Slavistics

[forever--more.livejournal.com]

I'm starting college in Chicago this Fall as a Russian major with a minor in Polish. I made a community for other Slavic language majors because we're a small bunch and a community for networking sounds like a good idea. So if you'd like, join, introduce yourself and where you study.

Comments

[kehlen-crow.livejournal.com]

Does it mean you decide what to major in after having entered the high-school or before?
And this "minors" - do they have to be close to your major or it may be anything you like? (for example, may a russian major study physics as a "minor" subject?)

[madrumos.livejournal.com]

A major is something in universities and colleges, first of all, not high schools, I think maybe you just got a little mixed up there. You can theoretically decide what you want your major/minors to be as early as you want, but you can't declare it (officially tell the university that that is what you want your degree to be in) until you're at the university. Different schools have different rules, some require you to declare a major by a certain time, such as by your third year, others don't. You can generally add, change, or drop majors/minors at any time until you officially graduate.

Majors and minors can generally be in any subjects you want, including (or especially!) unrelated ones. Note that you can not only have a major and a minor, but you can also have, say, two majors and no minors. Or two majors and a minor. Majors just will take more work and be more intensive than your minors. A friend of mine has a Physics major, a Mathematics major, and a Theater minor. My university doesn't have minors (for some reason), and I have a major in Russian and a major in Political Science. Combining majors/minors, such as Russian and Business, or Political Science and Psychology can definitely make you more attractive for careers after graduation. Someone who has education in multiple fields can bring something new, unique and attractive to each field. This is the basis for the concept of 'liberal arts' education, where someone has a major/minors, but takes science, literature, history, math, languages, etc. anyway, in order to have a well-rounded education.

Hope this helps!