UNDERGRADUATE STUDIES

Undecided about a major or questioning your current one?

Some resources to consider....

Many times, second year students are not sure what they want to study and need more help in exploring options, or if they have chosen a major, are re-thinking their decisions. It is very common for students’ interests to change between high school and college and even after they have completed their first year of college.

If you are really unsure of or questioning any major, below are some resources you can look at to help you explore some options.

The Career Center

The Career Center offers two standardized self assessment instruments which can help you in choosing a major. The Strong Interest Inventory is designed to specifically assist college students in understanding their interests and the typical majors associated with these. The second instrument, the Myers Briggs Type Indicator, provides students with an understanding of their preferred learning styles as well as college majors which are popular for given learning styles.

In addition, the Career Center also has a Resource Library where you can learn about different occupations and the types of training and background required for these. Many of these resources you can find on line. For example, if you have a major in mind, but you are not sure what you could do with it, The what can I do with a major in…link provides information on careers typically linked to certain majors. The Occupational Outlook Handbook is a nationally recognized source of career information, designed to provide valuable assistance to individuals making decisions about their future work lives. Revised every two years, the Handbook describes what workers do on the job, working conditions, the training and education needed, earnings, and expected job prospects in a wide range of occupations. These helpful sites, as well as many more, can be found on the Career Center’s web site.

If you would like help in choosing a major, please contact the Career Center (tel. 368-4446 or email at careers@case.edu) in order to schedule an appointment with a Career Specialist. The Center is open during the summer.

Faculty web sites

These web sites are excellent places to see what kind of research and interests our faculty have. You can get a feel for some of the different “sub-specialties” if you will, within a certain area and may find something that really interests you. For example, you think you may be interested in psychology but are not sure what you would do in that area. Our faculty have research interests in individual differences (difference between people), social processes (how people relate to each other), development and aging (how people develop across a life span), to name but a few. Their sites may reference journal articles they have written or research they are conducting. If you find something that interests you, read up on some of their research then contact and tell them you have read their papers and are interested in what they are doing and would like to make an appointment to talk with them. Faculty enjoy talking about their interests and research. Visiting the web sites of the departments and faculty can be extremely helpful.

Interested in business or accounting?

If you are interested in pursuing a business degree, or finding out more about the classes and majors offered through the Weatherhead School of Management, Jim Hurley, Assistant Dean in the Weatherhead School of Management, is on campus all summer and would be happy to talk with you about your interests and the opportunities in Weatherhead. You can contact him at 216-368-3856 or via email at jxh12@case.edu.

Engineering or Science...how about both?

Do you find yourself stuck in the middle ground of wanting to be an engineer, but you find yourself not being quite "hard core engineer" enough? Macromolecular Science and Engineering may be a really good intermediate opportunity for you, half engineer and half scientist. That is just one option. There are a few engineering programs that combine science and engineering. If you are interested in finding out more about them, you should contact the academic representative from that department.

Prof. Schiraldi from Macromolecular Science will be on campus all summer and would be happy to speak with anyone interested in macromolecular science. You can reach him via email or by phone at 368-4243.

Meet with the Second Year Dean

I will be on campus all summer. If you would like to schedule an appointment to come in and talk, please call 216-368-2928. If you are not in Cleveland for the summer, and would like to talk with me to get some ideas on classes, majors, etc., I would happy to schedule a phone appointment with you. Again, call 216-368-2928 to schedule an appointment.

In addition to talking about classes and options, we can do what is called a “What if DPR.” If you are not familiar with your DPR, it lists the classes that you have taken and breaks them down into categories of SAGES or General Education Requirements, major requirements, minor requirements, etc., and shows you which classes fulfill which requirements. However, until you declare a major, your DPR can really only provide you with a list of the classes that you have taken. It cannot assign them to a major, since it does not know what major that will be. You can look at a sample DPR here.

With a “What If DPR”, you can choose a major and/or minor that may interest you and we can then run a report and see how your classes fit into that major or minor. We can then get a better idea of what classes you still need to take and how your current completed courses (and AP credit, etc.) fit into that major. Many times students think “I took all of these engineering courses and I now I do not want to do engineering and none of my classes will count towards another degree” (or vice versa). This is not always true. A “What if DPR” can realign all of your courses into whatever new major(s) you are thinking about. You will be amazed at how many classes can be counted in different areas and degrees.