan to major in the arts, you may be deliberating about whether to attend a conservatory or art school versus a university. The former may provide access to a particular specialization, but you also might find your niche in a university department. Just be sure to look at specific offerings. If your interests range across departments, consider an interdisciplinary major. Northwestern's Integrated Science Program, for examwww.cty.jhu.edu/imagine ple, might fit the bill if you have broad scientific interests, while Johns Hopkins' new program in Medicine, Science, and the Humanities allows you to simultaneously explore the humanities and natural sciences. If you'd like to design your own major, investigate the College Scholar program at Cornell, the Echols Scholar program at U. VA, or the Independent Concentration at Brown. Additional Resources Course offerings can be more extensive if you choose a college or university that is part of a consortium that provides for cross-registration. Examples include the Five College Consortium of Smith, Mt. Holyoke, U. Mass, Hampshire, and Amherst; the Quaker Consortium of Swarthmore, Haverford, Bryn Mawr, and U. Penn; and the Claremont Consortium of Pomona, Scripps, Claremont McKenna, Harvey Mudd, and Pitzer, as well as two graduate schools. Many other colleges have less formal relationships but still permit cross-registration with peer institutions. If the college you elect to attend has more limited course offerings than you desire, another option is to enroll elsewhere for a semester or more. For example, students interested in government may choose to spend a term at a university based in Washington, DC. There are also a multitude of programs for studying abroad. Dartmouth, for example, offers dozens of programs in other countries for its students, and Goucher actually requires students to study abroad at some point during their undergraduate years. Extracurricular activities, internships, and part-time jobs serve to supplement classroom instruction with experiential learning. Besides considering courses when you evaluate a college, you might want to select one that offers the resources for you to participate in handson activities. For example, you might want to be in New York or Los Angeles if filmmaking is your passion. If you are eager to participate in research, you can approach professors about working with them, but programs such as MIT's Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) or the Undergraduate Research Apprenticeship Program (URAP) at UC Berkeley can make research activities more accessible. It's hard not to be heavily swayed by the overall reputation or ranking of a college or university, but is it the best one for you? Before making your final decision about which college to attend, make sure there are optimal opportunities to pursue your major field of study. n imagine 43

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Imagine Magazine - Johns Hopkins - November/December 2015

Big Picture
In My Own Words Documentary filmmaker Ken Burns
National Treasure Volunteering at the National Archives
Driving My Future, Exploring the Past The many rewards of genealogy
Past in Focus National History Day
People-Powered Movements Studying revolutions at Phillips Academy Andover
Hooked on History From paleontology to conservation science, four graduate students share their research
This is History My summer at Crow Canyon
The Benefits of Majoring in History
Making History My journey to the inaugural International History Olympiad
Historians in Training The Concord Review Summer Program
The Ultimate Game
In My Own Footsteps Putting my choreography in the spotlight
Selected Opportunities and Resources
Off the Shelf Review of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby
Word Wise
Exploring Career Options Interview with archaeologist Inna Moore
One Step Ahead Be your own priority
Planning Ahead for College Choosing the best college for your major
Students Review: University of Washington
Mark Your Calendar
Knossos Games

Imagine Magazine - Johns Hopkins - November/December 2015