Deciding My Major and Pre-Health Advising

As a current sophomore at Scripps, I am declaring my major soon! Because we do not have to apply for our majors, a lot of students are undecided when coming to Scripps, and it’s a great opportunity to be able to take classes that you’re truly interested in. The core program here at Scripps is also another great way to discover different disciplines. In Core I, which everyone takes their first semester, students listen to several different lectures from faculty in different disciplines. In my year, we got to hear how truth was represented in art, dance, data science, and many more. It was a nice introduction to the different programs here at Scripps and helped me see how interdisciplinary academics are here at Scripps.

As a first year, I really did not know what I wanted to major in, only knowing I wanted to study something in STEM. Pursuing science led me to the Keck Science Department, which is the shared science department between Scripps, Pitzer, and Claremont Mckenna. I’ve taken all my science classes through Keck and really enjoyed the concepts and applications of my biology class the most, which led me to my decision to major in biology. I considered many different majors such as biophysics or molecular biology, but ultimately decided on biology. I’m also able to pursue the data science minor at Scripps, as I really enjoy math and coding. In addition to deciding my academic major and minor, I’m also on the pre-med track, which has influenced the trajectory of my academic journey.

Pre-health advising at Scripps has been a great experience for me. I meet with the pre-health advisor about once or twice a semester to discuss things like classes to take or ask any questions I have. There’s also a newsletter each week that shares various opportunities for students pursuing pre-health. There’s no pre-health major here at Scripps or through the Keck Science Department, so I’m able to major in anything I want! I ultimately decided on a biology major because it aligns with a lot of courses I have to take for pre-med, and I’m still able to choose a lot of biology electives that are interesting to me! It has been really simple for me to decide what classes I need to take because of how supportive pre-health advising is. As a first year, I was able to immediately hear from the pre-health adviser who recommended to take General Chemistry and Introductory Biology, and it was how I discovered I really enjoyed biology. Though I did not know what I wanted to study as a first year, I couldn’t be more excited to start taking upper division biology classes and pursue the opportunities that come with it!

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