<p>I hope I wasn’t one of the people scaring you… However, rest assured that the “work load” (or stress, or whatever) isn’t really any different between a single major and a dual or double major. You take four classes a semester regardless of how many majors or subjects you want to study, so your work load will depend on what classes you happen to have that semester. To be honest, the course that took the most time and mental anguish for me so far was Advanced Writing (also referred to as Middler Writing) which is a required class for everyone. So think of it this way- junior year when you want to take three classes towards your major and one core class, would you rather take a philosophy core class and two upper level electives, or an philosophy elective and poli sci upper level electives… Not that I’m asking a real question, because your schedule could be totally different, of course.</p>
<p>Point is, don’t worry about how MANY majors you have when it comes to work load- focus on WHAT majors you have. If you want to take upper level poli sci electives (as opposed to just the core classes and maybe one lower elective required for a minor), then it’ll be fine, but if you don’t then you’ll hate the class, hate doing the work, and have a terrible semester.</p>
<p>The only time I’ve found having a second subject to be stressful is when you pick out your classes for the next semester. The key is to stop telling yourself it’s two majors. Just get the list of every class you have to take from your audit and plan out your schedule just like you would if you only had one major. But note that while the work load shouldn’t be any different, the actual scheduling of a double major (instead of a dual) can be hard. Doubles are kind of rare here, and if you are really thinking of doing it then you should meet with your advisor as soon as possible to map it out. Especially if certain courses are only offered at certain times (for example if phil has 3 upper level- middler or above- courses only offered in the spring and poli sci has 2 only offered in the spring… well then you probably shouldn’t do spring co-ops). And I don’t mean to put pressure on you, but you should try and decide now if you’re comfortable giving up a co-op to pursue a subject you want. It would suck to realize junior year you have to lose one in order to graduate on time…</p>
<p>Now that all being said- don’t do a subject because you think you should. Do a subject because you want to. You know how everyone always says that what you study in college doesn’t matter? Well, in the long run it doesn’t. My mom didn’t go to college and my dad studied geography and they are way high up. But you are likely to get a co-op that is geared towards your major (unless you really fight to do otherwise), and you’ll probably get a post-graduation job based on your co-ops so… Short run, major does matter. So if come your second year you have some great insight and decide to not go to law school (not saying it will, but it could happen) because you took a linguistics class or something, it would suck to have already taken a bunch of courses in a subject you only wanted because it might help with law school. Not that those classes will hurt you- but they will mean you have less space to take classes you really like.</p>
<p>Also, political science is a popular subject for pre-law, so it’s not really that “special” to law schools. But I’m sure you’ve probably heard that.</p>
<p>And finally, obviously if you really do like poli sci etc etc then go for it. Don’t worry about the work load, so long as you can fit it into your schedule. I would highly advise you to not PLAN to overload (take more than 4 courses), only do it as a very last resort when you have to graduate. I bet strong students could handle the five courses, but the $5000 not covered by financial aid or scholarships? Not so much.</p>