I am an incoming Freshman at Yale and hope to be admitted into their Global Affairs major and also major in Econ. I also want to “minor” (there are no minors at Yale) in Arabic (I am already intermediate) and French (of which I know none).
Is this a solid plan? Is Yale even known for IR (I mean I’m going there now so I guess it doesn’t matter). What would job/internship prospects be for someone like me? (I specifically want to work in the Middle East).
It doesn’t matter whether Yale is “known” for a specific major. The undergraduate experience is not like graduate school, where you have to select a place on the basis of your department and field of study; you’ll take about 1/3 of your classes in your major, and the rest in other departments. Yale is “known” for an excellent undergraduate education, and that’s the important part. Global Affairs would be an excellent major if that’s what you’re interested in.
Once you get there you can talk to an advisor. In general, having two majors and two minors is a difficult proposition, and taking two languages at the same time can be kind of rough. A more realistic proposition would be to major in global affairs, minor in economics, and take language classes in Arabic to achieve fluency - maybe studying abroad in an Arab nation so you can improve your language skills and/or getting a Critical Language Scholarship to increase your language skills. If you really also want to take French, that’s a possibility too, but it’ll be far easier if you only have one major and one (or no) minor (you could always just take classes in economics).
Seems like a good way to work for the UN in a field office, or for an embassy perhaps.