I just want to study...everything! at UVA -- HOW?

<p>I’ve come to realize a couple things lately.</p>

<li> I love UVA.</li>
<li> I want to go to UVA more than anything.
and… on a different note…</li>
<li> I want to study too many things in college.</li>
</ol>

<p>I love languages and I’m so completely fascinated by them, so I want to definitely have one of my majors be linguistics. But I also want to become fluent in Spanish and learn Japanese. I also want to study international relations and maybe international business and/or public policy. I also want to take classes in history and communications and anthropology…</p>

<p>How am I ever going to do this? I feel like I’m one of those people who are destined to be like an “academic” and spend their whole lives just getting degrees and learning and researching and teaching…and I LOVE that idea.</p>

<p>But my question is…if I <em>maybe</em> get into UVA, how will I manage to take courses in everything that interests me? I definitely want to do a double major and a minor…but in what subjects? </p>

<p>How are you current UVA students dealing with the distribution requirements? Are you pursuing more than one major? How’s that going?</p>

<p>Ah, and on a side note, my UVA app is coming along wonderfully. I’m on my last essay. I finally got inspired. :slight_smile: I’m so jealous of all you ED-ers that just got in! I want to get that letter! Hehe. Thanks everyone.</p>

<p>distribution requirements are really easy to meet. if you double major and minor you probably won’t even have to take “extra” classes.</p>

<p>as far as i can remember, the only course you’re required to take at uva is enwr 1xx/2xx if you score under a certain SAT writing score. other than that, you should be able to take anything you want as long as they fit into the distrubution segments. within your major/minor, if your not doing any math or science thing, you’ll have to pick up like calc 121 or biol104. </p>

<p>most majors are about 30 credits - and most minors are about 18. so say you do double major and minor, you’ll only be about 80 credits in, and you’ll have 40 credits to do whatever you want.</p>

<p>however, i wouldn’t get to pumped up about doing a bunch of different languages. most of the language classes are hard to get into (especially the weird ones) and the basic 101-202 track doesn’t count towards anything other than “language requirement.” (i.e. if you take italian from scratch, you have to take 30 credits ontop of the 101-202 sequence.) on a completely different note, i think that the 101-202 sequences are unnecessarily hard.</p>

<p>Anyone else? My post kind of died here… :(</p>

<p>Hi GOB, Glad to hear your continued interest in Uva. We have corresponded in PM before. </p>

<p>First, I will be highly surprised if you don’t get in through the Echols Scholar Program. As an Echols Scholar, your distribution requirements will be waived, and you will have priority registration. Furthermore, your Echols advisor will provide you lots of guidance in how to handle a double major. You also have the option of doing a major entirely out of your own design, one of the real perk in being an Echols Scholar. So keep that in mind when you read the other responses to your posts.</p>

<p>You will probably get an early likely letter, which just complements your accomplishments. I don’t recall the date when my D received hers last year. There should be a thread here from last year. Your Echols admission comes a week or two before the regular notice. So, don’t freak out if you see a small envelop in the mail.</p>

<p>Uva has a summer language institute that provides intense language training over the summer. So there is no reason why you can’t do one language that way.</p>

<p>Best of Luck. I still love Chalottesville after all these years.</p>

<p>Thanks padad! Holy cow…an Echols Scholar? Me? Yeah right. But yeah, I’ve read a TON about it, and it seems amazing. I’d love to have my distribution requirements waived. That summer language institute sounds awesome…I’m gonna have to look into that. That’d be a sweet way to learn Japanese, if they offer it. </p>

<p>Refresh my memory, padad, did you go to UVA? I’m sorry…I just have talked to many many parents on here and at times they all just blend together. lol </p>

<p>To anyone else, I’m assuming I’m not going to be an Echols Scholar. Is it still possible to do a double major and minor…maybe with time to throw in an anthropology or biology class here or there?</p>

<p>Thanks!!</p>

<p>Oh btw, just wanted to celebrate a bit…the UVA app is DONE!! I sent in a couple days ago. For the first time in the process, I got very nervous hitting that submit button. Yikes. But it feels good. Three other college apps to send in and I’m done! Wa-hoo! :smiley: :)</p>

<p>GOB, Yes, both my undergraduate and my PhD. I still keep in touch with some of my professors, most of them have retired but still live in or around Charlottesville. I was in in the same class with Larry Sabato. That was quite a while ago!</p>

<p>I regret that my D couldn’t be persuaded to attend the University (that is how we used to call it), but she is happy where she is. I have no doubt that you will get in as an Echols. Hope you and your family are having a wonderful holiday break. Cheers</p>

<p>If your 1st semester GPA is above 3.6, you can also apply to be Echols. But I think you won’t have any problem fulfilling the area requirements. If you don’t get Echols, you can also make up your own Interdisciplinary Major if your GPA by your 2nd year is 3.4 or up I think… But I know people who are double majoring in different schools (engineering and the college) so your request is not impossible; I mean if they can do THAT, you can double major in the college… Also, you may change your mind as to what you want to do here once you get a feel for the classes in each department. I was in a math class last semester that wiped out half of the potential math majors/minors so you never know. I also have a friend that is taking 3 languages right now. He’s a major in Spanish linguistics and Chinese. So really, it is all definitely possible. :slight_smile: Best of luck getting into UVA!</p>