Going into college I knew that I wanted to major in Environmental Analysis, in fact it was one of the things that I looked for during my college search, that the colleges I applied to had to have some sort of environmental major. When I came to Scripps, I realized that if I wanted to major in Environmental Analysis on a non-science track, I would have to do so via Pitzer or Pomona. This initially scared me because I was not sure of what all I would have to do in order to major at another college and whether it was going to be easy. I began taking EA courses my second semester of first year and compared the major requirements both at Pitzer and Pomona and figured out what I thought was best for me.
Initially I thought I wanted to major at Pitzer because they offer a policy track and it is what I was interested in at the time, however during my sophomore year I had the pleasure of taking a class with Char Miller at Pomona and I really enjoyed having him as a professor so I asked him if he would be willing to be my major advisor which he kindly agreed to. In terms of declaring my major, it was as easy as declaring my other major, Foreign Languages, which is a Scripps major. Some majors off campus are harder to get into simply because there is a high demand of student from that college to major in it so they must give preference to their students. For the most part though, it is very easy to major at another college, the most important part is finding a professor who is willing to be your major advisor as well as staying in contact with your Scripps Academic Advisor to make sure you are completing all your Scripps requirements aside from your major ones.
I always encourage prospective students to go online and look at the majors offered at all the colleges and their class requirements so they can get a better idea of what their degree would look like and whether it is what you had in mind of doing. I think a lot of students are scared of majoring at another college because they are scared of the process, or of it being difficult, but speaking from personal experience, I can confirm that it is just was easy to major off campus as it is at Scripps. All you need to do is conduct the necessary research beforehand and make sure you are looking for a major advisor that you feel connected with.
I think the advantage of being able to major at another 5C is the ability to choose what type of college experience you are looking for without having to sacrifice a major you are interested in doing… it’s the best of both worlds! I am able to enjoy and appreciate my historically women’s college experience while still pursuing a degree I am passionate about.