<p><em>I posted this in the U of R forum and the Math/CS Major forum so that I can get input of different people</em></p>
<p>Hello everyone, I will be attending U of R in the fall on a Richmond Scholar and everyone keeps telling me I'm crazy. My Richmond Scholar is for music, so I'll have to at least minor in music for that, but I want to major. I also love math and CS and want to major in them to. I would be coming in taking linear and data structures. Also, I will have credit/placement from APUSH (4), AP Calc BC (5), Multivar (they told me they'll waive the requirement), a CS class i took at the local community college, and hopefully Music Theory (Exemption only, i took the test this year). In addition, I can take the few gen eds I'll have left at the local community college in the summers. I was planning on starting on the track of all 3 majors and then dropping 1 later if it became too difficult. How hard is it to drop a major and am I truly crazy?</p>
<p>Math and computer science should be compatible. What you might find is that the upper level classes may be offered at the same time so it would be impossible to take them and finish in 4 yrs. My older son was a physics math major and wanted to add in computer science at his school but the courses conflicted so he wasn’t able to do it all. I think the music minor would be doable but a major would be more difficult due to ensemble requirements and labs which fill up a schedule fairly quickly. Check the course requirements for each major at your school. Then go on their website and check to see when the different classes are offered by semester and time. This will give you an idea as to whether or not the triple major is possible.
At most schools, dropping a major requires getting signatures from the department chair and your adviser. A little annoying but doable.</p>
<p>I assume the music major is a BA, yes? It’s probably doable, if so. If it’s a BM, that would be different.As for music theory, I would guess, if it’s a good music program, that they will require you to take more music theory classes, regardless of your placement - it’s just that you can begin at a more advanced level. I don’t think you’re crazy. Go for it. (The only downside I see is that you’ll have less room to explore courses in other areas which you might find of interest.)</p>
<p>The best way to decide about this is to look at the required courses in each major, and gen ed’s left, and see how many credits that adds up to. Then the other consideration is how often the individual classes are offered. </p>
<p>You will find there are a lot of intersections between math and CS (of course) but also music and CS. Look at Brown’s technology strand and MEME program, and Dartmouth’s Digital music master’s program for examples. U of Michigan too. These are post- BA but you will see what I mean.</p>
<p>You can go in and explore each subject in your first semester and see how it goes…You may want to take the first theory sequence and even repeat some of the math or CS you have already done, once on campus. many do in order to feel solid in the foundation offered at that particular school.</p>
<p>@SpiritManager yes, they would all be BAs.</p>
<p>I guess the only other question is do you need to major in a subject to take all the classes in it that you wish to? Is there any reason a CS major wouldn’t already be taking lots of math classes? Or do you want to keep options open for grad school by having different majors on the diploma? Again, I see no reason why you can’t triple major - it’s not that uncommon in many schools, if the majors don’t have a lot of separate requirements.</p>
<p>If you want to do CS for a career, I would strongly advise a BS. If you are feeling more open about how these different majors might intersect in the future, go ahead with BA’s. And it is true that many CS classes are math classes, and in fact a few music classes may involve CS. Why don’t you start off with foundational classes, involving a math class in the CS requirements, and a theory class in the music department, and see how you feel after a semester or two.</p>
<p>Ok thanks everyone. Actually, I may be able to do a BS for math and cs because the only difference is the BS for math has cs electives and the BS for cs has math electives. I don’t know what I want for a career, although recently I’ve become fond of cryptography, which you need math and cs for. All the classes for the math major are classes I want to take anyways…</p>