To Take a Class Outside Your Major......

Most colleges have required classes that you have to take (also known as general education classes).  These usually range from science classes to history classes to the arts and sometimes even technology classes.  For my freshman year of college, I went to a liberal arts college which required us to take an insane amount of these types of classes (note that if you transfer to another college, some of these might not transfer, as I quickly learned).  While some of these classes were boring, most of them were actually interesting to take and I even learned some new things!  Since it is close to the time to go back to school, I figured I would give my reasons for taking classes outside of your major, even if your school does not require it.

1.  You might find your major or a new major.  Yes, this sounds crazy, but it can actually happen!  If you are an undeclared major, taking a variety of classes can be beneficial for you, because it can help you decide what you might want to do with your life.  You can find out what you find interesting and what bores you (let’s be honest, this will be a major that you stick with for four years and a career that will be with you for a long time, so you don’t need to be bored).  This can also be a good idea if you are looking for a new major or a major to go along with your current one.  Regardless, you can’t go wrong with taking classes outside of your major!

2.  You might find a new hobby.  During my freshman year of college, I took a photography class.  Now, this wasn’t digital photography in that you take a picture and print it out and you’re done.  Oh no, this was old school photography with film and light levels and development in the darkroom.  While all of this intimidated me, I ended up loving it!  Even though I don’t do this type of photography now (it’s kinda hard to put together a dark room), I still do photography on my phone and camera.  I rediscovered my love of photography through this class!  If you have to take a class outside of your major, and I know that it can be challenging, but you may discover a new hobby from it!

3.  You might learn something that will help you in your major.  I had to take a psychology class for gen. ed. and while it filled me with dread at first, it ended up being beneficial as now I am in a child psychology class for my family studies minor and a lot of the things that we are learning in that class I already learned from my freshman psychology class.  This can be the case with a lot of different classes; it’s up to you to do the learning! 

I hope that this has convinced you to give classes outside of your major a chance!  Let me know if your college requires this, and if so what your favorite class has been!  If your college does not do this, let me know if you have taken classes outside of your major!  Thank you so much for reading this article!