double major...?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Wellesley College
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<p>Hi there... I was accepted at Wellesley and am wanting to major in Biology and then minor in international relations.. however I looked on the Wellesley website and it seems like there is no minor in int'l relations?? In that case I'm considering doing a double major. How possible is this? What are the class schedules like, ie: how many do you have a week, whats the average amount of time spent on homework, exam schedules etc. Would it be possible to double major without spending my life in a book? </p>

<p>Also, while i'm at it, I've recently started learning French and I want this to be the my language at college. What sorts of programs/ courses does Wellesley have that caters to those just starting a new language.</p>

<p>Thanks in advance!!:)</p>

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<p>Ok. Many people double major; it is pretty easy to do depending on what areas you want to do. </p>

<p>However, IR and Bio is definitely one of the more difficult double majors. However, if you plan it out right, it is definitely possible to complete. The one thing about the IR major is that as far as the number of courses is concerned, it is basically a double major in itself. Within the IR major you can choose to concentrate in one of three areas: history, econ, poli sci. What courses you have to take are outlined in a document on this website:</p>

<p>[Untitled</a> Document](<a href=“http://www.wellesley.edu/Polisci/IR/]Untitled”>http://www.wellesley.edu/Polisci/IR/)</p>

<p>Coupling all of that with a biology major can be difficult because of scheduling with labs. But if you can make it work and you can handle all the work that comes with it, definitely go for it. You may find that you like one more than the other eventually, or you could do an IR major and a Bio minor or some other combination even. </p>

<p>Some people start in IR and then instead of doing IR with a concentration in history, econ, or poli sci end up just becoming a history, econ, or poli sci major instead. </p>

<p>Personally I have found double majoring not that difficult to schedule even though I am also double majoring in a social science and a science. You just have to be flexible with what courses you take and when you take them. Also, for you, studying abroad all or part of your junior year might not be a reasonable option to consider given your potential courseload. However, that doesn’t mean you won’t be able to study abroad – you could do a summer or a winter abroad if you want to. Some people really want study abroad to be a large part of their college career and because of that some people choose not to double major while others still can make it work. It ultimately comes down to how much you want to put in to your college life – you may have to take five courses one or more semesters while you’re at Wellesley. </p>

<p>My advice (sorry this is so long) would be to come to Wellesley, take the intro courses your first semester, and see how they go. See if you like them, if you’re actually interested in what you’re studying and then figure out how you can go about majoring in those areas. That being said, you may change your mind about what you’re studying. However, if you are really interested in studying IR, you must start taking prereqs for the IR major your first year otherwise it is difficult to complete later on. Sciences can definitely be completed in three years so you could potentially wait and see if you like it later on (one caveat to this: you may find you will have a semester with 2 or 3 labs depending on the science if you choose to do this path… it’s do-able but think about the workload you are taking on).</p>

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<p>Classes are mostly two or three times per week. Wellesley runs on a Monday/Thursday, Tuesday/Friday schedule, with Wednesdays as flexible. So if your class goes three times a week, it would meet Mon, Wed, Thurs or Tues, Wed, Fri. Each class is 70 minutes unless you are in an upper-level seminar (those typically meet once a week for 2.5 hours or so) or in a lab (depending on the science 3-4hrs once a week). </p>

<p>That being said, beginning languages can meet 4 or 5 times a week. Some languages also have extra small group meetings to foster more conversation based improvements. Those are typically scheduled depending on everyone’s schedules.</p>

<p>Exam schedules vary by class. Some classes are paper based, so you might have 3 papers for that class and no exams. Some class are all based on homework and exams; some class have 2 midterms and a final, others have 3 midterms and a final. Some classes have combinations of papers and finals. </p>

<p>One unique thing about Wellesley is that we have self-scheduled finals. We are given a week or so to take our finals and we can choose what to day we want to take a final on. This system largely depends on the honor code we have at Wellesley since some people in your class might take your final days before you do, but the system is a great system. I don’t think I could imagine college any other way; it’s a great opportunity for students to gauge how much time they need to study for a certain exam and allow themselves the chance to have that time.</p>

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<p>I will answer your question about language courses in broader terms than your question asked, just in case some other people want to know more about the language programs as well.</p>

<p>Wellesley offers a slew of introductory courses for languages. If you have had little or no experience in a language you can just sign up for the beginning course when you register for classes during Orientation week (more information about this will be sent out to you in the summer). </p>

<p>If you have had previous experience in a language and want to continue that language at Wellesley (ie. you have taken an AP/IB exam and received a qualifying score or an SATII exam or you grew up speaking another language, etc), you can take a placement exam during Orientation week and place into a higher level course at the 200 or 300 level depending on your competency in the language. Again, more information about this will be sent to you in the summer - do not worry about these right now. These exams are just meant to gauge your level in the language. Some test writing, listening, speaking … it all depends on the language department as far as how they test students. Some departments also have courses for people who have grown up speaking a language but have not learned how to read and write (this more applies to Asian languages) and you can place into those with the placement test also.</p>

<p>Besides courses at Wellesley, many programs offer study abroad programs for your junior year. And some also offer courses in the winter or summer, both intro courses at Wellesley and study abroad courses also. French, in particular, has various study abroad programs, including Wellesley-in-Aix which many people take part in. </p>

<p>If anyone wants more specific information about a certain language, either course information, placement test info, or study abroad, let me know and I’ll try to answer your questions.</p>

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<p>WOW thanks so much for this information! It was really put things in perspective:)
I was hoping to study abroad (I’m planning on going into international public health). I’ve heard that Wellesley has an amazing study abroad program…but that is about the extent of what I’ve heard. Does the college have any sort of internship with the UN or WHO or similar? How competitive are these programs? I don’t mind my exchange being during the summer as I plan to spend my summers doing research or similar and then doing something during the wintersessions too… Heard you can get extra credit? Also, I don’t suppose you would know but what’s the average GPA for people in a bio major?</p>

<p>What science and social science majors are you doing? Thanks again for the long reply!:)</p>

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<p>Wellesley does have many options for study abroad – and if Wellesley happens to not offer a program you want to join, you can go with another school’s program and that will be ok with Wellesley too. Your sophomore year you will get a lot more information about the available opportunities – you will have a chance to attend a fair with all the study abroad programs and you can talk to the coordinator of the study abroad office at Wellesley also (Jennifer Thomas-Stark). </p>

<p>Internships – that’s a large topic. I’ll try to keep my answer concise. Wellesley has an office set up for the internship and job search - the Center for Work and Service (the CWS). Counselors there help you create your resume, cover letters, give you interview advice, advice on how to look for internships and jobs … basically everything. They have a library with all the books about various internships, jobs, industries to look into, graduate schools, etc. They also hold seminars and meetings throughout the year focused on “how to write a resume”, “what do graduate schools look for”, and other similar topics. The CWS also brings companies to campus for recruiting and you can attend presentations to hear about what the companies offer as far as internships and jobs are concerned (most of these presentations are geared towards juniors and seniors but anyone is allowed to attend generally). Also, many alumnae often work at these companies and come back to campus to speak to students about their experiences with these companies. The ACCESS program was also set up to bring more alumnae back to campus to connect with students in the forms of study breaks and in other informal settings. I know people have interned with the UN in the past, so that is possible; I’m sure WHO probably has a similar internship program. </p>

<p>Wellesley does not give academic credit for internships but you can get credit for doing research on campus with a professor.</p>

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<p>Are most of the exams open-book or not? And can you write your exams with a computer, or you generally hand-write them?</p>

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<p>Do you mean Bio/IR exams specifically or exams in general? I had my computer science mid term today, and it was open book (still difficult!). My other exams for Psych have been written tests. It really depends on the professor, but you can also usually guess with the subject. Computer Science focuses more on being able to work with coding versus memorizing every little tag, and Biology tends to focus more on memorization. That’s at least my interpretation?</p>

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<p>I think all of my exams have been hand written – there may be some computer science and upper level econ exams where there are computer components, and in that case the exam may be a take home exam. Take home exams work on the honor code and you can take your exam to the library or your room or wherever and take your exam – you are expected to adhere to the time limit set and not use any notes or textbooks if that is what is required for the exams. Some exams are open book/open note, including some finals; it really depends on the professor and the department.</p>

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<p>Thanks for all this info… There’s a lot of hits on this page so I hope others are gaining insight from it too! I’m beginng to understand that a double major in bio/IR just may not be the best thing. how would I go about creating my own minor in IR? Should I speak directly to the admissions office about it? And what would it say in my final certificate - as in does it actually state what you majored in? This is a pretty big part of my decison-making process regarding where to attend… thanks again:)</p>

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<p>You would talk to your dean about creating your own degree. You have to write a proposal and include a list of courses you could reasonably take for the degree and then it must be approved by a committee of some sort. It has been done before multiple times so you can definitely do it if you want to. On your degree, I believe it would say something to the effect of “Indiv – [Insert Name]” where Indiv means you created your own individual degree. </p>

<p>Also, you don’t necessarily have to “minor” in IR; you can take all sorts of courses in that area. After college people will look at your transcript and see what courses you have taken. You don’t necessarily need a degree in that area to have a background in it.</p>

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<p>Hmm… unless it’s changed in the past 5 years, your actual diploma does not include your major. Just your name and that you received a Bachelor of Arts from Wellesley. All in Latin. Thus, I cannot read my Wellesley diploma because the only Latin I know is Carpe Diem. And Et tu Brute.</p>

<p>Your major would be listed on your transcript.</p>

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<p>Don’t forget “Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus”.</p>

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<p>Oh yes, sorry about that! By degree, I meant transcript. Oops.</p>

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<p>haha et tu Brute:) That’s interesting that it’s all in latin… is that the norm or is that only on Wellesley’s diplomas? Also, Wellesley only offers BA’s right? no B.Sc?? That’s the whole Liberal arts thing coming into play right?</p>

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<p>Wellesley only offers a BA, so even if you major in a science you would get a BA in Chemistry, for example. </p>

<p>Or perhaps it’s actually an AB, if it’s in Latin?? I just know that in English it translates to a Bachelors of Arts.</p>