<p>Wesleyan doesn't have an international relations major, but their website says that they have a "certificate." What exactly is this? Does it just supplement a major? How does it compare to a major?</p>
<p>Well, it's not a supplement to a major. You get the certificate after you take a bunch of classes that have an emphasis on international issues from such departments as government, economics, history. I think the credits required may be as many as a major, but not really. More information here <a href="http://www.wesleyan.edu/pac/cir-info.htm%5B/url%5D">http://www.wesleyan.edu/pac/cir-info.htm</a>
Hope that helps a lil bit :)</p>
<p>I'm going to do the Certificate in International Relations. It's basically like a minor, except interdisciplinary. Wesleyan doesn't have "minors", so this is called a certificate. Most people do it in combination with a major in Government, but you could, of course, do it with other majors, too. </p>
<p>It consists of foreign language, international politics, introductory economics, an international history course (your choice out of 4 options), and five other advanced-level classes of your choice mostly from econ, government, and history. </p>
<p>The good thing about this certificate is that if you're already majoring in government, all of those upper-level classes are already required to complete the major. This means that it doesn't require a ton of extra classes, but instead helps to focus your studies on the international field, if that's what you're interested in. </p>
<p>Basically I think it rocks. :)</p>
<p>I agree. But as I said in another thread, it's difficult (actually I think impossible) to get CIR w/o a major in Govt. They exclude non-majors from all GOVT advanced-classes.</p>
<p>what about with a major in economics?</p>
<p>You could do it. It wouldn't be almost-automatic like it would if you were majoring in Government, but it's definitely possible. </p>
<p>There are a few upper-level GOVT classes that have space for non-majors, so you could take one of those and then do the majority of your CIR coursework in the ECON field. </p>
<p>So, it's definitely doable if you planned things out.</p>
<p>Oh, and also, I just wanted to add in that I think it's a good thing that Wes doesn't have an international relations major, specifically. The WORLD is interdisciplinary, and I think it's important to learn about it in that context, as an umbrella topic that includes many different fields. But, it also means that you'll be especially grounded in one perspective of looking at international relations, due to your major (Government, Econ, whatever...).</p>