Choosing a Concentration 101
March 15 and 22, 2004

Wednesday, March 24, from 11:00-3:00 in the Michigan Union Ballroom is the annual Concentration Fair. Almost all the LSA Departments and Programs will be represented there making it a terrific opportunity check out possible concentrations.

How do people choose concentrations? Some students just seem to know even before they begin school what they’ll concentrate in. For most students, however, finding a concentration can be challenging, even a bewildering process. Here are some suggestions for systematizing the process:

• Ask yourself at least five questions:
  
  1. What are your interests?
  2. What are your abilities?
  3. What are your values?
  4. What is your motivation?
  5. What are the realities (about you and the concentration)?
     (from the Division of Undergraduate Studies, Office of the Vice Provost and Dean for Undergraduate Education, The Pennsylvania State University)
     
• Consult the LSA Bulletin for
  
  1. General information regarding concentrations and careers,
  2. Concentration requirements,
  3. Brief course descriptions,
  4. Department addresses and phone numbers.
     
• Do informal and formal concentration “interviews”: Ask friends, acquaintances, relatives, advisors, professors, alums, etc.
  
  1. How did you choose your concentration?
  2. What do (did) you like best about your concentration?
  3. What do (did) like least?
  4. What are you or will you do with your concentration?
     
• Use the available resources.
  
  1. LS&A Departments
     a. Websites ( www.lsa.umich.edu/lsa/depts/ )
     b. Concentration advisors
     c. Pamphlets, etc.
  2. Career Planning and Placement (http://www.cpp.umich.edu/):
     assessment tests and counseling
  3. LS&A Academic Advisors, 1255 Angell Hall, 764-0332
  4. The Concentration Fair--Wednesday, March 24th, 11:00-3:00, Michigan Union Ballroom.
     
• Keep in mind that
  
  1. A concentration isn’t a career: you don’t have to be a historian if you’re a history concentrator, a philosopher if you’re a philosophy concentrator, a chemist if you concentrate in chemistry....
  2. To employers, grad schools, etc., how well you do matters more than what your concentrate is;
  3. To employers, grad schools, etc., why you chose a concentration matters more than what your concentration is;
  4. You can always change your mind;
  5. You should declare a concentration no latter than the second semester of your sophomore year.