Academic Pathways

Academic Pathways for Students Who are Still Deciding

Some students have known what they wanted to study since they were five years old. Other Fairmont State University students (about a third of them, in fact) enter college without knowing exactly what major they want to pursue. That’s why Fairmont State created “academic pathways”.

Academic Pathways are groups of academic programs that share overlapping research or creative interests, related coursework, or similar career paths. Students who are still deciding on a major choose an academic pathway in an academic area that interests them – this allows students to explore an area of interest, while also helping them stay on track to graduate on time and save tuition dollars.

How do Academic Pathways work?

Many students may still be deciding on a specific major but know they want to work in a certain area, like science, business, or art. Pursuing academic pathways helps them explore potential majors related to that area of interest. Fairmont State encourages students to choose one of the six academic pathways. If you are interested in several pathways, select one of the pathways to assure that our advisors will help you customize your pathway as needed.

Below are the academic pathways at Fairmont State University, including which academic discipline belongs to each academic pathway. Our specialized advisors will help still deciding students choose the most appropriate academic pathways for their academic and career interests. If you don’t know what you want to major in yet, explore the following areas. Look at the kind of classes you’d take as well as the career opportunities. You can contact the Exploratory Advising Center for more major exploration help at (304) 367-4709.