I’m planning on attending Purdue soon and was pondering on the idea of double majoring my 2 favorite topics.
I understand it will take longer to graduate.
I understand it might ramp up debt.
I want to do this for fun because I love both topics.
Is this plan healthy? (Stress-wise)
I could graduate in about 5.5 or 6 years if I decided to do so (by taking summer classes every semester)!
What careers/jobs can I get with these degrees? Can they collaborate with each other?
I plan on getting my masters on one (Plant Biology) or both of them some time in the future; so, I plan on getting internships while studying and finding a job for a couple years after I graduate to pay off my loans fast and then come back to study again.
Any tips, advice, or tricks?
Also, would taking 6 courses a semester be considered deadly? Especially if they mixed in high level science labs with high level physics labs/courses? I plan on taking 5 right now, but 6 could speed things up.
Finally, would taking 3 courses on a summer semester be healthy? I plan on taking 2 right now, but 3 could speed things up.
I’m scared of the idea of burning out. I love studying, plants, astrophysics, and the school setting.
You don’t need to major in all the things that interest you. And you outright shouldn’t double major if it’ll take you 1-2 additional years to graduate. Having two majors is rarely helpful in the job market, and it’s especially a waste of time if you plan to attend graduate school (as the extra time spent on the double major would be time better spent getting an MS). It also wouldn’t make sense to get an MS in both of them–the point of an MS (and graduate school in particular) is to specialize in a particular area and because having an MS in that sub-field will help you achieve some particular goal, ie a particular career path or job. Otherwise, it’s a massive waste of time and money that won’t pay off.
Unless you are independently wealthy and have the luxury of spending time and money for the sake of spending time and money, this plan doesn’t really make sense. You are allowed to have multiple interests, but that doesn’t mean you have to major in all of them. Pick one. You don’t have to choose right away–a couple semesters in college will help you get a feel for the college workload, and will help you clarify your goals and allow you to determine whether or not you really want to double major, or whether doing so would even be feasible. Most students change their major or their course plans at some point in college, some of them multiple times. The best course of action is usually to choose one major and take electives in the other areas that interest you.
Remember that the point of college is not necessarily to learn, but to get a degree that will help with a career. If you want to learn things, you can visit a library, take courses as a non-degree student, audit courses, use the internet for resources, etc. You don’t have to be enrolled in a degree program for any of this. Learning and the desire to learn are wonderful, and if learning is what you want to do, great–but you don’t need a degree that says “Plant Biology” on it unless you want to be a plant biologist. Choosing one major doesn’t mean you can’t learn about other things. And having a degree that says “Applied Physics” on it doesn’t mean you’ve learned all you can about applied physics, nor does it mean that you couldn’t have learned the same stuff on your own without the degree. It just means you’ve fulfilled one university’s requirements to earn a degree that says “Applied Physics” on it, and this only matters if you’re interested in a career that requires such a degree.
Learning is not limited to majors and degree programs. Jobs, however, can be.
What if I plan to have jobs in both fields in the future? Not limit myself to just one field. I don’t have to devote myself only to one field or do I?
For example, I begin working off as a plant biologist for a some years and after a while I might feel the need to switch careers and find a job in physics (teaching, researching, analysing, advising, etc). Is that plausible? Or is that unrealistic?
Like, what I’m trying to say is, I do not want to limit the pool of jobs I can get just to one single field.
Concentrate on one field. As an employer, I want to hire someone with a passion for MY field. If I see someone with dual majors or degrees, I’m going to wonder how long he or she will stick around. Pick something you like, and excel at it.
I will occasionally see posts from students who want to get degrees in engineering AND architecture. That always baffles me, because they are SUCH different fields. I tell kids to decide what they’re good at, and stick to it.
Also, I should add that one of the main reasons I am considering doing this is because even if I were to focus on only one degree, I probably wouldn’t be able to graduate in 4 years because I am transferring from a separate university to Purdue–so, the remaining courses I need for the degree won’t be offered in the semesters I need to graduate early. I’ve looked into summer semesters as well but the chances are still narrow.
I’ll be graduating in like 4.5 to 6 years total with a lot of gaps in each semester if I were to focus only on one degree.
Would it be wiser to simply fill in those semester gaps with courses that compliment my major and possibly allow me to double major in the same field (overlapping classes from both majors)?
While I don’t have any real experience in the field of physics, I can say that, generally, the longer you’ve been away from a certain field, the harder it will be to get a job in that field. Most employers will usually prefer to hire either fresh graduates (for entry level jobs) or someone who’s currently working in the field, not someone who’s been working in an unrelated area and hasn’t touched the stuff in years.