Designing Your Own Major at Barnard
I get asked all the time about designing my own major. Why I did it, how I did it, who helped me do it, you get the idea. A lot of folks have a lot of questions about this whole creating your own major thing, so let’s get into it.
What does my special major look like?
My special major is titled Computing, Design, and Pedagogy. It is a synthesis of my interests in computer science, design thinking, education, and psychology. In developing my required list of courses, I looked through the entire directory of courses offered between Barnard and Columbia, wrote down all the ones I thought seemed cool, and started building the courses for my major from there. If you’re curious about the details of my classes, here’s a few course titles: Data Structures in Java, Human-Centered Design and Innovation, User Interface Design, Psychology of Learning, and Gender, Sexuality, and School. My thesis project consists of developing my own computer science education course—CS in the City—modeled off of the Math in the City course taught through Barnard’s Education department. CS in the City will be offered at Barnard in Fall 2023!
Did I always want to create my own major?
In some ways yes, in some ways no. Technically speaking, I did not indicate anywhere on my college application that I intended to create my own major. In fact, I indicated that I wanted to major in astronomy! After I had already applied to Barnard, I started to become more invested in STEM education and making STEM a more inclusive place for women, girls, and all gender-marginalized identities. I committed to Barnard based on the belief that Barnard would be the best possible place for me to explore these developing interests. When asked at the end of my senior year of high school what my intended major was, I began to say “Women in STEM.” I had no idea what this meant at the time, but my plan was to get to Barnard and figure it out from there. I think there was always a part of me who knew that creating my own major was the right path for me.
Why did I create my own major?
As I mentioned, my interests began to evolve a lot post applying to college. I participated in Kode With Klossy—a nonprofit coding organization for marginalized gender identities—the summer before I started at Barnard. Kode With Klossy is what inspired my interests in computer science, as it was the first time I had ever been in such an encouraging, supportive, and women-centered STEAM learning environment. By the time I started at Barnard, I knew that I wanted to study computer science—and somehow combine CS with another discipline, but I didn’t quite know what. I took classes in tons of different departments—anthropology, economics, women’s, gender, and sexuality studies, etc—trying to nail down that other discipline. Barnard’s Foundations curriculum is super encouraging of this academic exploration! The Foundations curriculum enables students to take classes in a wide range of different academic disciplines, and through that many students discover whole new passions. In Fall of my sophomore year, I took an education class—Educational Foundations—and that’s when it clicked. I knew that education was the discipline I had been searching for. I began to tell people that I was a computer science major with a minor in education. The more I took my education class, the more I realized that education didn’t feel like a minor to me and that I wanted it to be a core part of my studies. The more I took my computer science classes, the more I recognized the problems in how computer science is traditionally taught. I became passionate about re-imagining how we teach and learn computer science—along with STEM disciplines at large—and became obsessed with pedagogy, the study of teaching. I realized that my academic interests were far beyond what I could accomplish from being a computer science major with a minor in education and decided to embark on the journey of forging my own academic path.
What was the process of creating my own major like?
I’m going to be honest: creating my own major was not easy. I dropped out of one of my computer science classes in order to focus on developing my major. I treated this process almost like it was its own class. I decided that I wanted to create my own major in the beginning of October of my sophomore year. I spent two months working on my major proposal, meeting with tons of different professors/people/anyone I thought could provide guidance with the direction of my major. I talked with professors in Education, professors in Computer Science, class deans, mentors, supervisors, trusted professionals outside of Barnard, friends, parents of friends, my dad, other family members, the list goes on. In all of these conversations—and especially the ones with professors in Education and Computer Science at Barnard, I sought advice and was open to feedback while always remembering to stay true to my academic vision. Slowly my major evolved, and before the end of my sophomore Fall I finally had a finished proposal.
What did I include in my major proposal?
Stated the title of my major
Explained why my academic interests couldn’t be established within a departmental major
Described my rationale behind my proposed major, explaining why my major was important to me
Developed a proposed list of courses for my major, including a total of 17 classes
Noted the credits, intended term of completion, description of every course on my proposed list, and rationale behind why each course made sense to include in my major
Proposed a broad description of my senior thesis project and who would advise it
Listed my major advisors and why I elected to have a major advisor from both Barnard’s CS department and Education department
Included statements of support on my major from my CS advisor, Education advisor, Departmental Chair of CS, Departmental Chair of Education, and Class Dean
After I finished my proposal, I submitted it for review by CPAS, otherwise known as the Committee on Programs and Academic Standing. CPAS is made up of six Barnard faculty members, the Dean of the College, the Registrar, and the Dean for Academic Planning and Class Advising. I was warned of the possibility that my major wouldn’t be approved at all or at least wouldn’t be approved on the first submission. My proposal was quite lengthy and my class dean even told me that it was one of the most thorough proposals she had ever seen, so I was hopeful that my major would be approved eventually. And it was! On the first round of submission, too! I received an email from the CPAS committee in early February of my sophomore year—4 months after I originally embarked on the journey of developing my own major and 2 months after I submitted my proposal—that my major had been approved. It was one of the best moments in my Barnard academic career.
Should you create your own major?
It depends! Creating my own major was a huge time investment. As I said, I basically treated the whole process as a class in and of itself. And it was really difficult at times. I felt like I was navigating a completely unfamiliar terrain. Choosing to create your own major is a path you should take if you feel like there is simply no way to pursue your academic interests in their fullest integrity through established departmental majors and minors. There are many ways of crafting an educational experience that is authentic to your interests without needing to create your own major. There are also other options for forging your own path at Barnard, such as pursuing a double major, combined major, or a special concentration. If you’re thinking about whether creating your own major is the right path for you, I recommend speaking with your pre-major advisor or another Barnard mentor with whom you have a relationship. I decided that creating my own major was the right path for me after a spontaneous 5-hour conversation I found myself in with the supervisor of one of my jobs at Barnard, STEAM in the City. After leaving this conversation, I emailed my pre-major advisor at 10 PM (on a Friday) with the subject line, “SEV!!! LIFE UPDATE IN NEED OF YOUR ADVISING.” I am not necessarily recommending you do that, but talking to people who know Barnard extremely well, have worked with other students, and are there to guide you throughout your time at Barnard are definitely the people you want looped in on these conversations. The last piece of advice I’ll leave you with: College is a once in a lifetime opportunity, and for many students a huge financial investment. It’s on you to make the most of your time here and use every opportunity and resource available. If you’ve toyed with the idea of majoring in X, Y, and Z and nothing seems to be clicking—but you have a set of interdisciplinary interests that you know you can pursue through a range of different departments and programs, maybe it’s time you send that email to your advisor.
-Izzy Lapidus ‘24