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Advice regarding a Degree
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23-09-2007 4:14pmI am looking for some advice from people currently doing or completed a Joint Major in Arts.
Here is my situation:
I was in UCD 2005-2006 doing 1st Year Computer Science and passed all my exams and was accepted into 2nd Year. During the Summer I decided Computer Science is not for me and it was something I did not want to pursue. So I dropped out in the hope of returning in a couple of years to do Arts.
After one year of working and relaxing I realised that I want to do English and History. I have decided to apply for the 2008-2009 College year with Arts in UCD. During this last year, I have saved up the money to pay for 1st year and then I am eligible for continuation of my "Free Fees" and I also have the required points. After reviewing the modules available to me, I was happy to see I could do both English and History with one other subject (I am thinking Roman and Greek Studies. we will see ). I have the option to pursue History and English as a Joint Major, which I would really love to do, so now here is my question.
Can someone who has completed a Joint Major give some advice with regards workload and general difficulty of doing 2 degrees at the same time? I have a great passion for both subjects and enjoy learning but I do not want to get into something that could end up being counter-productive. When I say counter-productive I am referring to the possibility that due to it being difficult both subjects would suffer academically due to the workload versus doing just one of them. For example, I would rather get an A in one subject than 2 D's in two subjects.
If someone could advise me on the workload, hours spent and overall learning challenge that is in doing a Joint Major I would be most appreciative. However I am aware it will probably be a lot of writing, but as you can see from this topic's length I like writing!
Thanks!0
Comments
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Liber8or wrote:I am looking for some advice from people currently doing or completed a Joint Major in Arts.
Here is my situation:
I was in UCD 2005-2006 doing 1st Year Computer Science and passed all my exams and was accepted into 2nd Year. During the Summer I decided Computer Science is not for me and it was something I did not want to pursue. So I dropped out in the hope of returning in a couple of years to do Arts.
After one year of working and relaxing I realised that I want to do English and History. I have decided to apply for the 2008-2009 College year with Arts in UCD. During this last year, I have saved up the money to pay for 1st year and then I am eligible for continuation of my "Free Fees" and I also have the required points. After reviewing the modules available to me, I was happy to see I could do both English and History with one other subject (I am thinking Roman and Greek Studies. we will see ). I have the option to pursue History and English as a Joint Major, which I would really love to do, so now here is my question.
Can someone who has completed a Joint Major give some advice with regards workload and general difficulty of doing 2 degrees at the same time? I have a great passion for both subjects and enjoy learning but I do not want to get into something that could end up being counter-productive. When I say counter-productive I am referring to the possibility that due to it being difficult both subjects would suffer academically due to the workload versus doing just one of them. For example, I would rather get an A in one subject than 2 D's in two subjects.
If someone could advise me on the workload, hours spent and overall learning challenge that is in doing a Joint Major I would be most appreciative. However I am aware it will probably be a lot of writing, but as you can see from this topic's length I like writing!
Thanks!
The workload is supposed to be the same, whether you do a joint honours degree or specialise in just one subject. I say 'supposed to be' because I've only done the joint honours (or two majors as seems to be the fancy new term for it) degree in history and another subject, so I can't say for sure. The major difference is in the final year when you have to write a minor thesis (in history anyway) if you are are majoring in just one subject, whereas you don't do this if you have two subjects. There is a lot of reading and writing in both english and history (as you might imagine) but if you like this sort of work then the workload is manageable. Unless you are far more interested in doing just one of these subjects, then I'd do a joint major in both. Of course, you don't really have to decide this till second year (I think?), so you can do both subjects in first year, see what you think of them and then decide
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Esmereldina wrote:The major difference is in the final year when you have to write a minor thesis (in history anyway) if you are are majoring in just one subject, whereas you don't do this if you have two subjects.
Thanks for the very informative reply!
I have one question with regards the above quote. Why is it that you only do a minor thesis if you are doing One Major? It seems like an important factor that I would imagine is required at the end of all Degrees, be it one subject or three.
I suppose what I am getting at is; does this affect your final Degree or chances of pursuing further education in the form of a Masters?0 -
Liber8or wrote:Can someone who has completed a Joint Major give some advice with regards workload and general difficulty of doing 2 degrees at the same time?
You don't do two degrees at the same time, you do half of the History course and half of the english course so the amount of work should be similar to doing one full course in either of them. You don't cover the full syllabus in each subject, that's practically impossible.
So your doing 1 Degree in English&History.0 -
Liber8or wrote:Thanks for the very informative reply!
I have one question with regards the above quote. Why is it that you only do a minor thesis if you are doing One Major? It seems like an important factor that I would imagine is required at the end of all Degrees, be it one subject or three.
I suppose what I am getting at is; does this affect your final Degree or chances of pursuing further education in the form of a Masters?
I assume the reason is that the workload would be too much if you had to write a thesis for each subject you were majoring in.
Unlike in other universities, ie Trinity, you don't specialise in one subject in final year, but study each one equally in second and third year (if you are indeed studying 2 majors of course). So you'll be doing less of each subject that if you were doing a major in just one of them...
I did an MA and am now doing a PhD in History despite not 'majoring' in it... so it won't affect your chances of continuing to postgraduate level either way. If anything, I think that doing 2 subjects gives you an advantage as it shows that you have different interests and a broader education in general.0
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