Who would choose a special major?
"If you want to major in something at Principia that they don't offer a program in, you can develop your own major if you do the research," says a recent graduate who created a major in women's studies. "A special major is a major that a student puts together primarily from courses that are on campus with a subject or title that might be found at another school," says a professor. "I think one of the appealing things is that a student might have a particular interest, an avocation, in an area — for instance, photography. But they also like the idea of the liberal arts, and they like the idea of coming to Principia because of the issues having to do with character education and Christian Science." A recent graduate who created a major in advertising says she chose the special major option because she "knew that probably the best way for me to be an artist would be in the advertising field. So that's how I approached it." Another recent graduate adds, "I was studying environmental science, but I was also really interested in history. And I found out about this discipline that was coming up in the ranks, environmental history. It was mostly taught at the graduate level, so no one had really done an undergraduate program in it yet."

Taking responsibility for your own education
"I think one of the most important things is that the students engage right away, they're more committed. They've invested so much time and thought into the philosophy of why they're doing it," says a professor. "One thing creating your own major does, at least for me," says a recent graduate, "is to make you take your education pretty seriously. Because if you design quite a few of the courses, you're usually going to give yourself more work than a professor would because you want to learn that much more. It gave me an expertise when I came out that I probably wouldn't have had otherwise. It gave me an edge. . . ." The recent graduate who majored in advertising says, "It was not the easiest adventure, but I felt like I was getting a lot of attention, and people were listening to what my needs were. I felt that was really supportive. I learned a lot of other things from going through the process, too. I think it forced me to put a different kind of effort into school than I had ever planned on." One student, who decided on a special major in philosophy before it became a regular major, says, "A special major enables you to dig deeper into your interests, even if the school doesn't quite have all the teachers or facilities for it yet, you're still able to do it by yourself. I think that in itself is an educational process where you learn to do things a lot more on your own." He adds, "You really have to think through what you want to do and make sure that your objectives are clear."

The challenges of a special major
"The most demanding thing initially," says a professor, "is that the student has to put it together. . . . He or she needs to consider 'Why am I doing this? What do I hope to gain from it?' It isn't just a matter of signing up and saying, 'Gosh, I'd like to do this. Now tell me what I'm supposed to do.'" A transfer student from Cal Poly, Pomona, chose to create a special major in architectural history. In the research of three programs in the field he wanted to study (a requirement of all special majors), he discovered that only two other schools in the U.S. even had such a program. He says, "Because the three samples of curriculum that I obtained were so different, it really required quite a bit of analysis on my part to see where the similarities were and how it could be worked into my program." A senior says the challenge has been the "ambiguity" of it all, but notes that a one quarter hour seminar in the subject of ambiguity has been established to help special majors deal with that challenge. Sometimes the challenge comes in scheduling coursework that cannot be completed at Principia. With a little effort, arrangements can be made, however. A special studies major who chose to focus on Asian studies, for example, is planning to take a summer course in Chinese at UCLA to fulfill one of his special major requirements.

The Special Studies special major option
A special studies professor elaborates: "A special major has all the graduation requirements intact, requirements that stand for every other student, and it involves putting together the special major. Special Studies is making up your own college curriculum. You have to put together and justify all of the courses you take — the major courses, the courses you're taking as a core educational experience. It is totally open to organize your entire philosophy of education and why you're putting together the courses that you are." A senior says that her earlier studies in political science and world perspectives led her to create a special studies major in social ecology. She says, "I got very involved in studying sustainable development, which has to do with population issues and agricultural issues, biology and forestry issues, birth control, women's rights, all that stuff. And I began to feel like my classes weren't fulfilling my academic interest." She adds, "In special studies, your entire curriculum goes toward your major. The whole idea of special studies is very interdisciplinary. You pull from every department and create your curriculum through all your experiences and all your classes. It's been exciting to have freedom to study what I wanted and when I wanted, to make the connections the way I felt that I could make them and needed to make them."

Impact on life after graduation
By the time one philosophy special major was a senior, philosophy had become listed in the regular offerings of majors. He says, "I think that more of an interest in philosophy has pushed it to have a department of its own." The graduate who created a special major in women's studies created the women's studies minor program that now exists at Principia as her capstone project. She then went on to study women's studies in graduate school at Ohio State University. The graduate who created a program of study in environmental history tells about what he's done since graduation five years ago: "I went directly to Washington, D.C., and did environmental research for a congressman, then worked in an environmental think-tank. I moved on from there to be an editor of an environmental magazine . . . and then left to form my own magazine that's published on the Web. . . . We just put out our first CD-ROM with a year's worth of issues on it."