By: Jenny Zhi
When searching for colleges, one of the factors that counselors, older friends, and college guides tell us to consider is college major. For some students, that decision is a no-brainer; for example, I have a friend who’s been dreaming about being an astrophysicist since the beginning of high school, so that’s pretty much set for her. But there are also those who have no idea what they’re going to major in, or who are torn between two conflicting interests. If you fall in the former category, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. You can go to college and experience everything before choosing a major to settle in – who knows, you may find that you love something you’ve never even considered before. If you consider yourself a member of the latter group (like me), this guide to interdisciplinary studies is for you.
What are interdisciplinary studies? They’re basically what the name suggests – two different areas of study combined or merged into one. These are ideal for students who can’t choose between two interests, who envision a great future for a certain combination of two (or more) areas, or who want to broaden their horizons by adding another perspective to their studies.
There are a few different ways you could achieve an interdisciplinary education.
- An additional major or minor
- Programs established between partner institutions
- Single degree that combines two areas of study
An additional major or minor
This one is pretty simple. While you’re in college, you may decide to tack on an extra major or minor to the one you’ve already declared. This could be in another field you’re interested in, or in a related field (ex: fashion design and business). In the case of an additional major, your college may require that you fulfill all the requirements of both majors, so you may need to return for a fifth year. You could lessen the workload by getting AP credit or taking classes that fulfill the requirements for both majors, killing two birds with one stone. However, if that’s not possible, and if spending more time (and more money) on school doesn’t appeal to you, you may want to add on a minor, instead. There are fewer requirements for minors than for additional majors, so they’re easier to complete in a shorter period of time.
Some schools may have special requirements or accommodations for double majoring. To find out more information about double majoring at a specific school, googling any combination of the school name and “double major” or “dual degree” should give you some results.
Programs established between partner institutions
These are pretty interesting. Usually, with these, you get degrees in two unrelated areas of study. For example, if you’re a chemical engineering major at Washington University in St. Louis, and you, for whatever reason, decide that you also want to get a major in journalism, you could apply for WUSTL’s Dual Degree Program and go attend a liberal arts school for a few years. Or, if you want a traditional education, but also want to attend art school, you could apply for the Brown-RISD Dual Degree program.
Some other programs between two institutions include:
However, there’s a catch. Most of these are five year programs, and there’s little you can do to shorten that length, so tuition would be more expensive as well. And there’s often an application process to get into one of these programs, and they can be quite competitive. The Brown-RISD Dual Degree program only accepts fifteen students every year – max.
But in addition to an extra major, which will not only broaden your employment opportunities but also your horizons, these programs often offer unique experiences, as you’d be spending time on two different campuses. And people always say their college years are the best in their lives – a fifth year may not be so bad, after all.
These are a bit harder to find. If you’re eyeing two colleges that are located near each other, they might have some sort of collaborative program. I would Google around and see what I can find. In any case, learning about these programs could be a few hours’ worth of research.
Single degree that combines two areas of study
Last but not least, some schools combine areas of study into one single major. Some of these could just be called “major 1 + major 2,” such as Stanford’s CS+X Joint Major and Carnegie Mellon’s BXA program, or they could be an entirely different, hybrid major, such as Georgia Tech’s Computational Media major.
These are great in that you get the best of both worlds compacted into one major, so you don’t have to spend extra time or money on school. Often, these programs also have courses that specifically integrate the two areas of study in a way that separate majors wouldn’t be able to achieve.
Since I’m a computer science/artsy person, the three examples mentioned above pertain to my interests. But no matter what you’re interested in, there’s probably a special integrated program fit for you. Once again, this requires some research on your part, but I have come across all sorts of interdisciplinary studies, such as politics and gender studies, engineering and environmental studies, and business and law. All you need to do is search around. “Interdisciplinary studies” or “joint degrees” or something of that sort should come up with a few hits. If you already have a few schools in mind, look around their websites to see if any of their special programs would interest you.
What’s important is that you don’t feel limited by your choices. Don’t disregard one of your interests because it’s not lucrative as a career, and don’t put yourself in a major you’re not necessarily interested in just so you can make money. Don’t feel like you can only stick with one of your passions. You know how people always tell you to “do what you love, or you’ll find yourself trapped for the rest of your life”? Well, it’s true. And with all the possibilities opened up with interdisciplinary studies, you’ll have so much freedom to pursue your passion(s).
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