DSS Difficulty?

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BubbaCool12

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Sep 26, 2021
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To any cadets or grads, to what extent is the saying that Defense and Strategic Studies is an “easy” major true? This has got to be the most made fun of major with it being called Don’t Study, Sleep, but I’d like to hear some perspectives. Some part of me is still torn between this and international relations, although looking in the red book the courses look very similar.
 
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i would be an IA major. You can customize the major to incorporate all the warfighting topics that you like, with the benefit of being housed in a department with a lot of funding and greater reputation.
 
One of my kids switched from IA to DSS. He loved it. It is not about easy or hard...there are other easy majors...it is about what you want to learn. It is like getting a bachelors in ARMY. His final presentation was to a former SecDef. It does not get any better than that. He loved every class he took in the DSS major and those lessons are useful to him in his day job as an Army officer.
 
If you major in IA, you can take a lot of DSS classes as a minor to count towards your requirements. The DSS course requirements are the most minimal of any major at USMA in terms of credit hours. I had excellent instructors from both departments, but as a general rule the SOSH instructors were far stronger and will provide you far more development as an academic.

If you do major in DSS, I strongly advocate for a minor in Terrorism Studies or Grand Strategy, both of which fall in SOSH. SOSH has advanced research sections in their partnerships in the Combating Terrorism Center, MWI, etc. There is a lot of cross-talk between the two departments when it comes to research and opportunities, but it's easier to get into stuff for DSS as an IA major than it is IA stuff as a DSS major.
 
prospective2019 said:
If you major in IA, you can take a lot of DSS classes as a minor to count towards your requirements. The DSS course requirements are the most minimal of any major at USMA in terms of credit hours. I had excellent instructors from both departments, but as a general rule the SOSH instructors were far stronger and will provide you far more development as an academic.

If you do major in DSS, I strongly advocate for a minor in Terrorism Studies or Grand Strategy, both of which fall in SOSH. SOSH has advanced research sections in their partnerships in the Combating Terrorism Center, MWI, etc. There is a lot of cross-talk between the two departments when it comes to research and opportunities, but it's easier to get into stuff for DSS as an IA major than it is IA stuff as a DSS major.
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Thank you for the advice, I do plan to minor in Grand Strategy with DSS.
 
BubbaCool12 said:
To any cadets or grads, to what extent is the saying that Defense and Strategic Studies is an “easy” major true? This has got to be the most made fun of major with it being called Don’t Study, Sleep, but I’d like to hear some perspectives. Some part of me is still torn between this and international relations, although looking in the red book the courses look very similar.
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Yeah DSS stands for dont study, sleep. They're starting to make it a little harder because they're mad about people saying its the easiest major.
 
BubbaCool12 said:
Thank you for the advice, I do plan to minor in Grand Strategy with DSS.
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Give both a good look at your majors fair. I changed my mind like ten times before I settled on mine.

I would recommend the Terrorism Studies minor over Grand Strategy. GS is operated by SOSH, as is TS, but Terrorism Studies is rooted in the Combating Terrorism Center which is the most well-connected organization I encountered within USMA. You'll have actual counterterrorism and NatSec practitioners who teach as a bonus in CT, while you'll see many of the same SOSH instructors teaching GS classes.

Feel free to DM. I was a Terrorism Studies minor and it was the best academic decision I made there.
 
prospective2019 said:
Give both a good look at your majors fair. I changed my mind like ten times before I settled on mine.

I would recommend the Terrorism Studies minor over Grand Strategy. GS is operated by SOSH, as is TS, but Terrorism Studies is rooted in the Combating Terrorism Center which is the most well-connected organization I encountered within USMA. You'll have actual counterterrorism and NatSec practitioners who teach as a bonus in CT, while you'll see many of the same SOSH instructors teaching GS classes.

Feel free to DM. I was a Terrorism Studies minor and it was the best academic decision I made there.
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Thank you, I need to look at the red book for Terrorism Studies. And yes the majors fair is really what I'll be needing.
 
prospective2019 said:
Give both a good look at your majors fair. I changed my mind like ten times before I settled on mine.

I would recommend the Terrorism Studies minor over Grand Strategy. GS is operated by SOSH, as is TS, but Terrorism Studies is rooted in the Combating Terrorism Center which is the most well-connected organization I encountered within USMA. You'll have actual counterterrorism and NatSec practitioners who teach as a bonus in CT, while you'll see many of the same SOSH instructors teaching GS classes.

Feel free to DM. I was a Terrorism Studies minor and it was the best academic decision I made there.
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It's looking like I could do IR(has GS classes) + TS or DSS + GS
 
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