(no subject)
I was just curious to hear some opinions about my university interdisciplinary approach to undergraduate education.
My university labels certain majors as either interdisciplinary or disciplinary. If you major in a disciplinary major, you are required to minor in something interdisciplinary in order to graduate; however, if you major in an interdisciplinary major you are able to graduate without minoring. It seems like an ok idea on paper, but they seem to give most majors these labels in a completely random fashion.
For instance, I am a chemistry major. For some reason, which I can't seem to figure out, chemistry is considered disciplinary, you know, despite it branching multiple fields like physics, biology, math, and computer science. As a result, I am required to minor in biology, which, for some reason, is considered the only interdisciplinary science other than meteorology and environmental science. Psychology is also considered disciplinary, so if you want to be a psychology major, you are required to minor in developmental psychology because that is, for some reason, interdisciplinary. Business majors are, of course, interdisciplinary and therefore are not required to minor in order graduate.
I have no interest in biology whatsoever. As a result, I tend to get Bs in the classes, lowering my GPA. I would much rather minor in something like math or physics, which would probably be more useful for graduate studies, but I can't because those are considered disciplinary fields, and I would still be required to minor in biology in order to graduate. I think this is ridiculous. I mean, I'd personally think if you major in something and minor in another field that you'd be considered interdisciplinary, but apparently only studying biology or meteorology makes you interdisciplinary.
I just find it frustrating because I'm a second semester senior, and I have completed all my chemistry courses; however, I am required to stay for a fifth year so I can take a bunch of biology courses which I have no interest in when I could be starting graduate school this fall (wow, what a run-on sentence). I mean, just to put it into perspective, I'll be graduating with 163 credits after completing my general education requierments, my minor and my major. 120 credits is required to graduate.
I was just hoping to hear others' opinions on this appraoch to undergraduate education. It seems very flawed to me.
My university labels certain majors as either interdisciplinary or disciplinary. If you major in a disciplinary major, you are required to minor in something interdisciplinary in order to graduate; however, if you major in an interdisciplinary major you are able to graduate without minoring. It seems like an ok idea on paper, but they seem to give most majors these labels in a completely random fashion.
For instance, I am a chemistry major. For some reason, which I can't seem to figure out, chemistry is considered disciplinary, you know, despite it branching multiple fields like physics, biology, math, and computer science. As a result, I am required to minor in biology, which, for some reason, is considered the only interdisciplinary science other than meteorology and environmental science. Psychology is also considered disciplinary, so if you want to be a psychology major, you are required to minor in developmental psychology because that is, for some reason, interdisciplinary. Business majors are, of course, interdisciplinary and therefore are not required to minor in order graduate.
I have no interest in biology whatsoever. As a result, I tend to get Bs in the classes, lowering my GPA. I would much rather minor in something like math or physics, which would probably be more useful for graduate studies, but I can't because those are considered disciplinary fields, and I would still be required to minor in biology in order to graduate. I think this is ridiculous. I mean, I'd personally think if you major in something and minor in another field that you'd be considered interdisciplinary, but apparently only studying biology or meteorology makes you interdisciplinary.
I just find it frustrating because I'm a second semester senior, and I have completed all my chemistry courses; however, I am required to stay for a fifth year so I can take a bunch of biology courses which I have no interest in when I could be starting graduate school this fall (wow, what a run-on sentence). I mean, just to put it into perspective, I'll be graduating with 163 credits after completing my general education requierments, my minor and my major. 120 credits is required to graduate.
I was just hoping to hear others' opinions on this appraoch to undergraduate education. It seems very flawed to me.