Why Study Interdisciplinary Studies? | College Majors | College Degrees | Study Hall

let's say you've always wanted to study how painting sculpture and other visual arts have been created over time like where particular art styles and movements popped up around the world at different points in history in which artists and cultures were influenced by each other over time but at the same time you're also interested in the intricate networks that move everything from information to awesome socks around the globe and you'd love to learn more about how business has influenced art how the art market has changed over time and what it might look like in an nft

future basically what do you do if you've always been fascinated by art history but also have a knack for business you can't just slap them together right actually you can by majoring in interdisciplinary studies you can design a personalized major for yourself that focuses on multiple areas or concentrations within traditional fields and how they connect so you might combine art history and business and call your focus area something like business practices throughout the history of art or art and business or you might mix history and philosophy or psychology in business with interdisciplinary studies as your

major is like getting to have both burritos and corn dogs for dinner the best of both worlds i'm hank green and welcome to fast guides a study hall series presented in partnership with arizona state university and crash course in this episode we're going to talk through the ins and outs of majoring in interdisciplinary studies [Music] in most majors we pick a field and then we study a whole bunch of different parts of that field at least at first like when i studied biochemistry i studied a little bit of structural biology a little bit of enzymology

and a little bit of metabolism which are like the three main parts of biochemistry but by majoring in interdisciplinary studies students are able to focus on multiple fields and then study how they intersect basically studying slices of different fields and combining two or more majors into one like instead of being a music major and just focusing on music topics like composition and performance and music theory a student might be an interdisciplinary studies major and take a mix of music and business classes in order to study music entrepreneurship and one day work in the business side

of music they won't take all the music major courses and they won't take all the business major courses instead they'll pick and choose which ones help them study their focus area so an interdisciplinary studies major lets you directly target your education towards whatever specific career path you'd like to pursue now becoming an interdisciplinary studies major can look slightly different depending on your school for instance some schools will have you submit a proposal that includes the course load you'd like to take at other schools you'll select from pre-approved concentrations and the courses will already be outlined

and even though you'll be designing at least some of your course load it's important to keep in mind that you'll still need to fulfill the basic undergraduate requirements in order to get your degree this includes the standard foundational or general education courses that vary by school so probably one or more courses in math some sort of science english and maybe an art or social science course but since the essence of interdisciplinary studies is choosing your own path there are no set branches within the major and there aren't tests or licenses or accreditations to get after

college also the kind of work you do in these major specific courses will be largely dependent on what concentrations are available at your school and what concentrations you select for example if you pick physics as one of your concentrations you'll take courses that involve a lot of calculations experiments and projects if you choose english or writing is one of your concentrations you'll do a lot of reading and analysis and if you use math you'll do a lot of math if you're curious what a concentration might require look into the types of courses those majors involve

or check out the rest of our fast guide series ultimately it's hard to describe exactly what your course progression will look like because there are so many adventures to take within interdisciplinary studies and that means interdisciplinary studies tends to be a great choice for anyone who feels like the majors offered at their university or college don't exactly cover what they're interested in like you might feel passionate about the world's data-driven future but might specifically only be interested in data that benefits medical science so a data science or statistics major isn't exactly the right fit for

you in this case you might major in interdisciplinary studies and study the collection and analysis of biology-centric data and its applications in medical science while your degree will always be in interdisciplinary studies some programs might let you name the focus of your program yourself and you could call this self-designed program something like bioinformatics this version of the interdisciplinary studies major might include computer science courses like algorithms and problem solving paradigms and data structures biology courses like cell biology and genetics and mathematics courses like linear algebra and differential equations or maybe you're interested in combining psychology

and social work because you don't just want to study human behavior or just study social welfare systems you'd rather study the paths to empowerment for underrepresented and marginalized communities by studying both courses in this major could include poverty and welfare in america international human rights principles of macroeconomics statistical analysis and social movements so an interdisciplinary studies major tends to be a good fit for students who exemplify discipline and creativity since they might have to plan their education at least a little bit more than most other majors students who have critical and analytical thinking skills will

also thrive because interdisciplinary studies students have to use advanced thinking to meld teachings from different disciplines into comprehensive ideas and conclusions now while the idea of creating your own major might sound exciting and liberating it comes with a few disadvantages while in school interdisciplinary studies majors sometimes find that it can be difficult to transition between courses since they can be so vastly different switching from renaissance art history to intermediate accounting can be a tricky change of pace but you get used to it eventually you also might find that choosing a specific interdisciplinary studies major can

limit you if you decide to change careers in the future which is why it can be valuable to choose a broad focus area after school it can sometimes be challenging to convey the value of your major to other people who are used to more standard majors like when you have a bachelor's degree in business an employer knows that you have completed a standard and universally accepted business program full of recognizable courses but when an employer sees an interdisciplinary studies degree focused on music entrepreneurship they might wonder what that course load looks like and if it

stacks up to the rigor of a standard business degree that just means that you'll need to be prepared to defend or explain your studies and give potential employers or grad schools examples that demonstrate your knowledge and if you have the ability to name your focus you'll want to make it sound as official as possible something like music entrepreneurship sounds much more rigorous than going to concerts and parties with great djs and particularly if you have a lot of freedom to build your course load you might also find that it can be challenging to get your

interdisciplinary studies major approved by your administrator they may also require you to take additional courses that you are not excited about but it's important to be patient since ultimately you will be designing an extremely useful and targeted major to set up the rest of your career now in general talking about salaries is hard because so much can change year to year or depending on what location you're in but salaries and jobs are particularly hard to talk about for interdisciplinary studies because the industry the degree leads to varies so greatly so we suggest checking out some

of our other fast guides on majors related to your concentrations for more specific ideas on careers and other next steps regardless remember that the biggest advantage you get from an interdisciplinary studies major is how targeted your degree is for example let's say you want to become a manager for athletes your interdisciplinary studies degree that focuses on sports business management might give you an immediate leg up over someone with a regular business degree because you'll potentially have learned about this subject from multiple perspectives like business and kinesiology you can also use this unique background to your

advantage to land internships while internships and work experience are always valuable in the post-college job hunt they can be especially valuable in providing specific work experience that caters to your exact topic of study like you'll have a better chance of getting a job in the music business if you use your degree in music entrepreneurship to land an internship at a big music management company than you would graduating with no experience once you prove yourself you could be set for the job of your dreams studying interdisciplinary studies is a really cool opportunity and a chance to

really get exactly what you want out of your college education there's a popular statistic that came out in 2016 that said 65 of children entering primary school will end up working in jobs that don't exist yet and with a unique combination of concentrations and greater versatility interdisciplinary studies majors could be poised to dream up some of those jobs or adjust to the wild unknowns of the future job market so do not be afraid to choose your own adventure to better reflect what you are interested in and are passionate about and check out a major in

interdisciplinary studies if you feel like it can help you get you where you want to go thanks for watching and whether or not interdisciplinary studies piques your interest check out our other videos to look into more majors and find out the one that's right for you this series is part of the study hall program a partnership between arizona state university and crash course if you liked this video or you found it helpful give it a like you could also comment to let us know how you chose your degree or how you're struggling to choose a

degree or what you wish you'd known before you started your degree