On April 6, 516 students of the Class of 2027 declared their majors. These students declared their major through Workday, the software used for multiple college operations including course registration, transcripts and finances. After students choose their program of study on Workday, a notification is automatically sent to the Department Coordinator and Major Coordinator to assign each student a major advisor.
Registrar Theresa Rodriguez described how the process of declaring a major “has shifted from what was originally a paper-based system to an electronic system,” allowing for an “automated” and “instantaneous” process for most students.
Students must declare their major during their sixth term of enrollment, or the Spring Term of sophomore year. Minors can similarly be declared early during the sixth term of enrollment in the same process through which a major is declared. However, students can only declare a double major through a petition to the Academic Standing Committee, the declaration of one major during their sixth term and the approval of the chairs of the two departments.
“The only requirement for a student’s initial major declaration is that the student be considered a sixth term sophomore,” said Rodriguez. Students are not required to take specific courses before declaring a major or minor.
“The Carleton curriculum emphasizes exploration and interdisciplinary study, especially during a student’s first two years,” said Rodriguez. The Carleton liberal arts requirements ensure that students are exposed to a “wide range of subjects and methods of studying them,” according to the Carleton Academics website. While students must study one discipline in depth by declaring a major during their sophomore year, the Carleton curriculum requires students to explore different areas of study, including literature, art, science and mathematics, which can influence their major decision.
“It may be helpful to have taken courses in a department before declaring the major,” said Rodriguez, as previous courses can allow students to know if they are interested in the discipline and to gain and develop the relevant skills and knowledge for the major.
However, according to the Office of the Registrar, “requiring students to [take courses in their major] limits the room students have in their schedules” during their first and second years, which are considered an “exploratory period” for them to explore different interests they may have.
Additionally, the Registrar argues that if majors required specific courses before declaring, students would experience limitations in completing their liberal arts requirements, which would affect their graduation requirements, as all students must complete courses in all six curricular exploration areas.
Students must complete 210 credits to graduate with a Bachelor of Arts degree, but majors only require between 63 and 78 credits, allowing students to explore the curriculum and complete the necessary credits for graduation.
“Carleton is purposely giving you a lot of freedom in exploration and doing other stuff than your major,” said Yiming Ma ’27, a recently declared English major. “There aren’t requirements that restrict your choices. [If there were requirements], you might not discover some of the things that you would like.”
Some departments encourage students to begin their study of the discipline during their first year, while others recommend that students take specific courses before the end of their sophomore year if they declare the major. Additionally, some departments require students to take a number of credits in specific categories or topics within their major, generally including a foundational course, a methodology or theory course and often electives in relevant disciplines. For example, the sociology and anthropology department recommends that students take Introduction to Anthropology or Sociology before the end of their sophomore year, research methods and theory before the end of their junior year, and elective courses from Africana studies and gender women’s and sexuality studies, among other departments.
Students have the opportunity to change their major during their junior and senior year, although they must get approval from their advisor and the department chair of their new major beforehand.
During their sophomore year, students consider multiple factors when declaring their major and consult with multiple people and offices on campus to determine what major works best for them.
“I know a lot of friends who double major in one thing that they are actually interested in and then do the other major for something that’s more career-oriented,” saidMa, citing the “uncertainty” that some students feel when considering future job opportunities as an important factor for major declaration.
When students begin to plan their major declaration, they can reach out to their academic advisor, also known as liberal arts advisors for first-year and sophomore students. The Director of Advising tries to assign students to a faculty member with which they have a class during their first term, often the Argument & Inquiry seminar, which allows students and their advisors to foster a relationship that will aid the former in getting personalized advice for their eventual major declaration.
“Your academic advisor is aware of your academic history, interests, and strengths and can offer personalized support,” said Rodriguez.
However, the role that academic advisors play in students’ major declarations can be limited.
“I think that advisors should have a bigger role in terms of major planning, or at least in helping make that decision,” said Ma. “It would have been helpful if my advisor had helped me plan it out a bit more.”
Additionally, since academic advisors may not belong to the department or program that students are interested in, students can also reach out to the department chairs or program directors of their intended majors in order to receive specific information, especially for majors that require students to take courses in specific areas of study within the discipline.
Each major also has Student Departmental Advisors (SDAs), which are junior or senior majors who can offer tips and recommendations and hold weekly office hours for students who are interested in majoring in that discipline.