<p>For the longest time I didn't really know how I was going to combine the two passions in my life for a career: history, and technology. Then, I stumbled across a major offered only by Stanford (Science, Technology, and Society) <a href="https://sts.stanford.edu">https://sts.stanford.edu</a> . Now obviously, hedging my bets on getting into Stanford so that I could do this major would be a terrible idea, so I'm wondering, how might I finagle this at another school, especially NYU? For NYU I was thinking of applying to Gallatin and simply modeling my major after STS? Any insight is much appreciated :) </p>
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<p>What part of this major interests you the most? There are a wide range of classes you could take in this major in a variety of different departments, so what perspective are you most interested in? For instance, what do you mean by technology? Do you want to learn to program, do you want to learn about how technology has affected society, do you want to learn about the history of technology? What part of history interests you? Are you only interested in the history of science and technology? What courses offered through that major excite you the most? You can likely find similar courses at other universities.</p>
<p>It doesn’t seem like it would be too hard to replicate something similar at another school. You don’t have to major in something that encompasses every single thing that you’re interested in. Look at where your major interests lie (and what potentially you would like to pursue for a career) and then major in that. Add on elective courses outside of your major that interest you. For instance, you could major in history and take extra courses on how the media or science or technology has affected society. Or whatever other combination most interests you. You can create whatever educational experience you want to, and you can take classes outside of your major without having to find a way to get a degree out of it.</p>
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<p>You can easily combine your interests into one major or even double majors. At several schools, NYU being one of them, you can create your own major and track for course of studies. This option is also offered at other schools such as W&M or more unique schools such as Hampshire. I agree with the above poster that you should see what in particular about that major fascinates you and find schools that have similar experiences, but may not have that exact name</p>
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<p>Stanford may be the only college with a major having that exact name, but there are similar majors at other colleges, for example BS in History, Technology, and Society at Georgia Tech. There are also colleges that allow you to design your own major.</p>
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<p>By technology, I mean I have always been so interested in both the application of it, as well as building (coding) new things (apps etc). As far as history, I have always loved ancient history, but really overall, I love just about any history. I find the story of people and society to be fascinating, and use previous historical events as references for future events.</p>
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<p>If you’re interested in technology and coding, perhaps computer science/engineering or something would be a much better major for you; I don’t know anybody with an STS-or-similar major, but it sounds like a major that would prepare you mostly for law or graduate work in public policy. Are those career options that interest you?</p>
<p>You could take history courses that interest you on the side. Like @baktrax said above, you don’t have to major in every thing that interests you, and you don’t have to look for a major that explicitly contains all the disparate things you’re interested in.</p>
<p>What about doing one of these in any school?</p>
<ul>
<li>Major in a science or engineering subject, take out-of-major electives in history.</li>
<li>Major in history, take out-of-major electives in science and engineering.</li>
<li>Design your own major, if allowed at the school.</li>
</ul>
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<p>At NYU, Gallatin would be the way to go. You just need to be able to explain why Gallatin will help you pursue your interests better than a more typical major</p>
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<p>What would you like to do with this major? If you’re interested in actually coding things, then I wouldn’t recommend doing that major at all. I’d recommend going more of a straight computer science major, rather than a major where you can take some CS class if you want to, but you don’t have to. If you’d like to be a programmer after college, doing a computer science major while taking some history classes for fun might be a better fit.</p>
<p>And the history classes that you could take for this major sound mostly like they are history of science or history of technology classes, rather than ancient history. If you’re interested in pursuing fields related to history, then doing a history major and then taking some programming or CS classes might would likely work out just fine for you.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t necessarily focus on finding one specific major that has both of your interests in the title. Instead, consider what you actually like about history or what you would actually like to learn about technology and take classes that would give you that education. Seek out a major that would like you apply most of those classes to it and still graduate on time. Consider what you would like to do after college. If you’d like to a programmer, then a computer science major might be a better fit. If you’d like to do something related to history, then a history major might be a better fit.</p>
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<p>STS won’t actually teach you to code anything - not on its own, anyway. STS majors learn about how science and technology have affected historical human development, and how they also affect the way humans learn and interact with each other in the present day. The science and tech classes you’ll take are classes like Computers, Ethics, & Public Policy (a 100-level CS class), Ethical Issues in Engineering (a 100-level engineering course), and Social Networks - Theory, Methods, & Applications (a 100-level materials science & engineering class). You could take upper-level CS classes, but that would be personal choice.</p>
<p>It sounds you are just interested in both history and in computer science, so I would just double major (or perhaps major in CS and minor in history).</p>
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