30 Colleges With Unique or Highly-Specialized Majors

Can you major in bagpiping, music therapy, or toy design? There's a college for that.

Author:: Samanda Dorger
Publish date:: Feb 16, 2021 7:00 AM EST

Maybe you march to the beat of a different drummer. You’re looking for a college major, but plain old math, stodgy science, or run-of-the-mill art just isn’t going to cut it for you. Maybe you’re interested in something different—like designing race cars or blacksmithing, growing organic lemons or working on horror films.

You’ve come to the right place. This list comes from CollegeXpress, a research site for colleges and scholarships. Here are more than 30 colleges with cool, unique majors. The program descriptions come from the individual colleges.

30 Colleges With Unique Majors

Work on real race vehicles alongside industry experts. This high-tech program includes brake systems, alignment procedures, electronic controls, engine overhaul, and transmission overhaul. A major component of the curriculum involves the fabrication and set-up of various types of these race cars.

Graduates of this program led the teams that created the iconic cars of the 40s and 50s, the muscle cars of the 60s and 70s, supercars, family cars, and a majority of the new concept cars unveiled at major motor shows each year.

This certificate program, approved by the American Bar Association, is one of only a handful in the country. The curriculum prepares nurses for paralegal nurse consultant positions in law firms, hospitals, insurance companies, health maintenance organizations, government offices, and risk management companies

The worship arts major prepares students for a career in church worship, with additional training in areas such as technology, church operations and pastoral leadership. The college also has programs in Christian Ministries and Sign Language Interpreting.

The master’s in Gastronomy immerses you in a variety of academic perspectives—anthropology, arts, humanities, and social sciences—developing a comprehensive view of society and food throughout history and honing your command of food scholarship.

The interdisciplinary Growth and Structure of Cities major challenges students to understand the dynamic relationship of urban spatial organization and the built environment to politics, economics, cultures, and societies.

The animal behavior major combines biology and psychology and lets students pursue their own research alongside faculty, and even accompany professors on a field study of migratory birds in Alaska or endangered chimpanzees in East Africa. The two interdisciplinary degrees include subject matter in biology, chemistry, mathematics, physics and psychology.

The option in Music Therapy is designed to prepare students for careers in the therapeutic applications of music. Music therapy is defined as an allied health profession in which musical interventions are used in an interactive clinical process between a music therapist and the people being served to address their therapeutic or palliative care needs. Another college with a music therapy program: University of Missouri — Kansas City.

Students receive instruction in all phases of funeral service, including caring for the remains of people who have died, helping families plan funeral services, and coordinating and managing arrangements for services, with special attention being given to the ethical standards within the funeral service profession.

This college has offered a Bagpipe Performance major for over 75 years, thanks to the strong Scottish heritage of the founders. Besides being one of only two schools in the U.S. to offer a 4-year degree in the art of Bagpipe Performance, Carnegie Mellon has its very own Pipes and Drums band made up entirely of current students and alumni.

The professional fly fishing guide program is a six-week summer program in which students are immersed in all things fly fishing. The college also teaches Ski Area Operation, Golf Club Management, and Animal Shelter Management.

Dance/movement therapy is the psychotherapeutic use of movement to promote emotional, social, cognitive and physical integration of the individual. Another college that offers this is Drexel University in Philadelphia.

Known as the Godfather of Gore and the Sultan of Splatter, Tom Savini is a legend in the world of special make-up effects. His work revolutionized the horror genre and he’s known for films such as “Dawn of the Dead,” “Friday the 13th,” “Monkey Shines” and “Creepshow.” The college also offers the Allan and Wilson's Illustration and Fantasy Art Program.

In this program, you will learn to create safe toys that entertain, educate, and inspire kids, from infants to tweens. There are 67 million children in North America, and annual toy sales top $24 billion ($67 billion worldwide). Another college with a toy design program is Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles.

Students train in professional education, elementary pedagogy, and education of the deaf and hard of hearing. According to study.com, here are several more colleges that offer similar studies.

Love lemons? Adore oranges? This college claims the nation's only bachelor's degree program in citrus and horticultural science.

Queer studies at Hampshire utilizes gender theory/philosophy, historical analysis, critical race theory, and contemporary critique to further the discourse on queer identity and community, as well as notions of queering heterosexualized relationships and identities.

Learn about the history, theory and application of philanthropy in the U.S.—Whether you’re passionate about saving the earth, social justice, or taking on global challenges, this program offers you the tools you need to lead for change.

Gain a thorough understanding of sport, media, and communications with courses in advertising, public relations, digital marketing, sports information, sports publications, television and radio, and sports journalism.

These are excellent times to be a medical illustrator. This graduate program provides broad interdisciplinary education and training in medical illustration. Also check out the Biomedical Photography and Medical Illustration program at Rochester Institute of Technology.

This program teaches everything from the business side of resort management to leisure history/ philosophy and environmental stewardship.

Topics include television criticism, issues in popular culture, the history of television programming from 1945 to the present and the television/film business.

If you’re passionate about traditional Irish music and dance, this is the place to go. Music and dance are an intrinsic part of the cultural, economic and social life of Ireland.

This program offers a multi-disciplinary approach to the theories and practice of preservation as it has evolved in the U.S., stressing understanding of the intellectual practices of: history, architectural history, archaeology, museum studies, preservation law, land use planning, and principles of architectural conservation. (Pictured is the Freedom Rides Museum/Historic Montgomery Greyhound Bus Station in Alabama.)

Get hands-on experience designing, building, installing, and maintaining the various facilities, equipment, and technologies used in today's entertainment industry, and work with some of the most cutting-edge companies in the entertainment business and learn how to create real entertainment experiences right in Las Vegas.

Learning under an apprenticeship model, students on the Blacksmith Crew create handmade craft items, build tools used by other campus work crews, and create architectural and decorative wrought ironwork around campus.

Naval architecture and marine engineering involves the design of floating vessels and the integration of their components. The degree is considered one of the most valuable college majors with a low unemployment rate, high pay and high return on education investment. The program includes ship design, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, and civil engineering.Visit Collegexpress for more unique and specialized majors.

Alfred State College (Alfred, N.Y.): Motorsports Technology

Work on real race vehicles alongside industry experts. This high-tech program includes brake systems, alignment procedures, electronic controls, engine overhaul, and transmission overhaul. A major component of the curriculum involves the fabrication and set-up of various types of these race cars.

>> See: The Most Valuable College Majors