Creating your own major?

[WynterSun]

<p>Hi everyone, I will most likely be attending Berkeley for the class of 2018 and am interested in potentially creating my own major. My main interests are philosophy and political science, but I am interested in the prospect of merging these two and possibly creating a major in, say, moral and political philosophy, or something along those lines.</p>

<p>Berkeley's website mentions that it is possible to create a major but provides no information on the details. So if anybody here has any experience with creating their own major, especially within the humanities and social sciences, just how hard/easy it it to do this? And are people who create their own major taken as seriously (in terms of job prospects, for instance) as people who choose an established major?</p>

<p>Any help would be very much appreciated! :)</p>

[dina4119]

<p>It’s actually pretty difficult to create your own major because 1)you have to prove that this major is something that the school doesn’t offer and that you really “need” it and 2) you have to make sure it isn’t similar to any other majors. For example, if you propose a major that has too many classes in common with Philosophy, it’ll get rejected and you’ll be told to just do Philosophy.
And though I haven’t seen any stats about their job prospects, I’m sure it’s better to have an established major. Why don’t you double major in poli sci and philosophy?</p>