As a liberal arts college, Lake Forest College offers a variety of majors and minors. Students have the ability to have a double major and a minor, or a major and a double minor, and still graduate on time.
For many intellectually curious students, however, the journey never ends, and they wish to study and explore a field which encompasses more than just a traditional major. Hence many dedicated students end up choosing a self-designed major along with independent study classes.
This program allows students to design academic majors of their own in which they get to set their own requirements apart from the requirement of a senior thesis or senior research project. In order to apply for the program, students must submit an application to the self- designed major committee, which consists of faculty who are in charge of approving self-designed majors and helping students design their curriculum for their respected self-designed majors.
To get a better perspective from individuals in the self-designed major program as well as the traditional major program, I interviewed a few students. “What I learn in the classes required from both of my majors is very applicable to the work world,” said Kendall Gibson ’18, an economics and Spanish double major. “Having a double major in diverse subjects really helps stand out when applying for jobs and internships.”
Fatima Hooda ’16 created a global health and policy major because she felt that her primary major, biology, did not include all of her interests. While studying abroad, she noticed in her classes and work a consistent interest in community and global development. Since then, she has worked with Professor Janet McCracken to develop the proposal, the classes, and then the capstone.
“I designed my major to the standards found at three other top-ranking institutions in the country,” Hooda said. “I absolutely loved the concept and enjoyed taking politics, IR (international relations), and other interdisciplinary classes as a part of my self-designed major.”
Hooda said she believes her choice of majors “will set me apart from other students” especially when applying to medical school. “It is another way to demonstrate that I like to pursue topics that I am passionate about and like to tackle challenging problems [and]crucial issues pertaining to our present world and the future,” she said. “Ultimately, I am hoping to continually educate myself in order to, hopefully, contribute to a sustainable solution.”
Camille Lemieux ’17, an applied linguistics and French double major, found the self-designed major program helpful because she was able to tie her interdisciplinary interests to a specific career.
Lemieux said the program helped her network with people outside Lake Forest College, because pursuing a self-designed major shows motivation and a determination to create what she wanted to study.
At the same time, Lemieux feels that one of the biggest drawbacks is that some people may not take the major seriously because when future employers hear the self-designed major title, they may not know the basic skill-set or knowledge base of the student.
I believe that the beauty of this college is that you have the ability to truly explore what you love and to pursue that field. With the self- designed major, you can explore almost any field. As a finance major and international relations minor myself, aside from my required classes, I have been taking a lot of random classes that simply interest me in politics, religion, and languages. I sense that there is a slight possibility that I might also be on track to designing my own major.
Be sure to visit the “Majors and Minors” page on the Lake Forest College website to find more information as well as the process and requirements for each program. Seeing your advisor is always a good solution while you are in the exploring stage, and talking to students in your field of interest and visiting the Career Advancement Center are other good ways to continue exploring.
