Degree Focus
One of the most important decisions you’ll make when planning your education is the focus of your degree.
Do you want to focus in the broad area of Business? Communication? Human Services? History?
And what specifically do you want to focus on within that broad area of study? Marketing? Digital Communication? Services for the Aging? American History? The specific focus within a broad area is called your concentration, since that includes a concentration of courses around that focus.
Degree focus is a decision you will have to make. You may not make it immediately, especially if you are not transferring in a lot of credit from other colleges. But you will have to make a decision about your degree focus eventually, especially once you start completing courses and gaining credit toward your degree. That’s because broad areas of study and specific foci have different requirements that have to be fulfilled, and you need to make sure you have room in your degree to fulfill them.
Look at Empire’s catalog page on Undergraduate Programs and choose one or two that interest you. Look at the Program Details to see the types of courses and foundational knowledge areas that you have to include.
Don’t get overwhelmed – your mentor/advisor is available to help you make decisions about your degree focus. Just be aware that information about degree focus exists to help you make sure you’re pursuing a broad area of study and specific concentration focus that’s right for you.
Note that if you don’t see the specific concentration focus you’re interested in, talk with your mentor/advisor. It may be possible to pursue that focus in an individualized degree, which you’ll read about on the page in this text on Degree Flexibility.
Also note that if you do not want to have specific focus in your degree, that’s o.k. as well. Look at the School of Social and Behavioral Sciences pages –> General and Interdisciplinary degrees for an example of the breadth of course work included in a degree without a specific focus.
