Flexibility in your Major

A Penn education is truly interdisciplinary, allowing students to explore a multitude of interests across a variety of disciplines. One of the ways that Penn accomplishes this is through concentrations within your major. In addition to taking the same core classes as all of the other majors in that subject area, you get to specialize in a topic that may not even be directly related to you major.

For example, I am doing a Business & Technology Concentration within the physics major. In addition to taking the same 12 classes as the other physics majors, I get to take 4 business classes and 1 computer science class. Even though my home school is the College, I can take a computer science class in the Engineering school and business classes in the Wharton school, and they all count towards my major in the College! There are also concentrations in chemistry, computer science, astrophysics, and biology.

A popular major here at Penn is Philosophy, Politics and Economics (common referred to as PPE – we love abbreviations!). If the fact that this major encompasses three fields wasn’t enough for you, if offers concentrations in choice and behavior, globalization, public policy and governance, distributive justice, and ethics and the professions. These concentrations allow you to further explore your interests across different fields and subject areas. For example, the choice and behavior concentration can include courses from the finance, marketing, legal studies, math, communications, statistics, and linguistic departments – plus other ones!

Perhaps one of the most customizable majors is the English Major. With 20 different concentrations, you’re sure to find one that strikes your fancy (and if you don’t, there is also the option for an individualized concentration). Furthermore, the English department has 4 foci, which are topics that are not yet concentrations but may become ones if there is student interest.

The big takeaway is that there is a lot of flexibility in using your major to explore the topics that are interesting to you!

-Nathan S, C'19