I am a freshman at Penn and am really interested in studying war, security, cyberwarfare, etc. Does anyone have any suggestions regarding what majors would allow me to go into these topics? I thought about international relations but it seems way too politically based for me. I love both the science/technology and strategy parts so I was thinking something like the Science, Technology, and Society major. Any thoughts would be much appreciated!
Are you interested in history of technology, or being involved?
If you are interested in being involved, consider a CIS major, or a NETS major.
I’m interested in both, so I’m trying to get a mix of the two since I’m not exactly sure what I want. I’m definitely planning on doing a second major in CIS, so I want something that will complement the technical knowledge and not be overwhelmingly quantitative.
I’d recommend STSC, and if you haven’t already, you should definitely take STSC 212 (Science Technology & War). It seems to fit your interests very well, and I’ve heard great things from a couple friends who took it.
Ah awesome. I’m taking STSC 212 as soon as possible, unfortunately I have a class that takes precedence in the timeslot for next semester, but it’s great to hear that it is a good class so I can look forward to it!
The Networked and Social Systems Engineering (NETS) major is broader than the CIS major. You do have to apply separately, and it is a bit harder to get admitted to than CIS, but it covers technology and society, sociology, security, networks, cloud computing, game theory, and economics, in addition to computer programming.
Oh wow I didn’t realize that. It definitely looks really interesting, but would you say most of the non-engineering focus is put on consumers and markets? I’m just wondering since I’m not a big fan of econ.
I have the impression that the primary non-engineering focus is on social networks/sociology. I think the econ requirement relates to understanding financial networks. If you go to the link, you can read all about the program. It is a nicely constructed website.