<p>Hi. I'm a freshman and I know I have a lot of time, but I keep debating whether or not I want to be an IR or poli sci major. I know I'm double majoring with sociology. If someone could just highlight the key differences between IR and poli sci majors. One thing that scares me away from IR is the emphasis on economics but I haven't taken EC 5 yet, so who knows. Thanks for any and all help in advance!</p>
<p>Help please.</p>
<p>Not a student but parent of an IR/PolySci double major. IR has an 8 semester language requirement, which is one big difference. I believe the IR economics requirement is only two courses. IR has more flexibility in constructing your course pattern and you may find more sociology courses that can count for IR than sociology courses that can count for poly sci. Sit down with a course catalog and map out the classes you could take each year for your two different paths. Look at the lists and decide which appeals more for your four short years. Both will likely have some courses you are not hugely enthusiastic about, but one will likely look more appealing than the other. No need to decide now, just make sure you continue to chip away at requirements so you keep both paths open.</p>
<p>Thank you!</p>
<p>My son graduated last spring in IR. In retrospect he thinks he thinks he should have majored in history where he could have taken the courses he liked best. He didn’t really like the poly sci courses he had to take - and chose a difficult language (Arabic) which took a huge amount of time out of his schedule. I really recommend figuring out what courses you like best and major in whatever lets you take the most of them. No one in the real world is going to care about exactly what your diploma says.</p>