Suggestion for second major?

[Kym]

I’ve got a huge pas­sion for becom­ing a devel­op­ment worker, and I have vol­un­teered last sum­mer with Free the Chil­dren trip to Kenya.
Right now the prob­lem is try­ing to fig­ure out what edu­ca­tion route I should take. All of the peo­ple that I’ve met from Free the Chil­dren have taken Inter­na­tional Devel­op­ment, and some have gone back for their mas­ters. My ques­tion is, is ID the best route to take? I’ve also been look­ing at a dou­ble major so I can have a bit more knowl­edge. What would you sug­gest my sec­ond major be?

Thank you so much,

Kym

[Bella Dacosta]

Usu­ally any Social or Polit­i­cal Sci­ence is fine but, Inter­na­tional Devel­op­ment is really one of the best majors to take because it is gen­eral enough to allow you to get into any aspect of devel­op­ment but, spe­cific enough to give you some sort of back­ground in the devel­op­ment pro­fes­sion. Most places now want a Master’s Degree (e.g. UN etc.) and hav­ing a Master’s can put you a cut above a lot of the com­pe­ti­tion. It would be good for you to do a Master’s that offers some type of work place­ment (e.g. in Canada, Carleton’s MPA has a co-op pro­grams, NPSIA has an intern­ship or the option to study or work abroad in a devel­op­ing coun­try, which is even better).

In terms of a dou­ble major, Inter­na­tional Devel­op­ment and Pol­i­tics or Eco­nom­ics is good. But, if you are inter­ested in a spe­cific aspect of devel­op­ment (e.g. rural devel­op­ment, health or edu­ca­tion etc.) you might want to do that as your other subject.

[Kym]

Thanks so much for the advice, I really appre­ci­ate it. I think a dou­ble major in IDS and His­tory, or IDS and Polit­i­cal Sci­ence is what I’m look­ing at right now. The schools I’m inter­ested in all offer some sort of vol­un­teer abroad and/or study abroad, which is great. I am also look­ing into vol­un­teer­ing this year with Kati­mavik or another vol­un­teer orga­ni­za­tion.
Thanks for the help, you’ve def­i­nitely set­tled my mind a bit. I know that this is my life pas­sion, but it is frus­trat­ing since there’s not too many peo­ple in my life that work in this field to ask for advice. It’s not the run of the mill career or lifestyle but I’m more than ready for it!

[Author]

Posts