学术探索
Don’t rush into a major when you have time to explore
的 文理学院 and 科学 at Alfred University has over thirty majors. What if you're not sure which one (or ones) you want to pursue yet? 那你就来对地方了!
也许更好的问题是“为什么不探索呢??“通过你的通识教育课程, you will learn about a variety of majors and careers, 其中一些你可能还不知道. What you are really doing through this process is exploring yourself. 你觉得什么样的活动很充实? 你认为你的人生目标是什么? Exploring options for your future is just the process of discovering what you want to get out of life and what way of making a living will help you achieve that larger purpose.
在那里 are lots of ways to explore your options and to learn about majors (and careers):
- Your general education classes will introduce you to various fields and help you find your strengths and interests.
- Conversations with your teachers and classmates will clue you into different career paths.
- 的 职业发展中心 has resources for you to learn what web developers or actuarial scientists or hydrologists or public policy analysts (or people in lots of other careers) do.
- Attending career fairs or panels about different professions will provide you even more information (and probably some good connections, ).
- An internship after your first year of college can expose you to the work world in a career you have started to consider.
Remember that you are not falling behind as you are exploring: the CLAS curriculum is designed so that most of your classes in those first several semesters satisfy one of the 一般教育要求. That means you are moving toward graduation each semester even as you think about which major you would like to declare.
为所有学术探索者提供教师建议
的 main thing faculty advisors can do is help you explore. Students who are Academic Explorers have a faculty advisor who has been trained to help you choose classes that can teach you about a particular major. 的y can suggest good classes for students who are weighing their options. 在那里 are a few majors that want you to get started early; your faculty advisor knows which ones those are and can give you a heads up if you want to keep a particular option open.
为一年级学术探索者提供额外指导
We list lots of ways to explore majors and careers above, but some of those things might be intimidating or confusing when you start your college career. If you are a first-year student entering Alfred as an Academic Explorer, we'll help you get the most out of your exploration by connecting you with graduate student mentors. Through individual mentoring sessions and group workshops, these graduate students (who have recently been through the college experience themselves) will help you through the process of self-reflection, connect you to resources available at Alfred University, and assist you in matching your interests to a major.
Students who have declared a major can switch to 学术探索! Many students realize after a semester or two that the major they originally declared is not for them. If you are experiencing that, you should take a little time to explore! 填写 这种形式 and declare 学术探索 to replace your current major. Later, once you have discovered your real interest, you can fill out 同样的形式 to declare your new major (or double major) officially.
在那里 is a dedicated webpage for each of our majors where you can learn about:
- 该专业开设的课程
- 获得该专业的要求
- 可以从该研究领域中获得的职业
Keep in mind that a liberal education is designed to prepare you to grow and learn even after graduation. Many of our graduates use the fundamental skills they’ve learned in their CLAS classes to go into a field that’s different from their major. That kind of flexibility is not an accident: it’s one of the key features of a strong liberal education.
