Right now I am double majoring in History (with a concentration in US History) and Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security, and Cyber Security (with a concentration in Homeland Security.)
I am thinking of making the Homeland Security Major into a minor,( and then maybe adding another minor.) My main worry is that I am still not sure I want a career in a ‘Homeland Security’ type job. Also, the full major entails 140 intern hours on top of 100 separate training hours. I have two kids under age two at home and it’s already been a struggle just to get to school (cannot afford a babysitter at the moment so my husband watches them when he comes home from work). I don’t know if I want that kind of lifestyle, where I am away from my kids a lot.
If I just dropped the Homeland Security into a minor I would finish school within less than a year with a Bachelors in History, because I wouldn’t have to do 240 hours of training/interning.
It would still make it easier even if i had another minor to round out my education. I also plan on going through short training courses related to the Homeland Security field and History field but on my OWN time, instead of having to worry about a big internship. These certified courses are free and provided by my college, which helps a TON.
After I graduate with a bachelor’s I also intend to get my masters in history online.
So, what do you suggest I do?
Stick with double major
or
One major and two minors, certifications
^I strongly doubt it. The Department of Homeland Security is only 15 years old, and there are very few programs in homeland security at colleges and universities. (In fact, I’m pretty certain that SUNY University at Albany is the only place that offers this program - it’s so distinctive it came up immediately in an Internet search, and the major itself is brand new.)
I think the choice really depends on you and your interests and career goals. You easily get a job in emergency preparedness and national/homeland security with a history degree, especially if you get some experience. Why do you need two majors? Why wouldn’t you just major in history and minor in homeland security et al?
Do note, though, that the whole point of the 240 hours of training and interning is supposed to be to prepare you to enter the field of security (and the workforce in general). Even if you decide to major in just history, you still need to get some practical internship experience to be competitive in the job market. So I wouldn’t necessarily drop the major just to avoid the interning and experiential component - that’s a feature, not a bug.
It’s understandable that you want to be with your kids as much as possible, but not every emergency preparedness or homeland/national security job would require you to be away from your kids a lot. The 240 hours that you’d have to do would be a temporary requirement from you - not necessarily a lifelong struggle. Lots of people who work in national security and emergency preparedness work regular desk jobs. Don’t opt yourself out of the career field altogether before you even look at jobs in the field.