Most Health Administration curriculums combine a liberal arts background with management theory and the practical skills involved in planning and delivering health services. If you major in Health Administration, you’ll take courses in management, health care administration, epidemiology, health law, and health finance and economics. You’ll learn how to manage the finances of huge organizations, how to deal with personnel, and how to interpret and comply with the maze of laws that effect health care providers, administrators, and organizations. It’s a good bet that you’ll participate in an internship or some other kind of professional field experience as well, so as to build your professional credentials. Upon graduation, you’ll be prepared for entry-level management positions in hospitals, clinics nursing homes, mental health organizations, insurance companies, public agencies, and many other types of health care organizations. A lot of schools offer health administration as a master’s or doctoral program only, which means that you must get an undergraduate degree first before you can actually specialize in the field. It’s a pretty good idea to plan on ultimately obtaining a graduate degree, anyway, though, because you’ll make a lot more money and you’ll probably find significantly more employment opportunities.

Preparation

What you want to do is develop a strong background in mathematics and written and oral communication. If you are thinking about majoring in Health Administration, take courses in English, math, and science, as well as a business law course or two.

The general issues dealt with in Hispanic-American, Puerto Rican, and Chicano studies remain similar, whether the people you’re studying are native to (or descendents of people) from Mexico, Puerto Rico, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, or another Latin American country. And though all have dealt in some way with the problems of identity, race, national recognition, and changing culture, each of these nationalities has had distinctive experiences in their own countries and in the United States. In this major (or one subset of it—not all schools group them together as we’ve done here), you’ll learn how Hispanic, Puerto Rican, and Chicano cultures have affected and been affected by American culture, and how those effects have been viewed by society throughout the nations’ histories. You’ll study the diverse challenges these groups have encountered in the past and the problems they’re facing today, including economic and political discrimination. You’ll study the constantly evolving roles of Hispanic, Puerto Rican, and Chicano women—and the men, children, and families to which they belong. And you’ll learn about the substantial artistic and literary contributions each of these groups has made. Throughout your studies, you’ll gain exposure to Hispanic, Puerto Rican, and Chicano art, language, music, politics, psychology, and literature. You’ll begin to form ideas of what it means to identify oneself as “Hispanic-American,” “Puerto Rican,” or “Chicano,” and how the relationship between identity and race has evolved. This major will give you the opportunity to become knowledgeable in many different fields, including political science, English, women’s studies, psychology, sociology, history, and others. Hispanics recently became the largest minority of the American population, so learning about the past, present, and future of these different cultures makes more sense every day.
You do know Spanish, don’t you? Start now if not. Chances are your career may at some point involve working with these unique populations, either directly or indirectly. And it is difficult to understand any culture before you understand its language.

Preparation

You’ll be best prepared for this major by taking courses in English, history, philosophy, and religion. Language courses, especially Spanish, are recommended. This major will expose you to many different disciplines, so feel free to explore any classes that interest you. A diverse background of knowledge will be your best preparation.

No matter how thrilling (or dull) your high school history classes have been, we can pretty much guarantee that history courses in college will be a lot more exciting, if only because you won’t have to memorize a bunch of names and dates. No, there will be few matching quizzes in college-level history courses. Instead, you’ll pursue the silk trade from Beijing to Baghdad, analyze the Civil Rights movement and the New Left in 1960s, discuss the writings of American conservatives from the Founders to the New Right, or delve into the changing roles of class and gender in 19th-century France. In addition to becoming good readers, writers, and communicators, History majors become experts at distinguishing patterns in information. What they really study is change: why change occurs at particular times in particular places, why other things stay the same, and how individuals and groups deal with change. For a slew of excellent reasons, the History major has endured and History departments remain large in spite of pressures on students to concentrate on more practical job training. For starters, History is simply interesting. We’re not saying other majors are boring, but History deals with actual people and factual events. Everything has a history – nations, wars, ethnic groups, sexuality, jazz, gambling, postage stamps, you name it. One real plus about majoring in History is that you can stay engrossed in the subject matter long after you graduate. On a broader scale, knowledge of history is important. As the philosopher George Santayana observed, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. If anything holds the key to understanding warfare, famine, and social crises, it’s the analysis and understanding of history. It’s not a recitation of facts. It’s the sum total of the human experience – a dramatic, never-ending, entirely uncensored adventure.”

Preparation

History involves lots of critical thinking and a great deal of reading and writing. If you think you might major in History, you obviously want to take as many courses in American history, civics, world history, and geography as you can. You should also take English composition, so you can get good at writing essays. And, finally, take foreign language classes because you are almost certainly going to be required to take several foreign language classes as a History major.

Who would have thunk it? An authority no less than Forbes magazine has reported that Horticulture is a booming industry for entrepreneurs and a profession in which six-figure incomes are feasible. If you thought Horticulture was a backyard hobby, think again: it’s a lucrative business. So just what does this thriving enterprise involve, you ask? Basically Horticulture is the art, science, and business of growing fruits, vegetables, ornamental plants, and turfgrasses. Horticulturists arrange plants and flowers around the exterior landscapes of residences, office buildings, baseball fields, and virtually every respectable golf course. They also grow, maintain, market, and distribute all manner of plants. They improve plants through genetic manipulation, too. If you major in Horticulture, you’ll learn a lot about agriculture and the biological sciences. In fact, you’ll become an expert in all things plant-related: plant structures, plant diseases, plant genetics, soils, and the insects and organisms that affect plants. You are likely to specialize as well. Specialties include Landscape Horticulture, which combines plant science and principles of design to create cheerful environments; Ornamental Production; and Commercial Fruit and Vegetable Production.

Preparation

You’ll need a strong foundation in the basic sciences. Having an endearing love of biology and the physical sciences will help you immensely as well. If you are planning to major in horticulture in college, you should take courses in biology, chemistry, algebra, trigonometry, physics, and vocational agriculture. Everything that you can learn about climate, soil, water, and plants will be helpful. Also, get used to working outdoors and in laboratories. Familiarity with business won’t hurt, either.

The field of Human Development is concerned with the entire life span of human beings, from infancy through old age. If you major in it, you’ll study the biological processes that characterize each stage of life, and see how we move physically from one stage to the next. You’ll learn how these biological factors affect psychology, and how social behavior changes over time. You’ll study the concepts of work, school, and community. And you’ll learn how the views of Human Development vary between cultures. Many programs combine Human Development with coursework in family studies. In this case, you’ll learn about the formation of the family, family interactions, adult-child relationships, and family problems. You’ll see how individuals and families interact in a community. And you’ll discover how families change as people grow older and members are gained and lost. Human Development is a multi-disciplinary major encompassing fields such as psychology, philosophy, sociology, social work, biology, and education. You may be required to specialize in a certain area such as aging services or community human services; other programs offer a more general track. Whatever the case, you’ll gain a broad understanding of how humans change and grow, and what is important to them along the way.

Preparation

Your best preparation for a Human Development major will be math and science courses. Biology, chemistry, physics, and advanced-level math courses will give you a good foundation, as well as courses in anatomy and psychology. Courses in English, history, and philosophy will also be good preparation.