<p>I am a rising senior looking at Brown and I have major interests in chemistry, history, English, political science, and international relations. I will definitely take classes in history and English but I believe they are a bit too broad and not particularly useful as majors, so I would like to double major in chem and either IR or Poly Sci. If I were to do this, would I have to receive the AB for chem (since Brown offers AB and Sc. B for chem), or could I receive the Sc. B for chem and the A.B. for poly sci or IR? I would really like to have the Sc. B for chem. </p>
<p>Also, would it be possible? I know Brown makes double majors very doable with the new curriculum, but chem is pretty heavy and I know there are a lot of reqs for IR. Since I’m more likely to go with IR, would you say that that and chem is possible? I know IR has a lot of reqs, plus the study abroad and language requirement.</p>
<p>If it helps, I plan to go to law school after college. Any insight on this would be greatly appreciated- thanks!</p>
<p>Any particular reason why you feel as though you have to major in Chemistry AND IR? What do you hope to get out of completing it?</p>
<p>You are absolutely correct in that a double concentration in Chemistry (Sc.B) and IR will be a LOT of work. A Sc.B in Chemistry requires 20 courses and a degree in IR requires 14 courses plus a language requirement. That’s 34+ classes.</p>
<p>You wouldn’t be awarded both degrees after four years though. You’d get one degree, but your transcript will mention that you completed the requirements for both. You could do the 5 year Sc.B/AB program if you wanted both degrees and/or if you need the extra time to complete the two programs.</p>
<p>If you are going to law school, I see no reason why you would need to get the Sc.B. I made kind of a 4-year plan last night to see how my double concentration in anthro and IR would work and I’m not going to have tons of electives, even though those two have a decent amount of overlap. </p>
<p>I would try to figure a rough 4-year schedule out, first doing the IR requirements and then going back through and adding in the chem and see if you can swing it. Honestly, chem isn’t really going to help you at all for law school so there’s no reason to concentrate in it besides just liking the discipline, so you can always take a lot of chem classes without formally concentrating in it. </p>
<p>And, like I said, the Sc.B. seems unnecessary so I would just get the A.B. if you do concentrate in it. The Sc.B. is only useful if you are going to pursue graduate work in that field.</p>
<p>Or do poli sci instead of IR! I assume it has fewer requirements.</p>
<p>A chemistry degree could actually prove quite useful to a law school student–especially if the student has aspirations to enter patent law, which requires the student to have a background in a science/technical discipline to sit for the patent bar exam. Even if that is not your goal after law school, a science background provides law students with a unique and creative way of thinking and solving problems.</p>
<p>You seem like you really want to do the Sc.B in chemistry. Why don’t you just do that and simply take a few IR classes here and there mixed with other electives. Who says you have to double concentrate?</p>
<p>Since you are not yet in your senior year, you shouldn’t be spending too much time thinking about this. Whatever college you go to, get on campus, take a lot of classes in a range of subjects, talk to your advisers, and then decide. Very few of my daughter’s friends at Brown concentrated in what they had planned, including my daughter. They changed their minds a lot, and all over the map.</p>
<p>When I was looking at colleges to apply to (and seriously, most of them, including Brown, I hadn’t heard of or knew next to nothing about until my junior year in HS), I did a search filtering on engineering and IR (they had to have both). I’m now CS, taking a few history and literature classes. Don’t worry about your concentration/major too much now: apply to places that you’d think you’d fit, that have opportunities to study in most/many of the fields you’re interested in. Then, come freshman year, take a wide breadth of courses to see if you associate most with any particular field or group of people.</p>