explore
your options. A GUIDE TO MAJORS AT MERCYHURST
choose
your path. Whether you haven’t yet declared a major, are interested in a double major, or are already headed in a clear direction, we want to make sure your chosen path is the right one for you. This guide is meant to show you the many different paths of study offered at Mercyhurst to help you narrow down your choices—or tailor a program to fit your specific goals. We’ve grouped our programs into areas of interest to help you better match a major to your interests and strengths. Want to own your own business someday? Maybe a major in the area of Business and Management would be a good fit for you. Do you love to create or perform? Consider a major in the Creative and Artistic Expression area. With more than 50 majors and a variety of minors and concentrations, Mercyhurst has more than 100 areas of study, so you’re sure to find one that’s as unique as you are. And if you still aren’t sure, don’t stress! Nearly 20 percent of students begin college without a designated major, and more than half change it sometime during their college career—some as many as three times.
GET THE EXPERIENCE. No matter which major you choose, you’ll receive hands-on, career-related experience. At Mercyhurst, you’ll build your portfolio and your résumé with valuable, outside-the-classroom projects, internships or research. We call them “capstone experiences,” and only Mercyhurst guarantees you’ll have one before you graduate. The skills you develop and the connections you make here will give you an edge in today’s competitive job market.
Majors
For more info about all our majors, visit mercyhurst.edu/majors.
Bachelor’s Degree Programs:
• Liberal Studies
• • • • • •
• • • • • • •
Management Mathematics Multimedia Technology Music Music Education Music Performance Music Therapy
• • • •
Philosophy Political Science Psychology Public Health
Accounting Anthropology/Archaeology Applied Forensic Sciences Art Education Art Therapy Athletic Training
• • • •
Biochemistry Biology Business Business/Computer/Information Technology Certification (K-12) • Business Competitive Intelligence • Business Economics • Business Marketing • • • •
Chemistry Communication Computer Systems Criminal Justice
• Dance • Early Childhood Education • Early Childhood Education/ Special Education • English • Exercise Science • • • •
Fashion Merchandising Finance French French Education
• Geology • Graphic Design • History • Hospitality Management • • • •
Integrated Marketing Intelligence Studies Interior Design International Business
• Religious Studies • Russian Studies • • • • • • • • •
Secondary Education 4+1 Social Work Sociology Spanish Spanish Education Sport Business Management Sports Medicine Studio Art Sustainability
Pre-Professional Programs: • Pre-Architecture • Pre-Chiropractic • Pre-Dentistry • Pre-Law • Pre-Medical • Pre-Occupational Therapy • Pre-Optometry • Pre-Osteopathy • Pre-Pharmacy • Pre-Physician Assistant • Pre-Physical Therapy • Pre-Podiatry • Pre-Veterinary
Mercyhurst also offers more than 50 minors and concentrations that can enhance any degree program. Visit mercyhurst.edu/minors for a full list.
Business & Management You might like this field if: FROM MOWING LAWNS TO BABYSITTING, you’re creative and self-motivated to earn extra cash.
IN YOUR GROUP OF FRIENDS, you’re the planner and organizer.
GET THE EXPERIENCE. Students in the Business & Management major programs work on projects and develop business plans for actual companies and organizations, giving them solid experience to add to their résumés, and opportunities to network with key executives and business leaders.
Career Possibilities: • Chief Executive Officer • Entrepreneur • Budget, Cost or Systems Analyst • Marketing Manager • Human Resources Manager • Accountant • Personal Financial Adviser
YOU DREAM OF WORKING FOR A growing company or owning your own business.
Mercyhurst Majors: • Accounting • Business • Business Competitive Intelligence • Business Economics • Business Marketing YOU HAVE A KNACK FOR CONVINCING YOUR PARENTS to buy you the latest tech gadget – but you’re also not afraid to work to save up for it yourself.
• Communication • Computer Systems • Fashion Merchandising • Finance • International Business • Hospitality Management • Integrated Marketing Communication • Liberal Studies - Business track • Management • Mathematics • Sport Business Management
Helping & Understanding People You might like this field if: YOU HAVE A NATURAL GIFT FOR giving advice or being a good listener.
YOU LOVE TO VOLUNTEER – for school, for a club, at your church, on a service trip, or just for fun.
YOU THRIVE ON INTENSE DISCUSSIONS about social justice, economic inequality or other big issues.
Mercyhurst Majors: • Art Therapy • Education (Early Childhood, Special, Secondary, Art, Music) • English YOU’RE A FEARLESS IDEALIST who really believes you can make the world a better place.
• French or French Education • History • Music Therapy • Philosophy • Psychology • Public Health • Religious Studies • Russian Studies • Sociology • Social Work • Spanish or Spanish Education
GET THE EXPERIENCE. Students complete internships and experiential learning at local agencies like the Barber National Institute, Sarah Reed Children’s Center, the Achievement Center, and others. Students also have various opportunities to study abroad. Most recently, Public Health students traveled to Vietnam to explore the long-term health effects of war; and Social Work students travelled to Guyana to engage in volunteer work and visit social welfare agencies.
Career Possibilities: • Teacher • School Counselor • Sociologist • Social Services Worker • Therapist • Community Organizer • Grant Writer/Fundraiser • Peace Corps or AmeriCorps Volunteer
Health & Sciences You might like this field if:
YOU’RE ALWAYS CURIOUS. You enjoy solving problems and figuring out how things work.
DISSECTING THE FROG IN BIOLOGY CLASS DIDN’T gross you out. Actually, you thought it was pretty much the best class ever.
GET THE EXPERIENCE. Students in many of the Health and Science programs receive hands-on experience in both our state-of-the art on-campus labs, and at off-campus research sites. For example, Applied Forensic Sciences students have opportunities to work at actual crime scenes, and Biology students study in “living laboratories” at local sites like Lake Erie and through trips to places like the Caribbean and the Galapagos Islands.
Career Possibilities: • Laboratory Technician • Science or Math Teacher • Athletic Trainer • Forensic Technician • Computer Systems Analyst • Doctor • Pharmacist • Medical Technician • Biologist • Statistician
YOU LOVE MATH, have great analytical and problem-solving skills and an eye for details.
Mercyhurst Majors: • Anthropology/Archaeology • Applied Forensic Sciences • Athletic Training WHETHER YOU’RE EXAMINING A SPIDER WEB, learning about the human immune system or watching Animal Planet, you think the natural world is awesome.
• Biochemistry • Biology • Chemistry • Computer Systems • Exercise Science • Geology • Liberal Studies - Public Health track • Mathematics • Psychology • Public Health • Sports Medicine • Pre-Professional Health Programs (see full list on Majors page)
Creative & Artistic Expression You might like this field if:
3:30 THE BUSY PART OF YOUR DAY STARTS AFTER SCHOOL, whether it’s music lessons, dance class, time in the studio or time to go home and practice.
ON GROUP PROJECTS you have the most creative, out-of-the-box ideas.
YOU JUST CAN’T PICTURE YOURSELF in a career that doesn’t center on doing what you love.
GET THE EXPERIENCE. With three exceptional on-campus performance venues, music and dance majors have ample opportunity to perform with both student and resident professional ensembles. Fashion merchandising majors complete their own apparel line and have the opportunity to study at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City. Art majors present their works in the annual senior thesis exhibition at the on-campus Cummings Art Gallery. Students of any major can submit any creative works to Lumen, the student-produced multimedia arts journal – or even serve on the editorial team.
Career Possibilities: • Art or Music Teacher • Performer • Graphic Designer • Gallery or Studio Owner • Theatre, Production or Music Director • Arts Education Manager • Fashion Buyer • Interior Designer • Writer/Editor
Mercyhurst Majors: • Art or Music Education • Art or Music Therapy • Dance • Fashion Merchandising • Graphic Design YOU HAVE NATURAL TALENT and you’re up to the challenge of perfecting it to make yourself – and your art – better.
• English • Interior Design • Music • Music Performance • Music Therapy • Studio Art
overnment & Law
You might like this field if:
YOU LOVE VISITING MUSEUMS, historic buildings, battlefields or anything old with a cool story.
YOU’RE A CURRENT EVENTS JUNKIE – friends ask you to explain the jokes on The Colbert Report or The Daily Show.
YOU’RE FASCINATED by the way government works.
Mercyhurst Majors: • Criminal Justice • History • Intelligence Studies YOU HAVE MAD speech and debate skills.
YOU PICTURE YOURSELF ON THE CASE with the characters in your favorite TV crime drama.
• Liberal Studies -Pre-law track • Philosophy • Political Science
GET THE EXPERIENCE. Intelligence studies majors develop real projects for real organizations like the FBI, Defense Intelligence Agency, and Fortune 500 companies like Target. History majors have completed internships at world-class institutions like the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. and Gettysburg National Battlefield. Criminal justice majors complete field observation, internships and service-learning projects for real social service and correctional agencies. Shooting for law school? Our prelaw concentration is a specialized academic track designed to get you there. You can pair it with a number of different majors, including English or Political Science.
Career Possibilities: • Lawyer/Attorney • Intelligence Analyst • History/Social Studies Teacher • Corrections Officer/Counselor • Historic Site Director • Parole Agent • Police Officer • Legislative Assistant • Criminal Investigator/Special Agent
lobal Awareness
You might like this field if: YOUR FAVORITE CLASSES are geography, history or language and you don’t mind conjugating foreign verbs.
YOU ASPIRE TO BE (or already are) bilingual.
GET THE EXPERIENCE. All language majors participate in an Oral Proficiency Interview with an external evaluator in the spring semester of their senior year. This results in an internationally recognized rating of their skills in listening and speaking their language, which students can use on their résumés, and employment and graduate school applications. And all majors have the opportunity to study abroad, earning college credits in places as diverse as France, Italy, Australia, Costa Rica and more. Mercyhurst even has its own satellite campus in Dungarvan, Ireland!
Career Possibilities: • Foreign Language Teacher • Interpreter/Translator • English as a Second Language (ESL) Instructor • International Relations Specialist • Customs Agent • Journalist/Writer • Immigration or Refugee Services • International Marketing Analyst • FBI, CIA or NSA Agent
FROM THE FOOD TO THE MUSIC, TO THE LANGUAGE, you’re fascinated by other cultures.
Mercyhurst Majors: • English • French or French Education • History • Intelligence Studies • International Business YOU DREAM OF STUDYING ABROAD, and your ideal job is somewhere overseas or involves lots of travel.
• Religious Studies • Russian Studies • Spanish and Spanish Education • Sustainability Studies
501 East 38th Street • Erie, PA 16546
take
the next step. Feel free to reach out to us to ask questions, meet a faculty member in your area of interest, or schedule a campus visit where you can shadow a student or sit in on classes. Call 1-800-825-1926 ext. 2202 and we’ll help you with whatever you need. And connect with us on social media to get in on the conversation and learn more about Mercyhurst from actual students. Our social media ambassadors will answer any questions you have from a student’s perspective. Just use #hurstsocial. Visit us at mercyhurst.edu.