Answered by ck
I went to Allegheny, so I can only help you with that one. The amount of extra classes you have to take depends on whether you took any AP classes in high school and on your placement tests once you get to Allegheny. They have placement tests for English, languages, and math that I can remember. You don't have government/history class requirements like at larger schools. You do have to take a freshman writing seminar and a sophomore writing seminar, but those are usually pretty easy. As far as declaring your major, I think you'll have to have that done by the end of your sophomore year. But, I could be mistaken. I don't really know what you mean by "do the minors change every year." If you can clarify that, I'll check back and try to answer for you. Once you declare a minor, you stay with that minor. You can always take extra classes and have more than 1 minor, or have 1 minor but have another subject in which you take a few extra classes. ADDED: No, you have to declare a minor, and there are certain credit requirements that you have to meet. I don't remember how many you have to have. For instance, I was a psych minor so I had to take a certain amount of psych classes, and some of them had to be upper level classes. You can still take on extra credits, but you'll only get a minor if you declare and then complete your requirements. Also at Allegheny, at least when I was there almost 10 years ago, your minor has to be outside of your major area. So, if you major in something like Economics or Business, your minor would have to be in another core area. I think there are 3 core areas: life science, social science, and one other one that I don't remember. The course catalog has all that info though. I really liked Allegheny when I was there. It's small, so you really get to know your professors. It teaches you to think creatively. When I got to grad school, I was way ahead of my peers from larger state universities as far as writing skills were concerned. But, Allegheny is one of those schools that prepares you for grad school or med school better than it does for getting a job after you get your bachelor's degree. That's not saying people don't go on to get jobs right away. I'm just saying there seem to be more contacts for post-grad education than for careers. But, if you plan on majoring in a business area, that's one of those areas that a specific degree doesn't matter too much. People go on to be CEOs of companies without having obtained an actual degree in business. If you haven't already, visit both schools and talk to professors at both places. Once I visited Allegheny and met with professors, I was hooked. I just felt at home there. There's a lot of opportunity to get involved in really great things there, and there's a good community spirit. The town of Meadville is kinda small, but you can still find plenty to do. And the surrounding area is beautiful, so there's always stuff to do outside. Good luck to you. You'll make the right decision. Just always trust your gut.