<p>I know I am a little late in deciding which college I want to go to as the deadline is tomorrow but I really thought I could come to a decision on my own. The truth is however, I can't, I hope anyone can give me any insights. Any help would be SO much appreciated.</p>
<p>I want to do a double major in Computer Science and either Business or Economics. I know biz & econ are very different but I really like both subjects and cannot decide which one I like more. I plan on either starting my own business or going into the financial (especially investment banking) industry.</p>
<p>I have been admitted to a few more schools but so far I am down to UCLA vs. CMU. At UCLA, I was admitted to HSSEAS for CompSci and they told me that I could double major in BizEcon or Econ from there (is this actually doable in 4 years if I work really hard?). At CMU, I got into Tepper Business School and they told me that I could double major in their SCS (CompSci major).</p>
<p>Now the problem is CMU is much better ranked in CompSci and offers a real Business degree which I might prefer (I dont know actually tough :)) and CMU's job opportunities and starting salaries are simply much better. It is not that I dont like the campus and the people there (I actually felt almost as comfortable there as I had at UCLA), but I somehow felt that I would not have so much fun there and would not be doing anything but studying. At UCLA though, I think I could have better 4 years simply because they offer a lot more ways to engage and the student body is much more into socializing. And I love LA and the weather in cali. I always wanted to live there. (I dont know much about the job opportunities there though). On the other hand, it is very important for me to have really outstanding peers, with whom I could keep connections I can profit from after college or even start a business...</p>
<p>So basically I dont know if I should really give up on one of the best undergrad degrees in the world in both CompSci and Business, to go to a school at which I might have more fun.</p>
<p>Please help me, I am so in despair already due to this unresolvable process of deciding whoch one to go to.</p>
<p>Thank you so much!</p>
<p>P.S. I am an international student by the way, so money is not an issue!</p>
<p>I don’t see any evidence that UCLA allows anyone into the bizecon major at UCLA directly from high school because the major itself requires students to submit their frosh and soph grades in prereq and overall courses in application to the major, and further, I’ve never heard of anyone majoring in both CS and bizecon at the U. A student doing so might push him/her too closely to U enforced unit caps to pull both off, as both are doubtlessly heavily weighted towards upperdiv reqs, and even prereqs. </p>
<p>Further, I think the U would rather that someone place all his/her efforts into CS and attend grad bus school later on, in a “you can’t serve two masters (majors)” as these. This obviously wouldn’t work the other way around as someone achieving a bus-related bac degree wouldn’t qualify him/her to step directly into a grad CS program, so the pathway would obviously be for someone to obtain the CS degree first.</p>
<p>Doesn’t mean it can’t happen, and hasn’t, but there seem to be too many things going on to pull off this double. History & poli sci, comm studies & English, anthro & philosophy, etc, work for double majors because all these depts are fairly flexible in upper div reqs. Major in bio and minor in Econ; Econ major with premed track, etc, would work because a minor can be tacked on despite these major subjects being entirely diff and weighty in their upper div. And as a rule, science majors usually have more upper div reqs, so the best most can do is go with a minor in biomed research, or something unrelated with their science bacs. </p>
<p>With this said, and your public-relations-type writeup tilted heavily towards CMU, you should probably pick it. </p>
<p>There seems to be this idea promulgated by various initiating threads in the last few days that UCLA is some sort of highly sociable campus with a cakewalk of a curriculum. This couldn’t be anything further from the truth. I don’t think it’s as “cutthroat” as some make it out to be either on the other side of the spectrum, because of what the word in quotes implies, but it certainly is highly competitive, and even more competitive in certain majors like premed than most elite private u’s. Where CMU fits in all this would be speculation on your and my part. </p>
<p>I’m currently double majoring in CS and Econ at UCLA. All I can say is, it’s doable in 4 years if you work really hard and stay committed. I entered ucla with 0 AP credits, and I’ll probably make it within 4 years plus an extra hardcore summer session. If you are admitted as CS major, then double majoring in Econ would be kind of easy, but first of all you have to finish several hardcore CS courses (CS32, 33, 35L, 111, 180) in order to be considered as a qualified candidate. I’d say the best time to apply for double major is during early Junior year.</p>
<p>As for CMU, my friend majoring in CS there told me its CS curriculum is extremely hard, not to mention double majoring CS with something else. But if you believe in yourself and work your ass off at Pittsburgh, you may still find a way out. But apparently double CS and Econ at UCLA is an easier and more doable plan (at least in 4/5 years).</p>
<p>@lamarcus, what are the weed-out majors in UCLA’s CS program?</p>
<p>But he did state that he wanted to major in bizecon which isn’t possible as a frosh, not admitted until jr year, and for which is tougher than declaring econ, ie, no such reqs. With all the possible classes in upperdiv CS, why would one want to dilute one’s learning by taking econ? </p>
<p>I think you can double major in anything with CS except for majors within HSSEAS. Biz-econ would be extremely hard because it’s super competitive and has min GPA requirement. True, double CS and Biz-econ is almost impossible within 4 years, but 5? I’d say maybe if you are willing to give up your social time. It would a different story if one takes every summer session though.</p>
<p>The reason for me to double major in Econ basically is I’m interested in it, plus done with nearly all my CS courses.</p>
<p>I thought, too, that there was a possible merging of CS and Engineering at UCLA, as the other UC’s have done. Before it used to be math and CS. And it still has the PIC for those who are not CS majors.</p>
<p>Congratulations on your acceptances.
With information you have shared, and money definitely not an issue, CMU seems like a better FIT & BALANCE for you.
Best of luck.</p>
<p>There are two associated majors with Computer Science: straight CS, which I’m assuming is software, and CS & Engineering, which I imagine would be hardware. </p>
<p>It gets a little deeper: CS is a Capstone Major, as is the CS & Engineering. There’s also a Computer Engineering Pathway in the EE major, with all those within this major being Capstones. </p>