Many state that international affairs is very competitive, and for that matter, very selective. As a politically passionate high school student who excels in history courses, debate club (president), and public speaking, I’m really contemplating majoring in this study; not to mention, also comes from a bilingual household with Spanish speakers, I can possibly see myself potentially succeeding if I sharpen up on my Spanish.
Up until this point, I’ve been wanting to pursue constitutional law with an undergraduate in English or Philosophy. However, as someone who always loves delving into the news to read about politics, foreign affairs, and international events; and additionally, one who cherishes history, I can’t help put but be tempted to major in International Affairs. Nonetheless, I really want to end up broke either, so I’m also tempted to just go along with English or Philosophy and concentrate on law. Of course, I could double major and do both; however, I’m just not too sure yet if I want to do that.
With that said, what’s my best course of action? Should I go ahead and double major? I know law school doesn’t require any specific undergrad degree and you could become a lawyer with literally almost anything, but I don’t want to also put too much stress on my college experience should I decide to follow through with law as a backup.
Any insight on this particular issue would be very much appreciated.
It depends. Do you have an interest in global affairs? Have you traveled around the globe or read extensively about other countries and cultures? Do you follow news from UN? Are you ready to do masters? Are you ready to have lower pay initially compared to what you can get in engineering, finance or medicine etc. If you have interest and you are ready to do whatever it takes to become somebody then yes it’s a great field, otherwise it’s not.
If you want to be a lawyer and not add too much workload or too many loans then there is little value. If you can handle workload and price tag of double major then sure, every one should look outside their pond and study international affairs for knowledge, personal growth and for better opportunities in global market.
This is one of those ‘how many angels fit on the head of a pin’ questions, in that the answer doesn’t matter for now, and when you get there the answer will be clear (or clearer).
None of the possible paths you have outlined preclude any of the others, and none of these majors are ones in which knowing early is helpful (as it would be in some of the sciences, where there are a lot of requirements that have to be taken in a sequence). In all likelihood you are at least 2 years from having to make this decision, more likely 3- and possibly 4, depending what year you are now. Apply to colleges with strong humanities, (esp strong inter-disciplinary humanities and programs such as PPE - Philosophy, Politics and Economics)- of which there are many. Take classes in each of these departments. Be led by your response to those classes- take more of the ones that are most interesting to you. Get to know the people in the departments. Sometime towards the end of first year talk to your advisor about how your interests are lining up and what major/double major/major-minor options work best for what you are thinking then. Sometime in your second year declare your major. Have a satisfying college experience, taking courses that are interesting to you, getting really strong grades so that your grad school options are there when you get to that stage.