<p>How difficult is it to get joint concentrations approved? Is it jsut a matter of getting some paperwork signed or is it much more involved? I'm planning on doing psychology primary, and gender & sexuality studies secondary.</p>
<p>Don't you have to have good grades in classes from each concentration for it to be approved? I thought I read that somewhere . . .</p>
<p>i'm actually curious about this as well... as i'd like to do government and hispanic literature</p>
<p>i know harvard has been making a lot of changes to joint concentrating in recent years.</p>
<p>I am also curious. I'd like to do Economics and Government.</p>
<p>From Prefrosh.net:</p>
<p>(08) Joint Concentrations</p>
<p>Are you allowed to do a double major at Harvard College (I want to do History and Visual and Environmental Studies)? Or does Harvard only allow a joint-major?</p>
<p>There are no double majors as such, but joint concentration is similar to it. If you look at History (<a href="http://www.registrar.fas.harvard.edu/handbooks/student/chapter3/history.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.registrar.fas.harvard.edu/handbooks/student/chapter3/history.html</a>) and VES (<a href="http://www.registrar.fas.harvard.edu/handbooks/student/chapter3/visual.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.registrar.fas.harvard.edu/handbooks/student/chapter3/visual.html</a>) in the Student's Handbook you will see that both VES and History allow joint concentrations with their fields. You just have to choose which one is your "major" and which one is "minor" (they call it "our field+another field" and "another field+our field"), which will determine how many courses and which tutorials you need to take in each department. You will also find statistics on how many people there are in each department, how many joint concentrators there are, and how many choose each field as major or minor. All joint concentrations are honors tracks, and writing thesis on a topic combining the two fields of your choice is required for graduation.</p>
<p>More generally, all of you can look up information on any concentration in The Student Handbook (<a href="http://www.registrar.fas.harvard.edu/handbooks/student/chapter3)%5B/url%5D">http://www.registrar.fas.harvard.edu/handbooks/student/chapter3)</a>. It will give you an idea of concentration requirements, links to department websites, statistics on enrolment, head tutor's contact details, etc. Check it out.
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Honors</p>
<p>Can you do a joint concentration and apply for honors for both?</p>
<p>This is not an option -- it is a requirement. Joint concentrators must write a thesis (which is equivalent to saying "honors track") that combines the two areas of their joint concentration. The example I like to give is a joint Physics and Music concentrator who wrote a musical about Physics (called Les Phys) as part of his senior thesis. Greeeeat stuff -- everyone planning to take Physics 16 will have a chance to listen to songs from that musical before lectures, since the musical is precisely about Physics 16 :)
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Being Denied of the Ability</p>
<p>Is there a chance that I won't be offered the ability to have a joint concentration?</p>
<p>Well... You must apply and explain why you cannot cover what you want to study just by concentrating in the one field while taking electives from the other. (I'm not sure that this is the rule for all departments. You have to consult the concentrations' advisors.) </p>
<p>Specific to Sweetsangria: As a transfer student, you may not be able to do a joint concentration as you will need to make up the requirements of your majors as well as some Core requirements. Check with the departments you are interested in and with your faculty advisor.</p>
<p>I think that if your a liberal arts major, it would greatly benefit you to choose a second major in either creative writing or English. These majors will greatly enhance your writing, reading, and literary analysis skills - priceless tools that will prove extremely useful in this competitive world of ours.</p>
<p>True . . . </p>
<p>The only downside to that is that if you want to do a Creative Thesis in your English Concentration (ie, write a novel, a volume of poetry, a [screen]play, etc.), you can't be a joint concentrator; English has to be your sole concentration.</p>
<p>That's why I'm having a hard time deciding between English, VES (Film/Video track, or Film studies Track, haven't decided . . . ), or both.</p>
<p>Great! Tell that to my would-be employers. I'm sure Merrill Lynch would be pleased with my mad creative-writing skillz. (sob, sob)</p>
<p>Economics and East Asian Studies, here I come!</p>
<p>What I don't understand is: if you want to "joint-concentrate" in two unrelated fields, are you not allowed to do it? Also, I'm sure some obscure relationship could be found, but can you really BS a thesis, and do your classes have to reflect your fabricated "interest?"</p>
<p>I've heard that govt and econ joint degree is very difficult to pull off due to the extensive requirements for each major.</p>
<p>I don't know if this is correct but I was given a figure that only 2 out of 100 people originally intending to do this joint degree actually completed it last year.</p>
<p>Well I think I can address one of your questions:
If you want to joint concentrate in unrelated fields, you'll need to find some way to connect the two in order to have it approved. Some concentrations, however, do not allow joints, such as those already interdisciplinary in nature (romance studies) or sciences (biology, etc..)</p>