<p>I will most likely be matriculating at NEU in the fall and will enter as a Health Science major. However, I also wanted to do an international affairs minor. I recently found that NEU offers a combined major of international affairs and human services which would be perfect for me, in addition to health science( I want to be an epidemiologist, but I also have heavy interest in all of these fields.) I was planning on doing a 5 year course of study, but</p>
<p>I was wondering if it would even be possible to do one combined major and another major within the span of 5 years and at least two co-ops?</p>
<p>Bump??? Please. 10char</p>
<p>It sounds like you want to do a double major (the full requirements of 2 majors) where one of the majors is a dual major (which has 1/2 the requirements of each of 2 different majors, sort of).
I do not know if this is physically possible or not, but I’m afraid you’d end up miserable and overloaded. To figure out if it’s even feasible, I’d look at the major requirements on the registrar’s website and see if you can contact an advisor on campus. (I did that when I was a senior in high school and it was really helpful. You’ll likely want to wait a bit until after registration though, because I think they’re swamped right about now.)
There is a ton of stuff you’re interested in, and you want to do it all. That’s where I was when I started. The reality is, though, you might feel like you’re spread too thin. That sounds like ambitious fun right now, but after a semester, you may discover you actually like one aspect particularly more and want to focus on that as your major and maybe have a minor. Or you may discover something completely new that you love (which is what happened with me and computer science).
At this point, I would say keep your options open. Take classes in all these areas and see what happens.</p>
<p>It’s most likely not doable-- health science requires too many intensive courses with lab components to add into an already full schedule.</p>
<p>I definitely see how all three areas could interest you, but it’s not necessary to major in all of them in order to go into epidemiology or a related public health field. If epidemiology is your goal, maybe major in IA and minor in biology, or vice versa. I don’t know that human services would really be better than focusing more on biology. Co-op/volunteer/travel experiences will also be a big boost once you’re applying for jobs/grad school (since epidemiology/public health generally require grad school. International affairs with a focus on global health care/disease will generally fall under the public health umbrella).</p>
<p>Thank you for the replies!</p>
<p>I was thinking human resources because it may be easier to get a hospital position right after I get my bachelors, and have that job while I’m getting my masters. I put the IA and HR combined major and Health science major to rest. Now I’ve been thinking of double majoring in HS and IA and minoring in HR, or double majoring in HS and HR, and minoring in IA(I’m leaning toward this option.)</p>
<p>A double HS/HR would still be really difficult, if not impossible. In a dual major, you take some classes from each major, but with a double major, you have to take all of the classes for both majors. And there’s really not much overlap between health science and HR. Plus adding a minor on top of that? That still sounds like it would be too much.
You could always look into crating your own dual major, but I have absolutely no idea what that would involve.</p>
<p>@nanotechnology
Thank you! So what would you recommend?</p>
<p>I would see if you can get in touch with your academic advisor (try looking on the Bouve website to find who that is for your major). I would wait until next week, though, because this week is registration week, so the advisors a swamped and your email might get forgotten/lost in the chaos.</p>
<p>Thanks. This helps a lot. I spoke with an academic advisor last week about the triple major and she said that it would be possible if I did 5 years(which I was planning on anyway) but I want to speak to someone who would be able to guide me specifically, especially in my chosen career field.</p>
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<p>Honestly, I think the HR component of this is probably the least useful (not to say it’s “useless”). I think a student going into public health/global medicine/epidemiology/related field would benefit most from a science background and an international affairs background. You don’t NEED both-- you can get into MPH programs with just a biology degree or even a social sciences degree with a little bio thrown in-- but the international affairs aspect might give you some edge.</p>
<p>Really, though, I think you have an interesting “niche” area that you’re interested in, and people don’t really get to delve into a niche until graduate school-- your B.S. will just provide the groundwork. I don’t think you can go wrong with any of your ideas, but my personal suggestion (I’m way biased-- I’m a molecular biologist but I do work with some epidemiologists and clinical researchers because I work with disease), is to focus more on bio and potentially IR/IA. </p>
<p>Most importantly, you don’t HAVE to have this all figured out right now. It will fall into place. Take courses you’re interested in, try different co-ops, talk to professors/advisors/co-workers, etc. Plans like these tend to change a year or two into college.</p>
<p>My freshman year, I had my whole schedule for 4 years planned out and what I was going to do after with med school. Then I decided to do five years. Then I discovered I really like computer science. Then I decided I should do an international co-op. And now I’m looking grad school instead of med school since it turns out I’m really good at research. In short, go ahead and plan, but Emily2007 is right, even if you do, there is a pretty decent chance in a year you will want to do something completely and utterly different. :)</p>