Double major in bio and foreign language crazy?

College Majors Science Majors
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<p>Hi. I'm a junior and am not really certain about which major I want. I'm really interested in Environmental Science (maybe environmental engineering?) and Biology in general (I like biology but don't want to go into pre-med, any advice?). I also love foreign languages and definitely want to either major or minor in them. Ideally it would be great if I could double major in Bio/Environmental Science (engineering) and French and maybe a minor in Russian/Arabic. I also hope to study abroad. Would I be able to graduate in 4 years and would it be possible to do all of this? Also if you have any advice on:
- which I should major in (Environmental Science/Environmental Engineering/Biology)
- whether learning Russian/Arabic would be useful with one of the science majors ^ or in life and which one you recommend learning
- if any of the majors would allow a lot of traveling
- which colleges are best for these areas of study</p>

<p>I know that's a lot to ask, but thank you for whatever you can help me with! :D</p>

<p>P.S. I'm currently taken French 4 and will take French 5 next year (my school doesn't have AP French), am taking AP Environmental Science, and will take AP Biology next year if that helps any.</p>

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<p>I’m sure you can study abroad with almost any degree, especially foreign languages, they sort of prompt you to do so…</p>

<p>If you are not going through additional education after undergrad, a biology degree is a bad idea. You will have a lot of trouble finding a good job with a BS in biology, even with a foreign language minor.</p>

<p>Of the three you have listed, Environmental Engineering is probably the safest choice. Environmental Science is also pretty decent as many companies are hiring them to help determine their environmental impact, government agencies hire them to manage land, etc. </p>

<p>Glad to see you are also interested in a foreign language. I also want to learn Russian. To be honest though, it won’t really help you that much in the workplace unless you’re in business, international relations, etc. But there is an unusually high percent of Russians living in the USA compared to other countries, so I’m sure there is some application of it.</p>

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<p>It all depends on what school you go to, AP credit, and stringent planning. If you know what you want to do from the get go it is definitely possible. I know plenty of people who majored in bio along with something else. </p>

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<p>I don’t know this for a fact, but if you’re interested in hard science, Russian and German are supposed to be the most valuable languages. Not sure if that applies to environmental science or not. Otherwise, fluent Arabic is in relatively high demand. I took classes with someone who spoke Arabic and Farsi fluently & she was actually sought out by the FBI to work in translation. Not that that’s your interest, but it can certainly open doors if you are actually fluent. If you decide to study abroad, check out interpreter education requirements in the US. Some require 6 months of study in that country, etc. Couldn’t hurt to get that under your belt in case you ever need it. </p>

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<p>If you want to do a double major in Environmental Engineering + French, check out engineering schools that have an international engineering program. See my post in this thread:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/engineering-majors/1201485-should-i-consider-different-major-if-i-want-work-abroad.html”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/engineering-majors/1201485-should-i-consider-different-major-if-i-want-work-abroad.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>It can be difficult to combine another major with engineering due to the structure of many engineering majors which might not permit enough nontechnical electives apart from your gen ed requirements. </p>

<p>A minor in Russian or Arabic might not be worth it imo since it might not lead to a sufficient level of proficiency unless you were able to do a year abroad in Russia or an Arabic-speaking country, This might be difficult to do while still completing your required engineering courses.</p>

<p>Arabic could have some use if you did business or consulting in an Arabic-speaking country, though spoken Arabic dialects differ across various regions of the Middle East. Russian also could be useful for business and consulting, and there is a Russian scientific literature in some fields that hasn’t been translated.</p>

<p>If you have any interest in Africa, your French will be useful. There might be opportunities in environmental engineering/environmental health in Africa. You could consider a second major in African Studies… </p>

<p>You should check out the Language Flagship Program, which is designed to bring students to a high level of proficiency in certain critical languages. You combine this program with a major in another field, though I’m not sure how easy this could be done with an engineering major. <a href=“http://www.thelanguageflagship.org/content/language”>http://www.thelanguageflagship.org/content/language&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;