<p>Ok-so I have a question. Wellesley does not have a Departmental Major for International Relations but they have an Interdepartmental Major for it. Would I get pretty much the same thing and be able to double major with Russian too (Russian is a Departmental Major)? Does anyone know, or have double majored with something like that? What I really love about Wellesley is that they really encourage the girls to double major (or so I have heard)
So, if anyone has any thoughts or is interested in this major, drop by and we'll talk!
KK18</p>
<p>An interdepartmental major is just a slightly different way of classifying a major--it isn't in any way less than a departmental major. Many of Wellesley's majors are classified as interdepartmental, it only means "A program or major as defined by the Wellesley College catalog; usually a program/major with more than one department. Includes structured individual majors."</p>
<p>One certainly can double major in one departmental and one interdepartmental major. However, international relations is one of the more extensive majors there is. First of all, with IR you have to take 5 core courses and then concentrate in one of three areas--economics, political science, or history. You are not allowed to double major in one of those three subjects. You can double major in another subject--like Russian--but, per the course catalogue, this is "generally unadvisable". Why? Because IR is a 14 credit major--the 5 core classes, plus 9 classes in your area of concentration. In addition, you do have to complete the equivalent of 2 units of language study beyond the college minimum. This wouldn't be a problem for you as a Russian major, but your courseload would still be quite extensive--14 credits for IR, plus 10 for Russian, assuming you came in with no Russian experience. That's 24 credits minimum towards completing the two majors. Remember that you only need 32 credits to graduate (one course = one credit, generally). So it is possible, but your ability to take random classes outside of your two majors would be limited, especially when you take distribution requirements into account. </p>
<p>There is a Russian minor, which is 5 credits, so that might be a slightly less stressful option if you are really attached to IR. I do know that people have completed IR/language double majors, so it is done. </p>
<p>I don't know if I would necessarily say that we are encouraged to double major, but many people do and it certainly isn't discouraged.</p>
<p>Two of my interests that I'm thinking of pursuing is Russian and International Relations, too. I'm a little unsure about the interdepartmental versus departmental major...from reading the Course booklet, my understanding is that IR can have three focuses (the Course booklet calls them "tracks"): IR/Economics, IR/History, IR/Economics.</p>
<p>^^Indeed. If I do say so myself, my previous post is a good sketch of IR and IR + language double major :). But to give the quick and dirty: the IR major consists of 5 core classes, plus nine in either econ, polisci, or history. This is what makes it interdepartmental--the 5 core classes consist of 3 econ courses, and one each of polisci and history. So, if you were an IR/econ major you would take 1 polisci, 1 history, and 12 econ courses. If you were an IR/history major you would take 3 econ, 1 polisci, and 10 history. And so on. </p>
<p>There are quite a few interdepartmental majors, so it is not in any way a weird or undesirable thing. It just means like what it sounds: that the major encompasses more than one independent department. For IR specifically, each concentration/track has it's own designated faculty adviser, if that's a concern.</p>
<p>Raah it seems so complicated!!</p>
<p>If you think that is complicated, wait until you factor in distribution requirements! <evil laugh=""></evil></p>
<p>Ack-so much!!! I hate it because all of the classes look great and I would want to take all of them! Arggg! :p</p>
<p>^^Haha, that's exactly how I feel, but I have to sign up for classes...only four! And two are probably going to be Russian and Japanese...D:</p>
<p>^^Ooof...have you looked at the scheduling for that? I don't know what your level is, but Beginning Japanese is MTWThF (so everyday) at 8:30 am, and Elementary Russian is TThF at 8:30 and W at 9:50. Intermediate Japanese is everyday at 11:10. Two languages, especially when one has a challenging alphabet, can be pretty tough. I have a friend who is big into French, and she started out last year taking a pretty challenging French class as well as Beginning Arabic and she gave up on Arabic after Fall semester (surrendering her language credit for the class, not that she needed it). Anyway, this is all a roundabout way of saying that beginning languages at Wellesley are pretty big commitments.</p>
<p>Well I learned Russian at home. I can speak it, read it, and understand it pretty fluently...but I can't write in Russian. I never really needed to. I don't want to lose the language since I just speak it with my parents (and they won't be there in college!). I don't think I'd be put into elementary Russian, maybe I'd be put into elementary Japanese, but maybe not (I've studied it for 3 years?).</p>
<p>At this point I have no idea!</p>
<p>Wow-the classes look so intense-I love it! I just got back from my Barnard interview-and I have to admit-I was very dissipointed. They did nothing to try to sell the school to me-hmm-hope this weeks interviews and visits are better! <em>crosses fingers</em></p>
<p>Ooh I want to double major too! I'm thinking of either French or Russian with linguistics.
And yeah, KK18, I was pretty dissapointed with Barnard too.</p>
<p>^^The Russian program at Wellesley is very strong. I once met an alum from the 80s who had the same level of Russian as me (I was raised to speak Russian and she learned it at Wellesley). From talking with her I got a very good impression of the program.</p>
<p>^^ That makes me love Wellesley even more :D
I hope some people do manage to handle learning two languages @ Wellesley though, because I'd hate to give up French.</p>
<p>"I have a friend who is big into French, and she started out last year taking a pretty challenging French class as well as Beginning Arabic and she gave up on Arabic after Fall semester (surrendering her language credit for the class, not that she needed it). Anyway, this is all a roundabout way of saying that beginning languages at Wellesley are pretty big commitments."</p>
<p>aww crap! that's exactly what i was planning on doing first semester... a high level french (hopefully) and beginning arabic (or maybe another language).
is it just the intro language courses that have such an intense schedule? would it be easier if i started learning another language that's more similar to french, like spanish or italian??</p>
<p>In my opinion, it would be harder learning a language similar to French because then you might start to confuse the two. For me at least, it would be easier to learn two distinct languages. I'm also considering learning Arabic (it's a toss-up between that or Russian)... don't write it off just yet though, I'd say, you may find it easier to balance than the person who dropped it did.</p>
<p>Oh, yeah, if you really want to do something please try it and don't let me stop you! However, let me expound a little on my story...as I said, my friend is pretty advanced in French. She spent a year abroad in high school and took her classes there in French, and is planning to be a French major. Her french class was basically like any other class for her, so it really wasn't the double that made it challenging. One, obviously, you go into a language like arabic with basically no background (assuming your native language is English or another Germanic or Romance language, of course). You're starting from square one. Two, ALL beginning languages at Wellesley are intensive--meeting 4-5/wk, usually in the 8:30 am slot. Three, she did not care for her teacher. Now, there are two teachers for Arabic next semester, and different students click with teachers in different ways, so this fact alone should not scare you away. I do know that it took an incredible effort in time--not only class time, but the homework took absolutely forever and of course she was going to office hours. She estimated that the class took in the neighborhood of 26-30 hours/wk, all told--to put it into context, my more demanding and time consuming classes (including a 300-level math course) took around 13-15 hrs/wk if everything was added up. Of course different people could take wildly different amounts of time to do the same things, but it was definitely a huge commitment. As I said, she, as well as another girl who I am acquainted with, dropped the course at the semester. </p>
<p>So basically, here's the deal: if you already have the language requirement for Wellesley fulfilled and are still really interested in Arabic when registration time rolls around, I would sign up and hope for the best. If you don't have the language requirement fulfilled, you have some thinking to do, because if you drop Arabic at the semester like my two friends did, you will be forfeiting the credit. All it will count for is as a credit towards the 32 you need towards graduation--ie, you will be no closer to fulfilling the language requirement than you were at the beginning of the semester. Both of my friends had the language requirement fulfilled in another language already, so dropping arabic, while frustrating, had no particular consequences for them. This isn't the case for you, but if you were JUST beginning your FIRST language and were thinking about choosing arabic, I would be very wary, because you would be pretty set-back by dropping it and the desire to do so may be strong.</p>
<p>Advantagious - how can the language requirement be fulfilled? If I took four years of French in hs and also speak Hindi as my second language (after English) then can I place out of the requirement if I come to Wellesley?</p>
<p>The following is from the Office of the Class Deans (link here: Office</a> of the Class Deans ) </p>
<p>Foreign Language Requirement</p>
<ol>
<li><p>You can satisfy the foreign language requirement in the following ways: by receiving a score of 690 or better on an SAT-II test or a 5 on an A.P. exam (4 for students who began before fall 2006); or by successfully completing two units of language study at the second-year level (in the same department) or one unit of language study at the third-year level.</p></li>
<li><pre><code> All introductory and intermediate languages listed in the College Bulletin as "(1-2)" are full-year courses. This means that you will lose credit for the first semester in these courses unless you successfully complete the second semester. In reviewing your grade report, make sure that you have been granted the appropriate credit.
</code></pre></li>
<li><p>You cannot receive credit for more than two years of modern foreign language at the introductory level.</p></li>
</ol>
<p><me again=""></me></p>
<p>The easiest and most straightforward way to satisfy the language requirement is to get the AP 5 or SAT II 690. That's what I did (AP German 5). I am not 100% sure how the foreign language requirement works if you don't have the test score, but place out of the 201/202 level (which is the level that you would have to complete if you were starting a language--ie, if you had never taken a language before and decided to begin with, say, Spanish, you would take Spanish 101/102 and 201/202 and would be done). I <em>think</em> that the way it works is if you place higher than the 201/202 level, that counts as satisfying the language requirement, but I am not 100% confident about that. I also don't know how they treat a second languages not offered at Wellesley--if it is offered, you could just place out of it, but I just don't know how it works otherwise. It doesn't really matter how many years of a language you have taken--for example, if I had not gotten a 5 on the German AP test and had tested into 201, I would have had to take 201/202 to fulfill my German requirement even though I had taken 4 years of German. </p>
<p>I hope this clarifies at least somewhat. If you are very worried about the language requirement I can try to get the blanks filled in, though.</p>
<p>that is weird!!!! i spent most of last year in a french high school (taking classes all in french, living w/a french family). & i got a 5 on the french ap, so it would be a similar situation. </p>
<p>i guess i'll see how i feel once i'm planning out my schedule... does everyone only take 4 classes the first semester?? </p>
<p>would my schedule be too demanding if i took a class like PE or art as a 5th class? (not like art doesn't take a lot of time, but maybe there wouldnt be as much studying)</p>
<p>thanks for your help!!! :)</p>