You have a passion for something, but you aren’t sure whether there’s a major for that. We’re in an exciting, evolving time now where, depending on where you choose to study, you can kind of go your own way. There are tons of weird, but cool—and real—majors out there for you to explore and extend what drives you. So pick your passion, follow your bliss, and major in something that matters to you.
Here are 10 of the weirdest and the coolest ones we’ve found.
1. Adventure Ed
If you go to Plymouth State University in New Hampshire, you can take courses in Rock Climbing, Canoe Paddling, Wilderness Expedition, etc. in preparation to help teach kids, adults, at-risk populations, and yourself to have challenging experiences in the great outdoors. Your job prospects include working for outdoor education at state or national parks, or even outdoor adventure programs the world over.
2. Bagpiping
Show your Scottish roots—at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, you can major in Bagpipe Performance. The major has been around for 75 years.
3. Canadian Studies
At Duke University in North Carolina, it’s not all about American Studies. You can study the literature, politics, and culture of the giant country to the north—regardless of whether or not you hail from there. Learn, in-depth, about our neighbors!
4. Auctioneering
Think you’d make a great auctioneer? If you go to Harrisburg Area Community College in Pennsylvania and study things like Audience Communications, Auctioneering Law, Procurement and Appraisal of Merchandise, and Preparations for the Auction, you’ll prep yourself for a very specific career. Job prospects: obvious!
5. The Beatles
No, really. At Liverpool Hope University in the UK, you can “examine the significance of the music of The Beatles in the construction of identities, audiences, ethnicities and industries, and localities.” Job prospects: Beatles historian (yes, apparently that is a thing) or Popular Music Studies specialist.
6. Citrus
If you go to Florida Southern University, where citrus farming is key, you can learn all you need to know about planting, irrigating, weed managing, pruning, fertilizing, pest controlling, and all other general citrus tree managing. Job prospects are surprisingly numerous: work for large citrus production companies, grove service companies, agricultural cooperatives, juice processing plants, agrochemical and fertilizer companies, or at citrus research facilities.
7. Comic Art
Comic arts are a real art these days. Study History, Concepts, Storytelling, Print & Web Publishing, Composition, Character Development, etc. at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, then take a job at comic studios as a cartoonist, illustrator or author or in comic book art production.
8. Egyptology
Love mummies? At Brown University in Rhode Island, you can prepare yourself for a career as an Egyptologist, historian, or specialized archaeologist by studying all things Ancient Egyptian and Mesopotamian.
9. Farrier Science
Learn how to shoe horses at Mesalands Community College in New Mexico. Enjoy courses such as Equine Anatomy and Physiology, Horseshoeing Theory, Blacksmithing, then find yourself your dream career as a self-employed farrier, or work in equine or agricultural industries.
10. Pop Culture
Are you that person who knows everything about pop culture and doesn’t really care much about anything else? There’s a degree for you at Bowling Green State University in Ohio. Your course load would include things like Intro to Popular Culture or Popular Culture and Media, Black Popular Culture, Television as Popular Culture, Folklife and Material Culture, and History of Popular Literature. And a wide variety of careers might be open to you, including positions in advertising, public relations, journalism, mass media (management, performance, production and marketing), teaching, library and museum work. It never hurts to be a well-rounded person who knows a ton about what’s going on around you.
