<p>I am planning on a triple major in Mathematics (concentration in Actuarial Science), Engineering Physics, and Computer Engineering. I will have AP credit for a few classes (several of which are GE or math that's required all across) but even with that if I want to graduate in four years (which I do) then I will have to take 20-24 credit hours per semester, including summers. That is 6 - 7 classes per semester, including labs.</p>
<p>I'm fairly sure I can handle this, but then again I am still in high school so I won't truly know how it will be until I get there. Because of this I would like to hear the opinions of others.</p>
<p>Is 20 credits too much (share success/failure stories, please! how many credits did you/your friend/whoever have & how easily did they handle it)?</p>
<p>Your determination is amazing! But at most universities, you pay more tuition if you go over 18 credit hours, and I’ve never heard of anyone successfully going over 20. I don’t know the Math & Engineering job sector well, but for most degrees a double major in similar areas of study doesn’t give much of a competitive edge, let alone a triple major.</p>
<p>As for my own experience, I took 18 credit hours my first semester and really struggled but made it out alive with a B average, and originally wanted to double major but found it wasn’t worth the extra time commitment and money.</p>
<p>There are people who do this. I knew one. Very bright young man, but he could never begin to earn the GPAs the rest of us were getting. I wonder how much he even learned because although he was in our honors student group he never had much to say in class. I saw no ability to synthesize what he was learning in advanced anthro or psych or biology courses with what we were doing in English courses. It was like college was a all-yo-ucan-eat buffet rather than an exquisite seven course meal of your composition. BTW, we all went to grad (or law) school. He didn’t have the GPA or writing expertise we had, so he went into teaching. I had 18 hours one semester and it liked to kill me, but I was working 20-30 hours in the evening each week depending on my school schedule.</p>
<p>I think it’s a waste of your time to try this. In addition, most colleges charge extra for more than 16 or 18 credit hours per semester. College courses require you to spend at least three hours per course per hour in classroom or lab if you’re going to get As. Some more, a few less. That’s before you do most of your synthesis of what you learn in one course with what you learn in another. And isn’t the synthesis why you take all those hours or several majors? I would imagine that it would take extraordinary study skills to make the most of 20 cr. hours. Neuroscience proves quite convincingly now that multi-tasking isn’t possible, and one studies best one subject at a time with frequent breaks within and between subject periods, usually right after each subject’s course. Not to get on my hobby horse, but it is study suicide to take courses back-to-back on a TTh schedule or some other such insanity as you propose here.</p>
<p>Courses with labs or computer programming assignments tend to be high workload and time commitment (even if they are not that hard), so 20+ credit semesters are less doable when you have courses with labs or computer programming assignments. Courses with term projects also fall into this category.</p>
<p>One credit is supposed to represent three hours of work per week (including both in-class and out-of-class time), so a normal 15 credit course load is supposed to represent 45 hours of work per week. 20 to 24 credits means 60 to 72 hours of work per week.</p>
<p>For most people, I would say, NO, this is WAY TOO MUCH if anyone would even let you do that.
I think you need to take less or go to school for longer. </p>
<p>What classes do you take now? If you tell me 7 APs and you get all A’s and are not stressed, then sure.</p>
<p>Remember that 7 high school AP courses are not the same as 7 college courses. Many high school AP courses cover over a year what a college course covers in a semester or less. In addition, college courses require more self-motivation and time management, with less hand-holding than in high school courses (including AP courses). Taking an overload of college courses means that your self-motivation and time management skills must be very good.</p>
<p>You cannot take 20 - 24 credits in summers. If you go above 18 credits per semester, most schools will make you get approval from a dean. Even back when, my dad was taking 21 credits in one semester, and he was summoned to the Dean’s office and yelled at. He was getting straight As so the Dean let him take 21 credits. (he was a supergeek with no social life at all)</p>
<p>I took 5.5 credits one semester, equivalent to 18 credits on a 3-credit system. I ended up dropping out of my sorority because I couldn’t cope with the extra work (both me and my dad took engineering classes, which made it more difficult).</p>
<p>What is the point of having a triple major? And you imply that there would be no overlap between majors, I would think with those majors there would be a LOT of overlap and you could finish in five years maximum. Also note, if you are worried about money, most students have to pay for summer courses.</p>
<p>A double major with a minor in the third area would be a better idea in my opinion. Or a BS/MS program, maybe math for your undergrad and computer science for your MS.</p>
<p>Graduating in three years with a single major and a single minor would be a great moneysaver, and you would not be any worse off than anyone else.</p>
<p>Now that I’ve had a chance to think more about your post, OP, I realize I’ve had lots of students who took 18-21 credit hours in a semester and ended up miserable and dropping one or more courses. I don’t know of anyone i’ve had as a student or advisee who completed 21 hours in a semester. I would always advise them against it, but I could not refuse to sign their pre-registration forms if that’s what they wanted to do.</p>
<p>There are several reasons that this is not a good idea, but that doesn’t mean you can’t (or even shouldn’t) do it. But there are several things you need to consider.</p>
<p>Why do you want to triple major? Often, triple (and even double) majors have very little utility in terms of job or graduate school prospects. They’re something you can do if you can easily fit it in, not something that you should really struggle and sacrifice to do, unless you have a very good reason to do so. Many high school students entering college with very ambitious lists of things they want to do, but you have to be reasonable.</p>
<p>20-24 credit hours is a lot, and while it might not seem like that much time-wise when you compare it to being in school all day, it’s enough to be butting up against credit limits at most schools. Some schools may require you to petition to to take that amount of units. When you say that includes summer are you expecting to do 20-24 credit hours over the summer or do you just mean that you also have to take a full credit load over the summer? For most schools the credit limit for the summer is lower than during the school year because the classes are even more condensed than during the year. You likely won’t be allowed to do 20-24 credit hours over the summer.</p>
<p>Also consider what you will be giving up. When you’re packing in major requirements, you likely won’t be able to take extra classes of interest. I’m not just talking about “fun” classes, but I’m also talking about taking extra electives or useful classes in your department that could be helpful for future careers or just your own education. Taking very high loads during the year and especially over the summer will make it unlikely that you will have the time or energy to do internships or get other work experience. Work experience is what will give you leg up when it comes to getting a job after college, not having a triple major. You’re GPA may suffer as well, especially when you’re taking 24 credits of difficult upper-division engineering courses.</p>
<p>And then you have to consider the logistics, as well. Not all schools will allow this. Have you looked to see if the school you’re going to will allow a triple major? What is the limit of credits you can take each semester? Will you have to appeal every semester to take that courseload, and what’s the likelihood that it will be approved? What is the limit of credits you can take total? Many schools have an upper limit to the number of credits you can take at the school. Can you afford to pay for classes over the summer? Do your parents expect you to contribute to your education or living expenses? With that high of a courseload, you won’t have a lot of time to work to earn money or get experience.</p>
<p>It’s not just about working hard. I’m sure you’re a very bright student and a very hard worker. But there are credit hour limits for a reason and there are average courseloads for a reason. Overloading a semester or two is fine and sometimes unavoidable. I’ve done it, and it was fine. But doing so every semester means that you will have to sacrifice other things (internships, research, work, social life, clubs/organizations, volunteering, etc) and that you likely won’t have the time to learn the material as well as you would like. That may catch up to you when you get to higher level courses or when an employer expects you to demonstrate your knowledge of something you supposedly learned in class.</p>
<p>For those mentioning extra tuition fees & such, that is not of much concern for me.</p>
<p>I want to do a triple major simply because all three of these majors interest me, not because I’m trying to look good to future employers/grad school/whoever. My original plan was double major in actuarial science and computer engineering with a minor in physics, but it wasn’t many more classes to make that a major & I really enjoy physics, and if I do end up in grad school that would probably be what I would pursue, so I figured why not?</p>
<p>The school I chose does allow triple majors, but I do not know the max number of credits allowed (I did email the student advisers, and at the time I’d asked about 18 credits per semester which they did say was allowed, but that my three majors would take approx. six years at that rate, and I have not asked about any more than that).
I am in a few AP courses this year and honors besides that, & every one of my classes is painfully easy with the exception of Physics (which is only a problem because I’m learning the calculus for it at the same time), but I wouldn’t even call that difficult, its a level of challenge that I rather enjoy.</p>
<p>As far as clubs and social life is concerned, there is only one club I’m really interested in at my chosen school & I won’t be terribly sorry if I can’t make it. & I’m not extremely interested in the social aspect, I can manage with just my roommates/friends I already have.</p>
<p>But again, I am confident in my abilities to manage my time. Honestly I fear that I will have too much free time without “overload”, and I can’t stand being idle for any extended period of time, I have friends who are in college now that are taking the average credit hours and are bored with their current workload and constantly bum around or go out to do nothing every day. I would feel like I’m wasting time if I was in that situation.</p>
<p>I would like to take 20 credits during the summer if I’m permitted but I’m not 100% sure on the school’s policy, the question was meant mainly in theory at this point. How many credits are usually allowed over summer?</p>
<p>I am considering switching actuarial science for computer science though since 1) that overlaps a lot more with my other two majors which should free up at least some of the overload 2) my stats class is becoming boring which makes me question being an actuary as a job, and 3) CS was something I’d been considering pursuing anyway (plus it isn’t such a mismatch with my other majors as actuarial science is ^^" ). Do you think this would this make everything more realistic considering the number of the courses for CE and CS are similar?</p>
<p>Also recall that if you are taking, say AP Physics now…think about how much work that takes. Now imagine they take that year long course and condense it into a semester. You will be quite busy with homework/studying/papers in college.</p>
<p>Noooooo. Don’t do this, or you’ll be posting about how much you hate college on here in two years. Why in the world would you want to triple major? And what kind of college would let you do this? Do you think this’ll help you in the job market or something? </p>
<p>Remember that a credit = an hour of class per week. So you’re talking about 20-24 hours of class per week PLUS outside work and projects. Oh, and let’s not forget studying–Let’s say that for every hour of class, you need to spend at least 2-3 hours outside of it studying to do well. So you’re talking about 70-90 hours a week on just on your classes, and since these are likely going to be STEM classes (waiving out of intro classes doesn’t mean you get to skip the higher level classes) you’re definitely not going to have a shortage of work to do. And like I said, with labs and write-ups and group projects, it’s probably going to be more than that. There are 168 hours in a week. You have to eat too, don’t you? And sleep? And hopefully have a social life? Do the math. </p>
<p>It’s great that you’re starting to plan out your future already, but please do so pragmatically. Since you’re a junior, it might be a good idea to look at SAT/ACT and maybe college stuff before figuring out what path you want to take to graduate 6 years from now. </p>
<p>There is no need to do this. Having this triple major isn’t really going to make you any more appealing to most employers, and may make you less appealing in some instances. If you’re planning on going into some kind of engineering, the upper level math classes you’ll be taking will be basically irrelevant. It’s important to realize that upper level math isn’t really like introductory algebra or calculus. Up until now, the only math you’ve likely done has been various methods of solving for x. Clearly, that is quite relevant to engineering. The abstraction of upper level math makes it a lot less relevant. </p>
<p>This is a seriously heavy course load. At the very least, do not attempt this your first semester. You might think that you can handle it, but college courses are structured much differently than high school courses. I took 21 credits per semester for two semesters in a row, and they were all science/math courses. I never want to experience that again. </p>
<p>Again, I’d like to point out that I am -NOT- triple-majoring to look good to anyone, it is for myself, simply because I have multiple interests that I want to pursue & don’t want to take one as a minor.</p>
<p>I went over the possibility I mentioned in my previous comment: instead of Actuarial Science, Engineering Physics, and Computer Engineering I may do Computer Science, Engineering Physics, and Computer Engineering. Due to the overlap as well as my AP credit I can graduate in four years if I take 19-21 credits per normal semester (no more than 6 classes) and about 15 each summer (4-5 classes; only 14 credits the summer after senior year of high school – as my adjustment period). Does this sound better/more doable than my original plan?</p>
<p>@bopper any amount of work isn’t horrible if its in a subject I enjoy, and I absolutely adore physics, as well as most of the other subjects covered by required classes for the majors I’ve chosen. I’ve even been studying other forms of physics (mine is only Physics C: Mechanics), for fun/to challenge another AP exam/to be better prepared for self-teaching that happens in college.</p>
<p>@coriander23 I am prepping for both the SAT and ACT right now, and have been for a while. I know I’m a bit early on this but it’s just something I’ve been thinking about since most of my friends just started college this year.</p>
<p>@comfortablycurt Were you generally math/science oriented person, though?? How many credits did you end up with each semester besides besides those two you mentioned before?</p>
<p>I’m a physics major with a math minor. The previous two semesters I had 18 credits each. Adding that extra class on made things a lot more difficult, especially because two of the classes were lab classes. This semester I’ve only got 15 credits, and it’s a great feeling. I feel like I can actually take the time to really -learn- the material, rather than trying to cram too much stuff into too little space in too short of an amount of time. </p>
<p>I’d also add that I lost my 4.0 because of those semesters. I held on to it for the first one, but for the second one I got a B in General Chemistry II. I finished it with an 89.3%, and he wouldn’t budge. Had I not overloaded, I would still have my 4.0 instead of my 3.93. </p>
<p>There were some days that I would never want to repeat. My Mondays and Wednesdays looked like this last spring. </p>
<p>8:00-9:15 - University Physics II
9:30-10:45 - Calculus II
11:00-12:15 - General Chemistry II
1:30-2:45 - Biological Anthropology
6:00-7:45 - Intermediate Spanish II</p>
<p>That gap from 3-6 was valuable study time to me…so it wasn’t really a “break” so to speak. </p>
<p>My Tuesdays and Thursdays were filled with my labs, working at my job in my schools tutoring center, and squeezing in studying whenever I could. </p>
<p>There were several times that I had multiple tests in one day, including one very memorable Monday morning when I had exams in physics, calculus, and chemistry one after another…then another class shortly after, and then off to study for the two more tests I had on that Wednesday for Spanish and anthropology. </p>
<p>Just keep that kind of stuff in mind before deciding to commit to it. I can relate. When I first started college, I wanted to triple major in physics, mathematics, and astronomy, with a minor in computer science. It seems appealing to get such a broad education, but it’s important to keep in mind that you’re losing depth within other fields in so doing. What about that physics elective that you really want to take, but won’t have time for because of your other two majors? What if you’d really love to take an upper level Euclidean Geometry course, but won’t be able to squeeze it in because it isn’t a degree requirement? You have to weigh out the options and decide what is best for you, but many people go in with crazy ambitions like this (myself included) and quickly realize that it’s neither enjoyable or necessary. </p>
<p>I compromised with a physics major, a math minor, and a few astronomy/astrophysics electives.</p>
<p>You do not have to major in everything that you have an interest in. Many students have multiple interests. You can always take classes in fields outside of your major, and if you take enough classes to make a major or a minor, then great, declare it. Sometimes, just taking extra classes in areas that interest you is better than declaring a major because you can take classes that specifically interest you or that will prepare you for your future career, rather than trying to fill up requirements for another major.</p>
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<p>I felt this exact same way in my first quarter of college. Took 16 credits, had tons of free time, so the next quarter I took 20 credits with two labs and also did fine with a fair amount of free time. I’m not saying you can’t handle the courseload. I’m saying that school is NOT the only thing you should be doing, and I’m saying this from experience. Your friends who are bored and are constantly bumming around are doing it wrong, and overloading on classes is not the answer the fix this. You should be doing OTHER things than school, and I’m not talking about clubs or parties. I’m talking about research, internships, work experience, etc.</p>
<p>So in my sophomore year, I took a normal courseload again and got two jobs, one for money and one for research experience. In other quarters, I added TA-ing and tutoring for teaching experience. One quarter I was working 40+ hours a week, in addition to a full load of classes (which I do not recommend to anyone). One summer I did another internship so I could do clinical research, rather than lab based research. Those experiences are what got me into grad school, not my double major or my GPA.</p>
<p>It’s not just about school and classes. It’s not even really about clubs and parties (although another student’s extensive work with a club that she started and ran for years is what got her into grad school). College is a really good time for you to get experience that will prepare you for whatever you want to do after undergrad. With internships or other work experience, the first “real” job after college will be much easier to get, and you’ll likely be more competitive for top notch jobs with better pay and benefits. I know several students who were offered jobs at the companies that they interned for over the summer while in college. If you want to go to grad school, research experience is going to be vital, both for getting into competitive programs and for getting better funding.</p>
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<p>I’m sure you’ve already looked into this, but make sure you check what you are allowed to double/triple major in. Some schools don’t allow students to double major in majors that are in the same department, and they have requirements about the number of classes that need to be unique to each major (in other words, students might not be allowed to major in two or three majors that have a lot of overlap).</p>
<p>I’m all for people trying things, as long as you go into it with your eyes open and know when to drop a class if your GPA is suffering. And if you find that you don’t have to sacrifice anything to do it, then go ahead and do it. But if you find that you’re sacrificing something that you want to do and would be really good for your future (a job, a club, friendships–and you will have to sacrifice time with your friends), then it’s not worth it.</p>
<p>The rule for college is, for every hour in class, you should have three hours outside of class, studying, doing homework, reading the textbook, etc.</p>
<p>For a normal college course load, that is four courses, 12 credits per semester, which is 12 hours per week.</p>
<p>12 hours per week in class plus 36 hours outside of class = 48 hours per week total.</p>
<p>If you do even 21 credits, the math is: 21 hours plus 63 hours = 84 hours per week. There are only 168 hours in a week, and I assume you like to sleep, at least 6 hours per day, that’s only 126 hours left. You probably want to eat and use the bathroom, and it takes time to go to and from class. And maybe you’d like a small social life too.</p>
<p>What I don’t understand is why you want to force yourself to finish in four years. Even if you say that you really really want to do three majors, it seems like hubris to say “but I want to do it in four years”.</p>
<p>And I am not sure how you will be able to maintain that many summer courses - you do realize that many courses are not offered in the summer, so it is doubtful any upper-level courses will be offered in the summer at all. </p>
<p>You won’t be saving any money if you take a lot of summer courses, and you’ll be much saner if you go the six years and get your triple major.</p>
<p>In what career will your triple major be useful?</p>
<p>Note: I’m a current dual degree (BA/BA) in Poli Sci and Economics and can graduate by taking 15 credits a semester for 3 years, 12 a semester my last year.</p>