The quest to find USC’s smallest major

The Search

Sometimes, the search to answer a simple question is easy — but not this time. My quest to find the smallest undergraduate major at the University of Southern California began back in February, with a 35-page PDF from IPEDS called “Completions 2023-24.” This sprawling, headache-inducing document contains comprehensive data on every degree earned or “completed” by a USC student during the 2022-2023 school year. But when you’re looking for a needle in a haystack, looking at the entire haystack is a pretty solid place to start.

This glorified spreadsheet had everything I needed — except, of course, anything I would need to make this process easier for myself. There was no way to sort by degree type or even use “command-F,” the keyboard shortcut for finding key phrases in a document, meaning I would have to find each individual bachelor’s degree amid a sea of doctoral and master’s degrees. There was also a thorough breakdown of major students by gender and double major, which would be useful if not for the all-important row of “Total” requiring significant squinting for each painstaking entry. 

But the most aggravating part of my search was enduring the system by which the majors were organized. IPEDS, the organization that provided me with “Completions 2023-24,” stands for “Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System.” IPEDS has created a framework known as Classification of Instructional Programs codes, which organize collegiate degrees. CIP codes are essentially a Dewey Decimal System for units of study, complete with universalized names for every undergraduate program at every college. 

This means next to nothing for the general public, but for me, it meant that I had to figure out each USC major that a given CIP code corresponded to. Some of these codes had an exact equivalent, like 11.0701 — “Computer Science.” But many required interpretation, like 52.1301 — “Management Science” — which turned out to be the business administration major. 

After a few days of this spreadsheet from hell, I had a list of every bachelor’s degree handed out by USC in the previous year — according to the lengthy PDF, 117 in total. To narrow this massive list down, I cross-checked these numbers with the USC student directory and eliminated every single major with more than 25 students listed in the directory. 

But that wasn’t the only thing I had to check. You see, some of these “completions” listed on the PDF were emphases within majors — for example, the chemical biology emphasis within the chemistry major — or interdisciplinary majors. Interdisciplinary majors often lack a set curriculum and can often have small departments, meaning these majors can be reconstructed by practically anyone at any time. In fact, it’s technically possible that the smallest major is one with zero students as of this spring.  

But I wanted to find a major that existed as a minuscule program in spite of a dedicated and large department, as well as a precise curriculum. These interdisciplinary programs, even if they may have some of the “smallest” majors, were not quite what I was looking for. 

After I determined which majors were interdisciplinary or emphases within larger majors, I then set out on my directory cross-checking in earnest, eliminating any major with more than 10 students this time. After some fact-checking with the Office of Institutional Research, I found what I was looking for.

The Answer

Sometimes, a simple answer tells the whole story — again, not this time.

My monthslong quest to find USC’s smallest major ended with a thud. It was April Fool’s Day, and I got an email that fact-checked the numbers I had requested. 

As of May 2024, the smallest major at the University of Southern California is Russian, with just five students. It’s followed closely by sound design, which has six students, and Italian, which has seven. 

A major is an inescapable part of one’s identity at any university. I’ve sometimes introduced myself with my major before I’ve even said my name; “Hi, I’m a freshman journalism major — oh, and my name’s Sammy.” So, what does it mean to have a major, such an integral part of who you are, exist on the margins of your own university?

To find out, I reached out to those who are a part of the three smallest majors at USC. While each person interviewed had plenty of thoughts on this newfound data, one reaction was conspicuously absent.

The Community

“I’m not surprised,” said Colleen McQuillen, an associate professor of Slavic languages and literatures. 

When I asked why, McQuillen told me she believed that many students are skeptical of a foreign language major due to the rise in modern translation technology. This is something that Gian-Maria Annovi, an associate professor of Italian and comparative literature, was eager to mention. 

“In general, languages tend to have a very limited number of majors today,” Annovi said. “It wasn’t the case in the past, but there have been a lot of changes in cultural attitudes.”

These shifts in public perception around foreign language studies mean small cohorts of major students may have to take classes with the same professors over and over again. Take Sophia Meyer, a senior majoring in Italian as well as philosophy, politics and law, who has taken countless courses with … Annovi! 

“It was funny when you reached out and were like, ‘Oh, Professor Annovi gave me your email,’” Meyer told me. “I’ve taken like five classes with him … So me and him just got super tight over the course of a few semesters. Every semester, I would just show up and be like, ‘Are we ready to do this again?’” 

But the story of the smallest majors at USC is not limited to just languages clawing for relevance in an increasingly STEM-dominated world. Sometimes, a major is intentionally created to be small.

“It’s not a hard cap, but the goal is to have no more than eight to 10 students in the program total across four years,” said Philip Allen, the director of sound design at the School of Dramatic Arts. 

Allen explained that this restriction of the sound design major was made for a very simple reason: “Mainstage” productions at SDA are few and far between, and the program wants to guarantee that any major student is able to do design work on real productions as soon as possible.

That said, don’t take the lack of surprise as a lack of passion for their respective fields. Meyer spoke glowingly of her experience throughout her Italian studies, smiling as she told me about planning to meet with one of her professors for a farewell dinner. Annovi couldn’t help but rave about the importance of studying a foreign language, apologizing for his length of speech but not for his enthusiasm. McQuillen even went out of her way to thank me for the opportunity to talk about her program. In a way, I believe I’ve found the only thing rarer than the Russian major — a faculty member thanking a student journalist for writing a story about them.

Just because these majors are small doesn’t mean they are weak. In fact, their smaller size bequeaths strengths that those in larger programs could only dream of. 

The entire sound design program, for example, meets once a week to share production experiences and pass on additional knowledge, as Noel Nichols, an assistant professor of theatre practice in sound design, told me. This is an inconceivable privilege for practically any other major. 

Meyer told me that she met her best friend, a fellow Italian major, through the program. In the years that followed, she was guaranteed a spot right next to that friend every time she came to class. 

McQuillen, for her part, praised her department’s condemnation of and response to Russia’s war in Ukraine. Despite being the smallest major at USC, their sweeping reaction to the war — from student-run fundraisers to micro-seminars to special events — is one fit for a much larger program.

“We’re doing our best to try to use it as an opportunity to educate people about this part of the world,” McQuillen told me.

Russian, sound design and Italian may be the smallest majors at USC — but what these majors lack in quantity of students is more than made up for by, quite simply, everything else about them. Join one if you’d like, but you don’t need to worry about them. 

They’re doing just fine.