INSTRUCTOR FACING SECTION

Assignment Overview

In Guided Explorations, students read short narratives by professionals who reflect on their career trajectory given their academic choices and experiences in college. Texts might also include critically-minded journalism about the job market, data visualizations, or short narratives about the experience of working in a field or profession. The purpose of this assignment is to prod students to think about connections between their major coursework and possible professional paths, from internships and fellowships to post-baccalaureate career and academic opportunities. 

Purpose/Goals/Milestones

This specific assignment asks students to reflect on their choice of college major as well as the concept and utility of a major in general. It prods students to think about what skills the courses within their major might help them develop. Further, it pushes students to reconsider the conventional logic that one’s major automatically leads to a certain kind of job or profession, and instead asks them to think about the intrinsic value of major courses and their academic content. 

Materials

Texts: 

1. Why your college major doesn’t dictate your career path

2. Your College Major May Not Be As Important As You Think

Assessment Strategy

In this assignment, student learning is assessed qualitatively through a thought piece that each student will write. In assessing the student’s work, instructors will consider:

• Thoughtfulness about and fidelity to the content of the required readings for the assignment
• Student’s reflectiveness about personal trajectory and choices made
• Student’s willingness to think critically and in a nuanced way about the purpose of a college major and, in general, college 
• Originality of voice in the student’s written composition
• Student’s ability to connect the content of the readings to their own life, goals and experience in college
• Student’s openness to uncertainty and willingness to voice questions or dilemmas, rather than simply stating conclusions and arriving at firm answers
• Clarity and organization of the thought piece

STUDENT FACING SECTION

Assignment Description

Instructions: Write a thought piece of 2-3 pages, double-spaced, in which you reflect on your choice of college major. In the piece, you should connect the arguments and insights made in the two readings (below) to your own thought process and trajectory as a college student who will one day take up professional work. In the thought piece, you might address the following questions: 

• Why are you in your major and what are you learning to do? 
• What caused you to choose your major in the first place? Have your reasons for being in this major changed at all?
• What academic skills are you developing in your major coursework, and what are some ways you could imagine using those skills in a professional environment?
• What majors seem most popular, and which are less popular? Why do you think this is?
• How do the authors of the two pieces confirm or complicate your current understanding of the purpose of a college major? 

Required Texts

1. Why your college major doesn’t dictate your career path

2. Your College Major May Not Be As Important As You Think

How This Assignment Will Be Assessed

Your thought piece will be read by the instructor, who will provide written feedback either alongside the text or afterwards (or both). Students will be given a grade for the assignment based on the following qualitative criteria:

• In your thought piece, have you represented the two required texts accurately in the way you’ve written about them?
• Have you not only maintained fidelity to the text, but also built on the arguments made in the texts through your own personal reflection?
• Have you reflected on your personal trajectory and the choices you’ve made about your major?
• Have you demonstrated a willingness to think critically and in a nuanced way about the purpose of a college major and, in general, college?
• Have you written this composition in your own original and unique voice?
• Have you connected the content of the readings to your own life, goals and experience in college?
• Have you written the piece in a way that is clear and well organized?
• Have you asked questions and demonstrated an openness to uncertainty or further personal development in your writing?