<p>I'm going to be a college freshman this fall (at UMD-CP) and I'm trying to figure out a basic four year plan so I'm trying to decide my majors (because I want to possibly double major and I definitely want to study abroad for at least 2 semesters, I think this isn't premature planning). I'm entering UMD as a Government/Politics major, and I'm thinking of double majoring in that and Arabic. </p>
<p>The issue is that with that double major I would have little time for electives or a minor (combined with Gen Ed I've managed to make a schedule that allows me one elective every semester, but because I'm in the honors program and those classes are mostly electives, I want more flexibility so I can find challenging classes) - I'm really interested in UMD's minors in Terrorism Studies or History or possibly Israel Studies, but with a double major I don't think I'll have room for either of them.</p>
<p>So I'm thinking of minoring in Arabic instead, and that way I can be a Government/Politics major probably with 2/3 minors (definitely Arabic and probably Terrorism Studies, maybe History on top of that...). I like that plan because I have more flexibility, but I'm wondering if I'd be losing out on opportunities if I don't major in Arabic.</p>
<p>Right now I'm pretty sure I want to work in US foreign relations (otherwise directly in the Middle East, probably through an NGO) and I know that Arabic degrees are marketable in that job field. With either plan I would hopefully be fluent (I plan to study abroad for a year in the Middle East for this purpose), but will a minor in Arabic be as helpful as a major?</p>
<p>Thanks for any advice you have :)</p>
<p>As someone who’s going into this type of work, as long as you’re fluent, you’re fine. I personally picked up a language in college and an additional language from Rosetta Stone, so you’re fine. I think it would be more beneficial for you to pick up those additional ‘little’ minors, as they make you more marketable than an Arabic major would. My ‘little’ political science minor got me my internship and subsequently my job.</p>
<p>Have you taken some Arabic yet? Fluency, along with the deep familiarity with the dynamics of the history, culture and politics- and something about economics and maybe negotiations- can matter more than whether it’s a minor or major. Either way, it’s good to take a trial run through the course listings, to see if you can actually achieve the breadth and depth you need- what class schedule conflicts there could be. Since their Arabic major seems to focus on language, you need to dive into the Middle Eastern studies offerings, as well. See what the various major/minor reqirements are.</p>
<p>When my D explored the work that could come from continuing her Arabic, she found a range- much of it lower level. I’m curious what S’gurl will be doing.</p>
<p>Thanks for all your thoughts so far everyone! </p>
<p>@soccergurl7988: thanks, that makes a lot of sense - hopefully if I’m committed, I’ll be fluent either way, so taking up the minors might make the most sense for me to have knowledge in more than one area. </p>
<p>@lookingforward: so far I’ve only taken an introductory class over the summer, so I have a basic familiarity with the alphabet and I know a few words and some basic grammar, but I haven’t really started learning yet. I’m hoping to take more classes this summer so I’m going in knowing something, but it’s mainly something I’ll be learning in college, but I’m ok with spending a lot of time on it to make sure I get the language down (I want to live in Language House starting sophomore year, so I’d be living in an apartment with other people taking Arabic so we could practice. I’m also going to really work on it while I’m abroad). And I see your point that breadth is pretty important, so doing multiple minors might make the most sense. I’ll keep looking into it. :)</p>
<p>Arabic (along with Russian, Farsi, Urdu, Pashtun, etc.) are pretty in demand languages at a lot of the gov’t agencies, if you know what I mean. </p>
<p>I took Dutch as an undergrad because I was a hard science major and needed something easy. My political science minor allowed me to get my gov’t internship, and in my free time in grad school, I picked up a basic understanding of Russian. I did my masters in hard sciences (since I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go gov’t or hard science), and have since accepted a job offer doing consulting work for a gov’t agency. </p>
<p>@lookingforward If your D needs some ideas, feel free to PM me.</p>
<p>^ what she found was lots of admin asst type jobs abroad or in DC, even for those who were functionally fluent in Arabic and Hebrew. I think your combo of science and languages is a winner. You have multiple angles covered. Congrats. She was less certain how she’d proceed.</p>
<p>OP, you don’t need multiple “minors.” You need to develop some sort of expertise, along with the language skills. My kids have friends who chose the ME major, which then includes requirements in languages and etc. One has a govt or IR minor (which can be pretty interdisciplinary,) to round things out. The idea is to light your own fire, not just have the tag line that states you majored or minored in X. Note also that S’gurl has a masters, which adds to her authority. Also, living in a lang house is good, but how that prefects your Arabic totally depends on the lang skills and lang interests of your roomies. You need pronunciation, vocab and idioms- if some native Arabic-speaing students will also live there, good. Maybe you can find a way to immerse yourself in the language through work with the local Arabic-speaking community.</p>
<p>UMD doesn’t have a MES major though; I can create one but with the annoying individual studies requirements, it would be more time consuming than an Arabic major and then I wouldn’t have time for the Terrorism Studies minor which I think would be super interesting.</p>
<p>
I’m a little confused on what you’re suggesting I do here…I understand that I need more than simply having a minor to get a job (I’m planning on doing multiple internships in college to figure out where I want to be, and I’ll definitely be looking into independent research projects and things like that); I’m just wondering which degree would look better to employers (a double major in Government/Politics and Arabic or a major in Government/Politics with minors in Arabic, MES, and Terrorism Studies) or whether it would make a difference either way.</p>
<p>I am a political science major w/ a minor in Japanese. I would love to work with the government even though I know my minor probably won’t help much (I plan on taking Chinese after I graduate). There are a few students in my Japanese class who are planning on majoring in the language. In my opinion, languages should SUPPLEMENT your major, not be the major itself. The only exceptions would be for Arabic/Farsi/Russian/Chinese etc. Remember, this is coming from a polisci perspective. </p>
<p>If you can handle it, I would say go for the double major. If not, the Arabic major would most likely give you more of an edge if you are committed to working for the government. Good luck either way!</p>
<p>Thanks, so you think an Arabic major would be more competitive than a more diverse set of minors? I’m getting some conflicting advice (which is good in a way, it gives me more to consider) so I’d love to get more feedback :)</p>
<p>Once you’re at school, get some advice from the profs. You don’t have to have multiple minors; you can still take the classes, work with those profs, do research that bridges those subfields. In the end, as your interests and strengths develop, you will have a better idea than you can today.</p>