Can you major in two types of engineering? (Aerospace and Software)

Is it possible to major in aerospace engineering, as well as software? Completely disregard difficulty. I’m asking if it can be done.

Yes, it can be done. I know people who have done double majors where one was in engineering, and even some who double-majored in two engineering fields.

What I don’t know is anyone whose career has in any significant way been improved by such. It is almost entirely a vanity exercise, and I haven’t seen any real enthusiasm for double-majors in industry.

Oh, and yeah, it’s hard.

Yes, but why do it if it takes you an extra year of expenses…

Yes it can be done. Expect an awful GPA, no fun, and an insane work load if you do. Be prepared to spend over four years in college if that’s what you want to do.

It can be done but don’t expect to see any sunlight either.

It is very possible and one may even graduate within 4 years if you have some AP credits. My D can get enough credits to graduate within 3 years (with 70 credits before sophomore year starts) if the course sequence allow, but it doesn’t as some courses for her major only offer in fall or winter that it would take a minimum of 3.5 years to graduate with ChemE. Therefore, she is considering a second major in MSE to fill up the schedule and graduate in 4 years. So there is an additional cost for one semester, but she got a couple 4-year scholarships to cover half of the tuition already so the cost is minimal for the second major.

The possibility depends of earning two engineering bachelors depends entirely on you and your college.

An alternative that might not take much longer is earning a bachelors in one engineering discipline and a masters degree in another.

Tell us more about why you want to do this.

It can be done, but I would recommend considering a different approach.

I would recommend studying Aerospace Engineering and then developing Software Engineering skills outside of the classroom. Use free online resources, such as Stack Overflow, Coursera, MIT OpenCourseware, etc to gain the Computer Science and other programming skills you think you need (data structures, algorithms, software architecture, etc). Then just create projects for yourself to work on so you can practice. And then just make sure you practice often!

This is the route I took back in college when I studied Aerospace Engineering at UIUC. I practiced programming through clubs, independent research projects ( worked on robotics, control algorithms, computer vision, cluster computing and simulations ), as well as through fun personal projects ( making games, numerical algorithms, etc). I learned a lot through my work outside of class and have developed very valuable software engineering skills that have helped me in many ways.