Choosing a College Major

Last week in The New York Times, an article about going to med school without having taken MCATs or even having taken science courses caught my eye.  I referred to it in my blog for high school students at www.askjohnaboutcollege.com.

The Mount Sinai Medical School program has a small number of reserved spaces for college graduates with degrees in the humanities or social sciences, with the idea that the very bright folks whom they admit will get their science there in medical school.  I mean, those guys still have to pass medical school, so there's not much worry that they won't be qualified doctors.  Instead, the idea is that people who majored in the humanities or social sciences before going to med school might be more mission-focused and more people-oriented.  Anyway, it's an interesting way to think about what has forever been a very traditional approach to medicine.

It got me thinking, though, that a lot of what we do as adults is often not related to what we study at the undergraduate level.  Obviously, there are exceptions in very specific areas, but the reason that many people are successful in their careers isn't so much because of what they studied in college, but who they are and what they learned.  And no matter what our kids decide to choose as a major, what we should hope that they learn is this:  how to ask questions, how to analyze critical data, how to interact with others intellectually, and how to present their ideas to the world.  If they learn that, then our kids will be successful in careers that don't even exist yet.

I'm going to survey some people I know to see whose careers are directly connected to their undergraduate majors and whose aren't.  I'd love to include you, too. Anonymously, of course.

The whole point of this line of thinking, however, is that as adults we need to encourage kids to be open about what subjects they think they might tackle in college.  Soon enough, everyone will be asking them,  "Hey, kid, what's your major?" For now, anyway, Undecided is a terrific option.

I'll post the informal survey results in the next blog entry.  Remember, you can email me questions whenever you like:  askjohnaboutcollege@gmail.com.

Thanks.