By Brielle O’Brien ‘20
Staff Writer
Did you know that if Merrimack doesn’t have a major catered to your specific career goal, than you can actually just create one? This is perfect for people who are double majoring, because one specific major sometimes isn’t always entirely geared towards one’s career path. Merrimack actually allows you to build your own major from scratch by combining courses that the school offers. However, you must then get approval from the head of all departments first, and lastly, the Dean of Students. In talking to freshman, Mairead Lyons, about her future career goals, my eyes were opened to a whole new opportunity. “I had the complete opposite problem from most freshmen” started Mairead. “Most freshmen go into college not knowing what they want to do with their lives and have no direction; I knew exactly what I wanted my career to be, but the majors that they offered just didn’t specifically correlate with that.”
Mairead went on to say how easy the process has been, and the guidance that she has received so far has been overwhelmingly helpful. “Once I knew what direction I was going in, it was a breeze,” Mairead started. “Basically I started off analyzing the majors and minors that they did offer here, and narrowing down which ones would be most beneficial to my career path. I think i’ve finally settled on ‘Politics of Women and Gender Studies.’ You have to start with two or more focuses, and combine them in your title so that the objective of the major is stated clearly. You then pick a minimum of nine courses and explain why they will help with your future goals and relate to the created major. After you’ve done that and explained how the major itself is going to further you toward your path, you just need to get finalized approval. I actually just finished my self-proposed plan so I can’t give you any insight on how that will go,” Mairead says laughing, “But so far my professors have been nothing but encouraging and helpful so I can only imagine that the rest of the process will just be smooth sailing.” The program allows you to pick whether the major is a BA or BS degree, and must be at least, but not limited to, 36 credits.
If you or someone you know may be interested in this specialized interdisciplinary program tailored to your specific academic needs than visit
http://www.merrimack.edu/academics/self_designed_major.php for more information.