If you are a junior interested in the classics, you are a pretty awesome student — and this certainly didn’t come out of nowhere. Building an interest in the classics while in high school typically means that you’ve been exploring ancient Greek and Latin language, philosophy, and history beyond the standard coursework available at school. Maybe you are taking an elective focused on the classics, or maybe you’ve taken online courses on your own, or perhaps you’ve been reading and studying independently. Whatever the course, you’ve had to build the path yourself, and that is exciting.

A major in psychology is popular and practical from the perspective of having a clear career trajectory. The only option isn’t to become a therapist, though. Students who major in psychology go into everything from marketing to social work, to counseling, with many going on to graduate or medical school to achieve licensing. The first step is your undergraduate degree. There are strong psychology programs at most well-respected colleges and universities, but the Ivy League, UCLA, Stanford, Vanderbilt, Duke, and Rice are particularly famous for having outstanding psychology programs.

Economics is a popular major that offers a bridge between STEM and the humanities. To excel in economics, you need to be strong in math, including statistics, and in history. Critical thinking is a key part of the excelling in economics, and so when we work with our economics-minded students on an activity strategy for sophomore year, we know that developing and emphasizing critical thinking must be front and center.