<p>is a interdisciplinary degree just as good as a regular degree like english or history</p>
<p>It depends…
Some fields readily lend themselves to interdisciplinary study and the title of the field is easily understood by employers et al. An example would be Latin American Studies. It has other potential advantages, too:
-If your interests are not accommodated by a single field, it might be a good idea. -Sometimes it can prepare you for advanced work in more than one field, or prepare you for a broader range of careers.
-Advances in many fields often come from their interaction with other fields.
And I’m sure there are many other potential advantages. </p>
<p>On the other hand, an interdisciplinary degree may have some potential disadvantages:
-if the nature of the degree is not readily understood by employers, grad schools, etc. or you constantly are having to explain what it involved.
-if it is just a hodgepodge of courses with no clear focus or coherence
-if you don’t get a good grounding in the theory and methods of any single discipline (may be important for a graduate program)
-if it means that you don’t have a departmental “home”—which sometimes has advantages for advising, departmental scholarships, research and other opportunities restricted to majors in that dept., etc.
-if it’s not a well-established and defined interdisciplinary field, e.g., are there programs in it at the graduate level?; are there journals and professional organizations focused on that field?; etc.
-if the university offering the degree does not have a clear administrative structure for it, e.g., a center, institute, committee, or, department </p>
<p>I think it’s often a good idea to double major in a traditional discipline along with the interdisciplinary major.</p>
<p>depends on how interdisciplinary and what type.</p>
<p>Chemical Physics, Materials Engineering, Networked Systems, etc. are all great programs that are highly employable.</p>
<p>Underwater Basket Weaving (a combination of mechanical engineering, biology, AND art!) is not quite as employable.</p>
<p>thanks for the info. well a copule of my ideas were history/english/psychology, history/english/political science, history/political science i would like to do something like consulting, labor relations, public relations or foreign exchange trading will these help with these careers? what are some careers involving these clusters</p>
<p>Just to clarify, are you interested in a double major or a couple minors, or an interdisciplinary major that combines aspects of these fields?</p>
<p>interdisciplanary degree that combines aspects of these fields i want to double and get a degree in theatre( i want to be an actor but i want something to fall back on)</p>
<p>It sounds like you’re interests extend beyond what can be accommodated in a single major, but it also doesn’t sound like something that one of the more common formal interdisciplinary majors would address either. It looks to me like you’d be better off with a double major + minor or a major + 2 minors, though it can be difficult to complete all the requirements for both of these options.</p>
<p>History + English is a good combination as is History + Political Science. If Theatre is the part that interests you in English, then you should substitute Theatre for English.</p>
<p>If Acting doesn’t work out, I’m not sure whether these other fields are necessarily anything to fall back on. These are all liberal arts fields.</p>
<p>As far as the career interests that you list, there is a disconnect between those and the fields that interest you, unless you did a graduate or professional degree in a relevant field.
Consulting? what sort of consulting?
Labor relations: Relevant fields would include human resources, economics, business, and, at the graduate level, law.
Public relations: Relevant fields include communication (including PR), journalism, and possibly, professional writing
Foreign exchange trading: Relevant fields include Economics (including ag econ); business (international business, finance)</p>
<p>Forex: Math/Stats + Econ.
PR: don’t bother, you don’t need a specific degree to do this.
Labor relations: need to go to law school, so doesn’t matter what degree.
Consulting: you have to already have made huge money in some other field + have networking connections.</p>
<p>my school offers a concentration in Mathematical Economics through the math department with a year long module on Statistical Processes in Finance. That’s the type of thing you should look for if you want to work as a Forex trader.</p>
<p>isn’t labor relations more about the management or business related studies, instead of law?</p>
<p>^ It depends on what level you’re talking about. Your typical HR person or manager has to be aware of the legalities of dealing with employees. At other levels, e.g., union-management contract negotiations, attorneys are certainly involved. When I worked in a management position, I had many occasions to consult our attorneys regarding contracts, unemployment claims, firing for misconduct, employee lawsuits, FMLA, worker’s comp issues, OSHA, unionization, etc.</p>
<p>oh ok… yes, I can see how it can relate, nice. Something to think about.</p>