Insane Environmental Science Requirements?

Hello! I’m a freshmen applicant to Rice who attended SOAR. While I applied in the social sciences division (Anthropology/Sociology), I also love Environmental Science, and plan to double major. I went on their website to check the feasibility of this, but the Environmental Science website said it was a minimum of 22 classes! That seems like a lot…Am I interpreting this right? If so, it still possible to double major? Thank you so much for your input!

Assuming you take 5 classes a semester, this will be half of your 40 classes over four years. You should see if there are classes that can do “double duty” as both EnvSci and either general education or your second major.

You can also look at making one of your potential majors a minor instead. Also, if you come in with any AP credits, that would reduce the total number of classes to take at Rice.

I can’t speak to Rice specifically without looking over their website, but I was kind of surprised at how many options WEREN’T available to double major, minor, etc at some colleges. Don’t be dazzled by a college name – really look at this before making your final decision.

Yeah I definitely will have to consider it…Dartmouth is my favorite in part because double majoring is so easy there.

My understanding was that Rice also made it very workable to combine and study what you wanted. One of our tour guides was Theater and Civil Engineering double major. LOTS of the guides were double majors. This really seemed to be a point they were promoting. I wouldn’t count it out without asking more questions.

Are you interested in the actual environmental sciences stuff - the biology, chemistry, geosciences, physics, and engineering courses that make up the core? Or are you only passingly interested in those insofar as they help you prep for studying the intersection between humans and the environment?

Because if it’s the latter, you could always do what I call an “enhanced minor” in environmental studies. A regular minor in environmental studies requires a minimum of six classes; about three of them are natural/physical sciences classes and about three are social sciences/humanities classes. However, you can take more than those six classes if you want to - this way you can curate and create your own program of study that is tailored to what you need and want to know to prep for your future research interests. It’ll give you more flexibility to do exactly what you want, including taking an independent study or research credits.

That’s a great idea @juillet! Rice has an Environmental Studies major. I could major in sociology and double minor in Poverty, Justice, and Human Capabilities and Environmental Studies!