<p>Hi I am currently a freshman at BU and am not sure whether I should consider graduating early. If a stay all four years I will have a double major in International Relations and Political Science and possibly a minor in Arabic. However, I will also have $34,000 in student loan debt. If I graduate a year early (I can because of AP/IB credits and summer courses) I will have a major in International Relations and definitely a minor in Arabic, but no major in Political Science. Also because of a financial arrangement with my grandparents (they give $20,000 a year) I would have about $5,000 in student loan debt if I used that extra money to pay of the debt from the previous three years. Financially it is better to graduate in three years, but I am concerned not having a double major will hurt me in the job market. Any advice/opinions??</p>
<p>Could you double minor instead? I’m a poli sci minor at BU right now, but I was considering IR, and a lot of the courses overlap. I’m going to graduate probably a semester early. I think it would actually look better if you graduate early on your resume. It’s definitely going to be more stressful because you’ll have to search for jobs earlier than all your friends, but look at all of the money you will save!</p>
<p>If you are planning to graduate early, that’s fine. You just need to stop considering yourself a freshman now. If you will graduate after three years, then you are currently a sophomore. Your summer plans should coincide with what you would want to do after your SECOND year rather than your first… that can be basically whatever, so no worries. Next year, as long as your resume shows a graduation date of 2014, recruiters will treat you as a junior for purposes of getting internships.</p>
<p>A double major in International Relations and Political Science seems kind of silly to me. IR is just a specific kind of political science, so chances are you will wind up with at least a minor in Polisci by accident. The Arabic studies will also be essentially meaningless if you don’t get a certificate. </p>
<p>Many salary reports show that double majors or dual degrees have higher salaries than others, but that is absolutely a correlation and not a causation thing. People who are driven to double major are generally more driven than your average person, so it’s only natural that they will seek out and succeed at the higher paying jobs.</p>
<p>If you really want to graduate early, it’s okay and will not hurt your job opportunities (speaking from experience… I graduated early instead of double majoring in Polisci and German, and that was an excellent decision!)</p>
<p>Arabic is highly sought after in the US government. So if the OP is interested in that career track, Arabic is valuable.</p>
<p>A double major in IR and Poli Sci is definitely not necessary. Choose one or the other (probably IR).</p>
<p>Most students only have 1 major, so I don’t think that will hurt you. Especially if the second major is Poli Sci and you already have IR… more useful doubles would be IR and Arabic or IR and Economics, etc. There is too much overlap in Poli Sci/IR for it to add anything to your resume, IMO.</p>