<p>I'm planning on majoring in criminal justice and minoring in Arabic, but I'd also really love to double major in Government and Politics. Anyone think this may be too difficult for a freshman? Also, can someone explain the depth you get in to with Arabic when you're only minoring in it? Thanks!</p>
<p>I have no personal experience with Arabic, but your majors don’t sound too challenging to me. I think you’ll probably be fine.</p>
<p>Take classes in all those areas and see how it goes. You won’t get a true idea until you get to upper division classes, but at the very least you’ll have a general idea of if those areas are manageable for you or not, and if you’ll want to stick with those majors/minors.</p>
<p>As far as the minor, it depends on the school. At mine, the difference between a major and a minor in any given language is how many literature and culture classes you have to take in addition to the actual language classes. I’ve heard of others where a minor focuses mainly on the language, with some culture and/or literature thrown in, while the major adds literature and culture classes. Check your course catalog and see.</p>
<p>Thanks guys!!</p>
<p>These all depend on the school and your situation. Though I’m guessing you’re going to UMD since you mentioned a ‘Government and Politics’ major, so I can tell you a bit about the minor since I’m planning on adding that if I don’t attempt a double major between GVPT and Arabic. Basically the minor there is taking 3 years of Arabic and taking one elective course in Arabic, so you’ll get to a pretty good level (it focuses much more on language than culture, but the language classes definitely have cultural elements), especially if you study abroad. In addition to the major and minor, UMD also offers an Arabic ‘flagship’ program, which gives you extra resources and helps you fund a 5th year of college in the Middle East, taking classes solely in Arabic, so you have a lot of options to look into. </p>
<p>I personally think that trying to fit in 2 majors and a minor would be a bit difficult at UMD considering the size of their gen ed program, but if you’ve taken a lot of AP courses it could be doable. I’d recommend making yourself a 4 year plan trying to fit in all the requirements to see if it’s possible and/or something that you’d be excited for. </p>
<p>Good luck and feel free to PM me, especially if you’re going to UMD since I can tell you a bit about the Government and Arabic programs there :)</p>
<p>I wanted to double major and minor too, but when I looked at the 4 year schedule, total credits for 4 years, general Ed requirements, b.a requirements, and requirements for 2 majors, there was hardly any time left. Enough for a few electives, but no where near enough to meet the requirements for a minor. But your school may not have as many requirements - so I suggest doing a schedule for 4 years with all your requirements and see if you have time left for a minor. If not, I’d just double major and not do a minor.</p>