More Philosophy Electives vs. Double Major

[muffinpie12]

I can take about twenty philosophy courses by the end of senior year. Instead, I could also complete the philosophy major (10 courses) and double major in something else. Does anyone have any advice about this? Aside from personal benefits, are there any admissions-related benefits to taking more philosophy courses than required by the major?

[Marcus_Aurelius]

I don't have any particular expertise, but 20 sounds like more than would be particularly helpful, and 10 sounds like rather few to get foundations in a variety of subtopics. Is it possible to minor in something else and take several philosphy courses more than needed? If your philosophy interests would be benefited by a specific double major (e.g. philosophy of physics, bioethics, ancient), a double major could be a game-changer, but otherwise it probably won't matter much. I defer to others, though, since I'm definitely not an expert.

[hector549]

1 hour ago, muffinpie12 said:

I can take about twenty philosophy courses by the end of senior year. Instead, I could also complete the philosophy major (10 courses) and double major in something else. Does anyone have any advice about this? Aside from personal benefits, are there any admissions-related benefits to taking more philosophy courses than required by the major?

There's an advantage in taking more philosophy courses in terms of giving you a more well-rounded philosophical education. However, as long as you hit all the major areas (logic, ancient and modern history, M&E, ethics, some electives), I doubt there's much of an admissions advantage in taking 20 phil courses vs., say, 10 or so. Taking a few more courses could give you more options for a writing sample and letters, though, which is always good.

As for double-majors, my sense is that secondary majors of a technical nature can look good (mathematics, hard sciences, linguistics, etc.), particularly if it connects to your interests. Languages can be useful if you think you might want to do continental philosophy or might otherwise want to focus on the history of philosophy. Otherwise, majoring in CS or the like can be a good option (if you're interested), not from an admissions standpoint, but just as a backup career option.

Edited August 5, 2019 by hector549

[jeanxxlqz]

I’d agree with both the previous comments for the most part. I’d add that if you can get the second major (provided of course that it is in a subject relevant to your interests), maybe you could also still find time to take a couple extra philosophy classes by knocking out other general education requirements over summers.

[muffinpie12]

h

Edited August 6, 2019 by muffinpie12

[muffinpie12]

 

 

 

1

4 hours ago, jeanxxlqz said:

I’d agree with both the previous comments for the most part. I’d add that if you can get the second major (provided of course that it is in a subject relevant to your interests), maybe you could also still find time to take a couple extra philosophy classes by knocking out other general education requirements over summers.

 

On 8/5/2019 at 2:51 AM, hector549 said:

There's an advantage in taking more philosophy courses in terms of giving you a more well-rounded philosophical education. However, as long as you hit all the major areas (logic, ancient and modern history, M&E, ethics, some electives), I doubt there's much of an admissions advantage in taking 20 phil courses vs., say, 10 or so. Taking a few more courses could give you more options for a writing sample and letters, though, which is always good.

As for double-majors, my sense is that secondary majors of a technical nature can look good (mathematics, hard sciences, linguistics, etc.), particularly if it connects to your interests. Languages can be useful if you think you might want to do continental philosophy or might otherwise want to focus on the history of philosophy. Otherwise, majoring in CS or the like can be a good option (if you're interested), not from an admissions standpoint, but just as a backup career option.

 

On 8/5/2019 at 1:23 AM, Marcus_Aurelius said:

I don't have any particular expertise, but 20 sounds like more than would be particularly helpful, and 10 sounds like rather few to get foundations in a variety of subtopics. Is it possible to minor in something else and take several philosphy courses more than needed? If your philosophy interests would be benefited by a specific double major (e.g. philosophy of physics, bioethics, ancient), a double major could be a game-changer, but otherwise it probably won't matter much. I defer to others, though, since I'm definitely not an expert.

Actually, I considered double majoring in Philosophy and International Relations. Another pairing was Philosophy and History (with a minor in bioethics). Do you have opinions on this? By the way, thank you so much. I really appreciate the help.

[hector549]

45 minutes ago, muffinpie12 said:

 

 

Actually, I considered double majoring in Philosophy and International Relations. Another pairing was Philosophy and History (with a minor in bioethics). Do you have opinions on this? By the way, thank you so much. I really appreciate the help.

Well, if your concern is whether these secondary majors will do something for you instrumentally with respect to phil grad admissions, then the answer is that they won't, not really. They are both writing-intensive, I suppose, and the more practice writing you get during undergrad, the better you'll become at expressing yourself in writing, which is an essential skill for graduate work in the humanities generally. That being said, even if they don't do anything for you instrumentally, for phil grad admissions, who cares? I'm a proponent of studying what you're interested in, and if you're drawn to history or international relations for a second major, then by all means, study those subjects.

Edited August 6, 2019 by hector549

[Marcus_Aurelius]

Ditto what Hector said.