<p>Hello. I was wondering if a double major that would consists of Biological Chemistry and Russian would be possible at University of Chicago? Do they not allow this? If they do, how hard would it be to do so? In terms of time, I mean, how long would it take to do this, and how good are study abroad options at University of Chicago in terms of going to study in Russia? Plus, I'm not too concerned about this, but would I have the chance to take some other classes such as history? I know that's a lot of questions. If anybody here has the time, please respond back soon.</p>
<p>It is allowed. It is also probably possible–I did the math, I didn’t actually plot out the schedule. But unless you come in with a decent amount of Russian already under your belt, don’t expect to be able to take electives; the Core makes double majoring in unrelated fields incredibly difficult, and biochem especially is a tough major.</p>
<p>As for study abroad: [St</a>. Petersburg: Smolny College | Study-Abroad](<a href=“http://study-abroad.uchicago.edu/programs/st-petersburg-smolny-college]St”>http://study-abroad.uchicago.edu/programs/st-petersburg-smolny-college)</p>
<p>That’s the one Russian program we have. You might not be able to study abroad during the academic year, though; you’ll have a lot of sequences you need to take if you are a biochem major.</p>
<p>So it would probably be too hard to double major in Biochemistry and Russian within a four to five year time span?</p>
<p>EDIT: Sorry for double post.</p>
<p>No, it’s not too hard. You just need to arrange your course schedule the right way, and you won’t be able to take anything else. If you’re doing a double major (in unrelated fields), you have to plot out everything just so.</p>
<p>If I were to do this, would I at least have enough time to do study abroad?</p>
<p>I have no idea. It depends on whether you could take your biochem stuff abroad.</p>
<p>Double math/EALC (Japan focus) major here. It’s possible, feasible, and actually allows room for electives. For my first 2 years here, my math schedule was extremely rough, so I elected to take 3 classes per quarter. And I’m still graduating in 4 years, with a bunch of electives/graduate courses taken as well. I did come in with a bit of AP credit and language credit, but not THAT much of it.</p>
<p>Study abroad is definitely possible. Definitely for a quarter; not sure about a year - it likely depends on if U of C accepts credit from your study abroad institution, and how much.</p>
<p>Study abroad depends on what sequences you’d have to take, and if you’d be okay with going sometime during 4th year - but there is a lot of funding for going abroad during the summer, so that is definitely an option you should be considering. </p>
<p>I’m also planning a double major across 2 divisions, and while I don’t have many electives, I do have a few (came in with nothing but language placement and 1 math credit from placement test).</p>
<p>I’m sure it’s feasible, if challenging, to double-major in Russian and biochem at the University of Chicago. From an adult perspective, however, I can’t imagine why you would want to do that. There is nothing in the world – no job, no fellowship, no graduate program – for which you will be a more attractive candidate as a Russian/Biochem double major than you would be simply majoring in one of them and taking a bunch of courses in the other without necessarily jumping through all of the hoops to get a major. </p>
<p>You can pursue more than one interest in college without calling each of them a “major” or a “minor”, and for the most part in the world no one cares what your first major was, much less whether you had two of them. People care what you know – which, coming out of college, won’t be that much, no matter how many majors you accumulate – what you have done – ditto – and what attitude and capacity you show for learning and doing more.</p>
<p>If you want to go to a specific grad program or professional school, you need to keep your eye on what its entrance requirements are. If you want to work in a field where some specific skills are necessary, including maybe speaking X language, then you should do your best to acquire those skills. But you don’t need to major in everything.</p>
<p>Well, I’d really like to study abroad in Russia some day. Would it be harder, or impossible, for me to study abroad in another country if I did not major in the language that nation spoke in? If I didn’t double major in Russian, but instead just took all the language classes to help my knowledge of Russian, how many electives would I have left, and would I be able to study abroad just as easy as everybody else?</p>
<p>My impression is that about a third of the undergraduate students at the University of Chicago take at least a quarter abroad. In the class of 2010, there were about 70 students (out of ~1,300, so ~5%) who majored in a foreign language or area studies. The University runs more programs in Germany or Austria (3) than it had German majors in the class of 2010 (2). </p>
<p>So, no, you don’t have to major in a foreign language in order to study abroad where that language is spoken. You ought to know the language, at least at a basic level, in order to get the most out of the term, but you don’t have to major in it. As the others have implied, the biggest obstacle to your studying abroad isn’t your lack of a Russian major, it’s the fact that you want to be a biochem major. Look at the requirements for that, and ask yourself how you can complete them while taking 1-3 quarters elsewhere, where they are probably not taught. </p>
<p>Chicago’s program in St. Petersburg is a year-long one, but it doesn’t seem to offer laboratory science courses at all. So you might not be able to do that and still complete a biochem major in four years. On the other hand, if what you want to do is go to medical school, you could be a Russian major (a piece of cake if you do the year abroad in St. Petersburg) and take a bunch of science classes as electives, work in a lab. That will be fine for medical school, and maybe even for a PhD program.</p>