<p>I am not sure if this is exactly the right forum for my question, since it does pertain to Case, I'll ask it.</p>
<p>I am actually a current student (freshman) at Case, am a History major, and considering a second major in either Political Science or Economics. My problem (well, I'm not sure whether its a problem yet) is that am a humanities/social sciences student at a school that is overwhelmingly geared toward physical sciences and engineering. In total I think the number of history majors here (out of 4,000 undergrads) is not much more than a dozen or so. I'm sure polisci is hardly better. Now, I was quite aware before college of the fact that my areas of interest would be low priority at almost any school, given that they are not exactly "practical" feilds, but in the past few months at case, I've become pretty anxious about my situation. </p>
<p>Now, my classes thesmselves aren't really disappointing me, but given that I have nothing to compare them with (humanities classes at other colleges), I don't think I can really evauluate the comparative quality of the education offered here. So I guess what I'm asking is, what are your opinions about the social science and humanities departments at Case?</p>
<p>If I go to apply fo graduate school (as I intend to) at an Ivy League college, or U of Chicago (my first choice for undergrad), will the fact that I'm coming from Case as a history or Polisci major weaken my chances? Should I have just gone to OSU?</p>
<p>Any comments are appreciated. And please, honest ones; I got enough subjectivism from my college counselor last year.</p>
<p>OK, keep in mind I’m a BME (so I obviously think everyone should major in BME b/c it’s the best major ever) and so I ultimately am sort of clueless. I’m also personally really against majoring in something that isn’t practical (although I realize that that is very unfair of me because I happen to LOVE a field I can work in for the rest of my life).</p>
<p>Not really sure if you’re asking whether or not your second major should be PoliSci or Econ or if you’re just asking opinions about majoring in History at Case.</p>
<p>I assume you want to go into academia? I have heard that in academia the name of the school is extremely important, particularly if you’re not in sci/eng. </p>
<p>1)You might try looking at CVs of faculty where you might want to end up. For example I did a quick search of CVs of faculty at Brown. I looked mainly at the associate/assistant professors because I’d guess they’re probably younger (and thus your career path might be closer to yours) or they’re not as established and thus would kind of set the minimum bar. Some people were depressingly fantastic on paper (like they basically have been at Oxford since kindergarten) and some were more reasonable. One guy went to Reed College and then to Stanford. And another guy went to Oregon State and then University of Washington. Both are now teaching at Brown, but they could be exceptions, so…
2)Ask your adviser how many people with similar GPAs as you have gotten into top-notch schools.
3) Take initiative, email a faculty member at UChicago and ask them what they think, it will take 5 min and the worst that can happen is they won’t respond. And maybe later they’ll remember you were really dying to go there.
4) You could always (at least from Case, not sure about from OSU) study abroad. Oxford/Cambridge, London School of Economics are British stellar options that would give you a semester or a year of Ivy-level education for Case tuition (plus airfare, higher cost of living).
3) It depends on your GPA. In any field, if you get a 3.4 at Case versus a 3.4 at Stanford, you’re not going to be able to do as much. At least for sci/eng, my dad always liked to say, “Get a 4.0 and you can do anything” (because that makes me feel SO much better).
Good luck!</p>
<p>Given the nature of my major(s), Academia is the most likely option; though I thould say the career of choice for me would be going into diplomacy (either working for the state dept. or Council on Foreign Relations). I’m painfully aware that for such jobs the name of the college is important (notable scholars in history or polisci are almost invaraiably graduates of the Harvard/Yale/Princeton variety), and this is a source of unending anxiety for me.</p>
<p>My question, I suppose, to put simply, perhaps too simply, is whether or not it is “worth it” to major in history at Case? (Econ isn’t as big an issue, since the Weatherhead school is one of the best of its kind in the country).</p>
<p>I could (and you may view this as the most sensible thing to do) do an intellectual 180 and switch to a science or engineering major next year (I have lightly considered it, just to show how much Case has gotten to me), but the course requirements for most eng/sci majors practically require one to start freshman year; so my lot is cast.</p>
<p>I could also transfer to OSU, which I hear is just a giant binge, but has some pretty reputable Inl. relations scholars and better overall humanities depts.</p>
<p>Or I could stay at case, get a BA in history and econ, and, with the help of a good GPA, pray that I get into a good (Ivy League level?) graduate school.</p>
<p>I don’t know. If you’re really saying OSU is a better school in your area, I guess my next questions would be which one costs more (if you have a scholarship or FA or whatever). Because if it’s cheaper and better, I’m really not seeing the dilemma. But again I have no clue how good OSU or Case is in non-engineering.</p>
<p>I feel like you’ve nixed this already, but just to be clear, it sounds like for you majoring in science/engineering would be a really bad idea, unless that’s something you’re interested in. BME, for example, is hard enough without going in with a lukewarm attitude towards it. Also, to get a job on par with being a prof at an Ivy in humanities you kind of have to do more than undergrad in science/engineering so (especially for sci, as opposed to eng).</p>
<p>If you’re willing to be flexible to the point of willing to go into science and engineering, why not do what you want undergrad and go into law or something? (Isn’t there some poli-sci related you can do with a law degree?) I was under the impression that you really were passionate about going all the way in history and becoming a professor at Princeton or something and that’s all you wanted to, but it sounds like it might not be that way.</p>
<p>Also, as far as econ goes, what are job prospects in that like for a college graduate? I don’t mean it in a confrontational sort of way, just in a “I have no clue what’s out there” kind of way. Is that something you’re legitimately interested in? If it’s something that will drastically help job prospects for a little bit higher workload, go for it. But if it makes you hate school so you don’t work as hard in those classes and makes your GPA drop significantly then it might actually hurt you.</p>
<p>P.S. Talk to someone else about this, don’t let my advice determine the course of your career/get you really depressed about your major. Seriously, go talk to someone who’s been through this, done this, whatever.</p>
<p>I am fairly “passionate” about my interests, I would say far more so than the average engineer here is about calculus and whatnot, or than other history majors. But I’m also trying to be practical (my dad’s an engineer, so I raised to think of practicality as a cardinal virtue), and, from my cursory research, I’ve found that most of the history professors at top echelon schools went to Harvard, Yale, etc. So I’m wondering, if it would be my lot, so to speak, to end up teaching history at a community college, my practical side tells me it may not even be worth it, and I may as well study econ, get a job at a corporation, and at least make a decent living, as a consolation. </p>
<p>I actually plan to have a second major anyway, perhaps in economics, since it does interest me somewhat, though it’s more challenging than history.</p>
<p>Who would you suggest I discuss this with? High schools have college counselors, so does Case have graduate school counseolors? And would they be find it strange that I am a freshman who concerned about graduate school?</p>
<p>Yeah, if you talk to someone at Case and they find it strange, so what? College is expensive and grad school is a huge part of your career. As a fellow engineer’s kid I can definitely relate to feeling that practicality is important, it’s pretty hard to worry about things TOO early.</p>
<p>Discussing this with your academic advisor (who is the first person I would suggest when you’re thinking about grad school is difficult) is a bit awkward. I mean, the premise of you question sort of is, is Case good enough? But ask him/her, and do it carefully. Something like, “I’m very passionate about going into academia/grad school, what have previous Case history grads been able to do? What do I need to do to make that happen?” Perhaps he’ll tell you, do a summer internship at school Y under professor X. Or, that you should study abroad at school Z. (Then again, he could be clueless, but it’s worth a shot).</p>
<p>I would also suggest emailing professors/graduate admissions (or if you can find the name of a current grad student) at a school at which you might want to go to grad school. Tell them your situation. Maybe they’ll suggest you go to Case (or whatever your cheapest option is) for 2 years and then transfer into an Ivy. Or maybe you could study abroad at Oxford for one of those two years. Or are there rigorous summer programs at Ivys that might help? If you’ve read a paper you like and there’s someone you want to work with, email him/her and ask what you need to do to make sure you’re a competitive candidate for working w him/her.</p>
<p>Basically I could hypothesize forever, but all I do know is that when I as an undergrad took the initiative to talk to professors about working with them I received nothing but positive responses. </p>
<p>P.S. I may have already said this, but do you actually know an extra major will help with the history PhD thing? (not a rhetorical question) Or is it just a backup plan? I’m not sure how impressed grad schools are with extra majors just for the sake of doing them, if your passion is history, you MIGHT be better off spending your extra time working with a professor here at Case.</p>
<p>I dont know much about Case, but I do know the foreign service likes language/area studies majors (a good friend of mine who was east asian studies at an Ivy spent her career in the FS) Also, many FS officers are science/envi officers, so a science or tech major combined with poly sci might work. Or do something techy, work for an international corp, and apply to FS later on.</p>
<p>I want to major in Political Science and Economics. I’m also wondering how Case Western compares to other schools, like UC-SD or NYU, for social sciences?</p>
<p>I am a current humanities/social sciences double major/double minor here at Case, and I think all of my departments are great! While small, they are individualized, and I am on a first name basis with every professor, which is a huge advantage. You’d never have that at OSU and its great for recs, etc. I personally don’t think you made the wrong choice. Poli Sci is actually fairly popular here.</p>