<p>Do employers pay attention to certificates you've earned at all, or do they just look at your transcript/the classes you've taken?</p>
<p>yes, certificates are essentially your concentration. If you do economics and want to work on Wall St. a certificate in finance would be helpful. Usually its a good idea to do a certificate in your area of study and one in an area that interests you.</p>
<p>I too have been wondering about this. Would a major in math/CS/physics and a certificate in public policy from the woodrow wilson school be worth it?
I intend to go to law school or be in math/engineering.</p>
<p>I disagree with the assertion that certificates are “essentially your concentration.”</p>
<p>And simo14, such a concentration/certificate combination is likely to destroy you, or at least, your social life. But, this IS Princeton, and there are a few people around who are talented enough to pull that off.</p>
<p>^ Maybe you misinterpreted my post, but I was asking about a combination of:
Math OR CS OR Physics AND Certificate at WWS.</p>
<p>I initially assumed you meant that you wanted any one of those majors plus WWS. Are you actually saying physics is the only major you would wish to pair with a Woody Woo certificate? Not sure that would change my assessment very much, seeing as how MAT/COS/PHY are reputedly the three hardest majors at Princeton.</p>
<p>how are the reputations of mechanical or electrical engineering and the finance and engineering/management systems certificates?</p>
<p>^^ Your first assumption was correct. Why would the combination be difficult? What are common majors that get paired with a certificate at WWS? Would it be useful at all to just major in math/CS/physics and then take some classes at WWS without earning a certificate?</p>
<p>“…unlike most other certificates, the Wilson School necessitates serious planning and commitment by candidates. Whereas other certificates require five courses, the Wilson School requires 11 courses, including two policy task forces in which participants write a Junior Paper (in addition to the junior independent work of their home departments).”</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/2010/03/01/25364/[/url]”>http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/2010/03/01/25364/</a></p>
<p>Very few students get a certificate in Woody Woo. The only one who I personally know is a German major. Take some WWS classes if you’re interested, but keep in mind that if you are successful in MAT/COS/PHY at Princeton, just about any law school will want you.</p>
<p>Taking a WWS certificate is almost like being a WWS major. Your combination is crazy. You don’t need WWS (or anything humanities or social sciency) to get into law school. Any major is okay, coming from Princeton. Get a good GPA and do well on the LSAT.</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice!</p>
<p>My daughter was a psych major with a neuroscience certificate and the certificate got her her job post graduation. So some can be extremely valuabe.</p>
<p>considering how similar her major and certificate are, seems like maybe her major got her her job</p>
<p>Actually, no. Medical equipment manufacturers have no interest in psych majors, but someone who has learned computer programming, computational memory, and fMRI techniques is valuable.</p>
<p>Therefore you’re saying that her experience got her the job, not the certificate.</p>
<p>Certificates are merely sheets of paper that result from checking a box. It’s the experiences and skills you possess that matter, not the certificate programs.</p>
<p>Newb! Don’t be dopey! She got that experience via the courses she took for her certificate! Certificates at Princeton ARE NOT just sheets of paper. They reflect courses taken. Goodness.</p>
<p>Does it show up on your resume or whatever when you apply for job or grad school?</p>
<p>No, they don’t show up on your diploma. As mentioned, they are separate sheets of paper. But you can mention them in your resume and the courses will show up on transcripts. So ultimately it’s the courses behind the certificate that matter, not the certificate itself.</p>
<p>Is it doable to major in mechanical engineering with a certificate in applied math/ or engineering physics/finance? How much weight do these certificates hold?</p>
<p>iCalculus, that combination is very doable. To the person who asked about a WWS certificate with a major in MAT or PHY, that would be extremely difficult. The WWS certificate is unlike any other certificate in that you have to do do just about everything that those majoring in WWS do. It’s not like you’re only taking a few extra courses. And I suspect you’d have a difficult time explaining on your Woody Woo application how you plan to combine your interests (math and policy) into a coherent program of study.</p>