<p>I am very interested in studying abroad in Japan at WFU. However, I also want to do a double major (Japanese and biology), and biology courses are not offered at the university there. How feasible is keeping both majors and also spending a year in Japan? Would I be able to take biology courses online while there? Would I have to take a gap year for the bio major (and if so, how easy is it to finish graduation requirements for a bio major a year early?)? Does anybody have any experience with studying abroad at a place that doesn't support one of their majors? Thanks!</p>
<p>Hi @starlugia:</p>
<p>I think that this is possible, but will be very difficult. I almost double majored in business & psychology but going abroad made that extremely hard to do. I would say that if you hit the ground running freshman year, this may be possible. Will you be pre-med? </p>
<p>I do not think online courses are offered but I could very well be wrong about this. Also - would you be spending an entire year in Japan? That program may require special approval: usually students only go for a semester and Wake caps the number of credits in each field that a student may receive if the courses are not taken through Wake. </p>
<p>I went abroad but they offered psychology & business where I went. Since it was not a WFU program, the credits transferred but the grades did not factor into my GPA. </p>
<p>Sorry that I couldn’t really assist here, but I wanted to answer this just in case no one else knows the specifics of the Japan study abroad program / biology abroad courses.</p>
<p>My son will study abroad in his junior year, but for only one semester. He is a chemistry and latin major. He planned ahead and made sure he talked with advisers in both departments. You will have to take a lot of hours (he had 18.5 last semester).</p>
<p>I recently graduated from Wake as a business and psychology double-major. It’s definitely doable even with studying abroad. I did not study abroad, but even with a double-major I could have graduated in 3.5 years. The curriculum and requirements are set up so you take something like 15 credits each semester to graduate in 4 years.</p>
<p>The thing that most people don’t realize is that adding an extra major doesn’t actually add that many extra hours to your workload in itself. The extra major courses can often be taken instead of taking electives and you wouldn’t end up taking significantly more courses than the average.
Personally I wanted to take electives as well so I averaged about 18 credits a semester, which is essentially one more course than the average student, which isn’t awful. It’s all about balancing your courses.</p>
<p>Your plan would definitely be feasible for most majors, I just personally don’t have much experience with our bio program so can’t help you much there! You probably won’t be able to take courses online for that since online courses can’t usually count toward most majors. What you could do is take as many bio courses at Wake as possible before you leave for abroad and then try to take some of your core classes online while you’re abroad and take most of your Japanese courses while you’re there too. Then you could just finish up the bio when you return.</p>
<p>One idea also might be to not to an entire year in Japan, but rather do summer/fall kind of thing. So you could still be there from May-December, but only technically miss one semester on campus.</p>
<p>This is kind of funny because I randomly decided to check collegeconfidential and saw your question. I’m a sophomore at Wake, and actually just declared a Japanese and biology double major and was accepted to a study abroad program in Japan. </p>
<p>I admit, it’s really hard considering both majors require around 30 credit hours for graduation. It’s a lot easier depending if you want a BA or BS in biology. A BA makes your life a lot easier, but if you’re pre-med like me, you end up with a BS with all the extra classes anyway. </p>
<p>I’m going to Japan in the summer because I have less leeway, but if you plan out your schedule early on, it is doable.</p>
<p>Message me if you have more questions.</p>