Class Alliance helps undecided students at 'A Major Affair'

By Henry Sellers

1:19 p.m. Feb. 20 2007

On Monday afternoon, undeclared undergrads got an opportunity to learn more about Northwestern’s majors at “A Major Affair”, hosted by the Northwestern Class Alliance. While some students were expecting a presentation from 3 to 5 p.m., the title’s last syllable cleverly disclosed its career-fair format.

The event featured information on at least 32 majors, and had a steady flow of student participants. The fair demonstrated the diversity of study available at NU, with representatives from the Animate Arts adjunct major to the Chicago Field Studies program present. Some of Northwestern’s smaller departments had a particularly strong showing, including the Classics department and the Program in American Studies, both of which had costumes and themed tables. Newer and more esoteric departments were also represented, like the Weinberg branch of the Material Sciences major. An undeclared freshman or sophomore could find much of the information and advising he or she might need, with a few notable exceptions: Several major departments weren’t represented, leaving some students frustrated.

“I was really hoping to see anthropology, film, and creative writing,” said Medill freshman Jamie Chapin, referring to three popular programs that weren’t represented at the fair. In fact, the English department made no showing whatsoever. There were also a number of tables marked out for departments that had no representatives, which was almost worse than no showing at all.

The quality of representation varied between departments. While some programs had prominent professors and department heads as representatives, at least one had a freshman student worker who had not even declared the program as a minor or a major. The Program in American Studies had three enthusiastic seniors as representatives, who gave great advice and a unique perspective for the program, while the Classics department equaled the enthusiasm with three professors in costume and volumes of literature.

The event wasn’t just about majors, however. Dr. Theresa Horton, a professor in the Biological Sciences department, was promoting a minor in the Study of Evolutionary Processes, which she described as being especially beneficial for anyone interested in going into education. The Computer Science department also showed off a number of projects available to first year students, in addition to a 100-level class designed for non-majors.

Nate West, the event organizer and the Class of 2009 NCA chair, said he hopes to turn the fair into an annual event as a resource for undeclared students. West is himself an undeclared sophomore leaning towards Political Science. He admitted that it was a little more difficult getting the departments to participate that he had anticipated, but predicts that more departments will participate in the years to come.