Double-Major in International Studies and Psychology & a Masters in Social Work?

<p>As a career what I would like to do is something related to children's rights in an international field, specifically the Middle East, Latin America, and Africa. I am currently majoring in International Studies and am learning French and Spanish on my own (I took classes but now its too expensive so Im learning them on my own and plan to do volunteer work in countries that speak these languages). When I transfer universities I plan to take Arabic classes since they are not offered at the school I am currently attending. I am positive that I am going to graduate school and get a masters in social work with a concentration on global social work. Should I add Psychology and do a double major, or should I get a minor in it? Or should I wait until graduate school and do a dual degree in Social Work and Psychology?</p>

<p>What do you think of my degree plans?</p>

<p>Much of what you would learn in an undergrad psychology major will have no direct or immediate applicability to the your area of interest. In your social work studies, you will cover aspects of psychology relevant to that social work practice. Another consideration is that much of the psychology that you’d learn in psychology or social work practice courses may have little relevance to other cultures; better to take certain cultural anthropology courses (e.g., cross-cultural human development; psychological anth/culture & personality; transcultural psychiatry; cross-cultural gender roles, etc.) and select psychology courses (perhaps, developmental, abnormal) as electives rather than a formal major or minor in psychology. That said, if you wanted to get dual graduate degrees in social work and psychology, I would think you would need at least a strong undergrad minor, if not a major, in psychology. Although you can enter a grad program in social work from any number of different undergrad fields, this is less often the case in psychology. </p>

<p>The other impression I get from your post is that you are spreading yourself too thin as far as area studies. It pretty difficult to develop a solid background in all three areas of Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East. I would suggest focusing on one of these areas.</p>