I heard that the business school there doesn’t allow working on two majors at the same time. So when do you declare a second major? Any information would be helpful, thank you!
Except for the Business Administration Department, the College of Business (COB) does not allow “double majors,” and you don’t get to declare a second one as an undergrad outside of the Business Administration Department. For example, if you are an accouting major, you don’t get to declare another business major, but if you have one of the majors in the Businees Administration Department such as Management – General Management Concentration, you might also seek another Business Administration major such as Marketing or Information Systems and Information Technology. typically seeking a second major is something offically done when transitioning from sophomoe to junior year but it can be at other times.
What COB does allow across its departments, but few pursue, is a “dual degree” program, meaning you actually get two separate degrees in two different business majors. The major difference between a double major and a dual degree program is number of hours required. A business major typically requires 124 semester hours to graduate with at least 27 in the major. If you double major in the Businss Administration department, you still need only 124 total, although likely you will need some more because you have to have 27 hours in each major, but since majors have courses that overlap you will not have to take anything near an extra 27 hours, and probably half or less than that. A dual degree program likewise requires 27 hours in each major but it also requires that you complete 30 hours more than the required total for one major. In other words, the only way to complete a dual degree program in business is to take a 154 hours total, which typically means that you will not graduate in four years and may need 5 and possibly more. You typically apply for a dual degree when transitioing from sophomore to junior year and the department offerring the second degree gets to decide if it accepts you and one of the factors considered is whether you can realistically complete both degrees within 5 years.
If you are asking about combining majors from business and another college such as Liberal Arts & Sciences, you have similar barriers. First, when seeking two majors from two different colleges at UIUC, you cannot just seek a "double major’ but instead must pursue a dual degree program that requires that you complete 30 hours more than the required total for one major and degree. Second, the business college does not accept applicants from the other colleges seeking a dual degree in business. For example, if you are in LAS or the engineering college, you cannot seek a seoncd major via the dual degree program in business. However, if you are in the buiness college you can apply for and seek a second major under the dual degree program from another college such as LAS (the college offerring the second major gets to determine if you will be admitted, something that would typically be requested requested for start of junior year).