<p>I should know this already, but does Harvard have minors? I have the coursebook right here and I'm having trouble accessing the page of concentrations online. Also, what are the requirements of the core curriculum?</p>
<p>well I found the answer to my second question...</p>
<p>I believe that you can have a joint concentration, which is kind of Harvard's equivalent to a mjor - minor combo. Not sure though, and anyone jump in and correct me if I'm wrong.</p>
<p>Harvard has JOINT CONCENTRATIONS... in many cases, but not all, you specify one field as primary, and the other as secondary. In MOST cases, joint concentrations must be honors track, and usually entails writing a senior thesis
that MUST integrate the two fields.</p>
<p>It is VERY, VERY difficult to get approved for a joint concentration in two very different fields.</p>
<p>Also, there are various concentrations that are interdisciplinary, so you can combine interests that way... for example, Social Studies, History & Literature, History & Science...</p>
<p>Do you think they would let me do Biochemistry and English? I have my reasons.</p>
<p>NO, they will most likely NOT allow you to combine biochemistry and english...
Pick one as your concentration, then take a bunch of electives in the other.
Remember that you have approximately 8 electives outside of your concentration & core requirements.</p>
<p>Hm, guess I'll have to double major then. Sleep is for wimps :)</p>
<p>You cannot "double major" at Harvard... it is NOT allowed.
You can only do "joint concentrations", with the restrictions I already discussed.</p>
<p>Bummer. My essay for Amherst was better anyway.</p>
<p>Dude, go easy on the caps. They're not friendly.</p>
<p>If you are interested in the intersection of biological sciences and humanities, then check out Anthropology with a biological anthropology emphasis.
I had a good friend who pursued that, and eventually went to med school...</p>
<p>i want to do biology and economics so im right there with ya.</p>
<p>So what about spanish and say economics, or spanish and political science? I mean both would make sense, you could use spanish in the buisness world or as a lawyer or political figure? that is the combo im going for in college (spanish and pol sci) do you think it would be approved?</p>
<p>I realize you are not the board that decides, but I want to hear your opinion. I also realize that there is no point in learning about the inner details about a school i have a .0001% chance of attending.</p>
<p>yea a language and economics would be an obvious joint concentration.</p>
<p>I don't understand the point of a minor. If you're a physics major and want to "minor" in Chinese, what's the difference if you do it officially or take a bunch of electives in it?</p>
<p>Why not just take a bunch of courses in a subject and have no majors?</p>
<p>Because having major/minor requirements ensures a balanced and thorough education in the subject, and majors/minors get noted, while an equal number of classes would never really be acknowledged.</p>
<p>..at least that's my take. :)</p>
<p>you can easily justify a joint concentration in economics and romance languages... just remember that your senior honors thesis will have to integrate the two fields, but that shouldn't be too difficult... for example, economic development in latin america, labor policies in mexico, the effects of NAFTA on Mexico's economy...</p>
<p>"There are no double majors as such, but joint concentration is similar to it. For example, if you look at History and VES in the Student's Handbook you will see that both VES and History allow joint concentrations with their fields. This is not true of all departments; concentrations that are like standardized joint concentrations, such as biochemistry, will not accept joint concentrators, whereas small departments such as Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations are essentially all joint concentrators. If your departments do accept joint concentrators, you just have to choose which one is your "major" and which one is "minor""</p>
<p>OK, so I did some snooping into joint concentrations, and figured the best way to describe my main interest is "Science and Society." You know, the conflict between lay and scientific knowledge, the reasons behind beliefs and behaviors associated with emerging technology/medicine, etc. This would span religion, psychology, sociology and the sciences themselves (I really want to understand both sides). My senior thesis would center around effective communication between the scientific communication and the public. Possibly the world. Right now I'm just confused.</p>
<p>Now, how would I work with the system on this one? Is it considered sociology or something like that? I originally planned to concentrate in English and Biochemistry so I could work for a scientific journal, but maybe a special joint concentration in "Science and Society" would work better. Dang...I hope I figure this out soon.</p>
<p>Yeah maybe that would work out... anyway English and Biochemistry wouldn't work because as it says in the quote I provided above, you can't have a joint concentration in addition to Biochemistry because it already is a joint concentration.</p>
<p>If you're interested in "Science and Society", you might want to consider concentrating in History of Science: <a href="http://www.fas.harvard.edu/%7Ehsdept/%5B/url%5D">http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~hsdept/</a></p>