<p>Hi,
I will be starting at McGill's Faculty of Science in the fall, as a biochemistry major. I was looking at different programs and I was wondering if a double major would be possible. If I major in biochemistry in the faculty of science, can I double major in an art (like anthropology) if I do the major concentration program? Will that get me both a BSc and a BA?<br>
Thanks</p>
<p>Biochemistry’s not enough for you? It’s already sort of a double major isn’t it? There are joint majors and joint honours programs but they are all a single degree (i.e. you could do, say joint honours math-physics, but you only get one diploma). While concurrent degrees are possible in theory (back in my day they had a concurrent BEd BSc for teachers, which was 4.5 years long instead of the usual 3), in practice you can’t do 2 degrees full time at once. I have a friend who did (BSc joint honours in math and CS, BEng in computer engineering, not exactly by choice), he took like 8-9 courses per semester for a while; the old MARS (McGill’s Automated Registration System, over the phone) could allow that, Minerva doesn’t let you do that anymore. </p>
<p>Anywho, unless there’s a BA in biochemistry, I doubt that you can do a joint program with something in arts (a few programs are available in both BA and BSc form, such as math, to allow for joint concentration with arts, e.g. BA math & philo, BA math & English, but I don’t think biochemistry is one of them).</p>
<p>I’ve mainly been looking at this webpage:</p>
<p>[Arts</a> majors and minors for Science students](<a href=“http://www.mcgill.ca/science/prospective/programs/arts/]Arts”>http://www.mcgill.ca/science/prospective/programs/arts/)</p>
<p>Which makes it sound like science students can major or minor in an art as well.</p>
<p>There’s no dual degree program as of yet, although there are students and student associations who are trying to push for such a program. There is, as you probably know, the interdisciplinary BA&Sc degree, which you can obtain by completing a major concentration in science, and another one in arts, in your case biochem and anthro. However you have to be enrolled in the BASc program to start with. It is possible to transfer into that “faculty” (it’s kinda two faculties at once) with a good GPA and all. As far as I am concerned, they BSc program is not designed for you to get both a science major and an arts major, though a minor is quite possible. I took a skim through the site and here’s my conclusion:</p>
<p>Most science majors at McGill tak 60 credits to complete. Some a bit less, say 56 or so, some a bit more, possibly reaching the 80s.</p>
<p>As a BSc student, your freshman year (U0) is devoted to a predefined program of basic science and calculus courses. That first year earns you 30 credits.</p>
<p>Now the four year program at McGill requires 120 credits to complete. Not surprising as it comes around to 30 credits a year.</p>
<p>None of the 30 credits you earn in your freshman year count towards your major. This means all 60 or so credits for your major are completed between your soph-sr years. Or, during your next 90 credits, 60 of them will be for your major. This leaves (around) 30 credits remaining for you to do what you want with them. I say around because again not all science majors require the same number of credits.</p>
<p>All arts major concentrations take 36 credits. Suppose still that your science major takes 60 credits. Add in your freshman 30 science credits, none of which can count towards either a science or arts major. That brings you to 90 credits. And now add in your 36 credits for your arts major concentration, giving you a total of 126 credits. You see where things stop working?</p>
<p>Now of course if you really want to do a major concentration in anthro, you can decide to either transfer into the BA&Sc program, or just accept the idea of taking more than four years to graduate.</p>
<p>Best of luck</p>