Match Your Talents and Interests with Pre-College Online Courses

Summary:

More and more high school students are getting a head start on college today with the help of Prelum, Powered by Kaplan. College prep courses online allow you to see what kind of career fits your talents, and the choices are broad and diverse.

Key Points:

• Questions to ask yourself before choosing an online course.
• Have fun with it; take more than one course.
• Today’s top three college majors are business, health, and social sciences.
• But if you are interested in video gaming, fashion, biomedical engineering, or marketing, we have those, too.
• Explore courses from top universities, and get a start on your future career now.

Finding a college major that’s the ideal fit for you can be an onerous task, particularly if you don’t prioritize it early in high school. Believe it or not, freshman year is not too early. Here are some important questions you’ll need to answer before you make a choice that will significantly impact your future.

• Medicine interests me, but I also like engineering. Where can I learn about both?
• I enjoy writing; what would a career in marketing look like?
• I’m from a family of lawyers. How can I be sure this is the path for me?
• I’m a tech enthusiast. How can I test my interest in computer science?
• I’m interested in fashion design. How can I determine before college whether it’s a good career choice for me?
• I love video gaming, but is a design career in this field only a fantasy?

We could go on and on, but you get the idea. Until you put these questions to the test, you’re only playing a guessing game. You can’t possibly know if a future career is right for you until you learn more about it. And fortunately, you can count on Prelum, Powered by Kaplan, to help you find the answer.

Prelum partners with some of the top colleges and universities that offer pre-college online programs and enrichment sumer programs to motivated teens; everything from medicine and law to biomedical engineering, marketing, business, computer science, genome engineering, video game design, and much more. 

Have fun with it; take a couple of courses that pique your interest. Who knows? You may think your future lies in nursing, but end up pursuing a major in aerospace! The portal to your future can be found through college prep courses online.

But what are some of the more popular majors? There are three.

Today’s Top 3 Majors 

According to research by the National Center of Education Statistics (NCES), the most popular majors in the U.S. have remained the same for more than a decade. These include business, health, and social sciences. Of the 2 million bachelor’s degrees awarded during the 2021-2022 school year, these three majors made up nearly 40%. Their popularity has a lot to do with the high median salary you may earn after graduation, and the diverse range of occupations in each area. 

Are you interested in one or two potential college majors? This article will cover some of the most popular online courses universities offer through partnerships with Prelum. Each course gets you closer to the major that fits your interests and talents.

Here’s a peek at some of the online courses you might consider as you align a major with a future career.

Pre-College Online Courses from Top Universities

For those interested in health, whether medicine or a related field, we recommend that you acquaint yourself with Wake Forest University. Their Pre-College Online Program includes a whole array of medicine courses. Get a thorough overview of the field of medicine with courses in specialty fields such as cancer medicine, sports medicine, and women’s medicine. Wake Forest is also where you’ll find bioscience, an inside look at infectious diseases.

Georgetown University offers a variety of pre-college online courses, including those in business. You can study the fundamentals of entrepreneurship, learn how people create wealth through investing, and explore the varied traditional and digital channels that make up today’s marketing. Some of Georgetown’s online courses also come in a college credit format. Take a look!

Social sciences, one of the three top degrees NCES discovered, covers a range of topics, starting with psychology. Students with a fascination for how the brain works and the impacts on emotions and behavior will find a pre-college online psychology course with the University of Notre Dame—Psychology: Understanding the Self and Our World. The Northwestern Pre-College Online Program is where you’ll find Psychology: Inside Diagnosis and Treatment. The Rice University Precollege Program offers Psychology in Our Everyday Lives. Check out our psych courses as part of our online college prep.

At the start of this article, we mentioned that Prelum has something for everyone. If you’re stuck between becoming a fashion designer or a video game designer, now you can experience both. The Parsons Paris Online Courses serves the fashion-minded with courses in a range of subjects, including fashion design, building a brand, the business of fashion, and sustainability. You’ll study with experts in Paris fashion, and complete a final project that will help to develop your creativity.

Finally, video game design could be an exciting career for those with a love of gaming and an interest in technology. Be sure to check out the University of Rochester’s pre-college online program. Their course in video game design takes a deep dive into the world of designers and developers. You’ll learn the art of storytelling and watch interviews with top game designers.

Remember, all Prelum colleges and universities offer a flexible format for online learning. You’ll enjoy dynamic videos and work wherever and whenever your schedule allows. Tap into the support of mentors who will guide your learning experience, and earn a Certificate of Completion from our renowned universities. 

This was last reviewed by Ashley Simmons on 06/30/2025.