Advise needed from undergrads or professors: Possibility of unrelated double majors

<p>Hello,
Is it possible to double major in Literature and Physics with a minor in Mathematics at Vanderbilt? If yes, how practical/doable is it in terms of efforts and time-commitment it entails? I know it depends on the individual, but in general, do you think someone can take the above mentioned courses and do well in all three?</p>

<p>I’m not a Vandy prof and I’m not going to do this work for you, but a couple places to research: have you studied the requirements for each in the catalogue? is there anything in the catalogue that prevents you from doing this? does, for instance, vandy have a college for “literature” and one, say, physics/math (this might make it harder to major “across colleges,” as it were)? does vanderbilt allow physics majors to minor in math since the math and physics requirements are so similar (many schools, for instance, won’t allow cogsci majors to minor in psychology)? I don’t see any problem with majoring in physics and literature (bio and lit is a very common duet), as long as you can get it done in 4 years. This might require some 18-21 hour semesters (will Vandy charge you for 21 hours?) Admissions officers might be able to answer these questions definitively, but you might also need to speak to someone in the educational advisory center. Good luck.</p>

<p>So the good news is Literature, Physics and Math are all in the College of Arts and Sciences, so you do not have to even cross colleges (say to Engineering or Peabody or Blair). Therefore a double major is quite doable. That being said, check out the AXLE requirements on the Vanderbilt website to determine which requirements you may have met via AP or IB credit in high school. Vanderbilt maximum credit hours without permission is 18 hours. 18 hours is a lot of coursework to handle in any given semester. With good planning, particularly with AP credit in place, double majors can be done at Vandy–certainly within a college, but even cross schools.</p>

<p>It’s very much possible but requires some pretty careful schedule planning. Majors really don’t require that many hours-- usually like 30ish (to put that into perspective, you take 15-ish hours a semester for 8 semesters–120ish hours total). The challenge is getting into those 30 hours for both majors at the right times and still fulfilling all your core requirements, called AXLE. </p>

<p>Double majors are very common but do usually involve a bit of overlap.</p>

<p>I have a friend (who is also an international student?) who is doing exactly that- a double major in physics and creative writing.
[Declaring</a> your major! | Inside 'Dores | Vanderbilt University](<a href=“http://admissions.vanderbilt.edu/insidedores/2013/12/declaring-your-major/]Declaring”>Declaring your major! | Inside 'Dores | Vanderbilt University)
You should totally email him if you have questions: <a href=“mailto:rani.banjarian@vanderbilt.edu”>rani.banjarian@vanderbilt.edu</a></p>

<p>The difference between the math minor and major is only two classes since the physics major would give you six hours to be used toward applied math.</p>

<p>The biggest issue would be making sure you fill major requirements as well as AXLE requirements, which can be a little taxing with a double major plus a minor.</p>

<p>Rani is my best friend, and as sdwang said (hi, hope break was good!) he’s physics and creative writing. It works, you just need to start taking your major courses by sophomore year. Get as much of AXLE done as you can when you come in, and use your major courses for AXLE as much as you can. For example, your various literature classes might meet Humanities, Cultural Studies, and Perspectives requirements of AXLE, and Physics and Math will meet your Math/Natural Science credits.</p>