Does anyone know...?

<p>Does anyone know, from personal experience or otherwise, whether it's possible to double-major in some form of engineering + either cognitive sciences or psychology at MIT? I wouldn't mind taking 5 years to graduate, if that would be the problem. Thanks in advance.</p>

<p>I believe I know someone who's done that - she was very ahead in GIRs, though, making things easy. If you're willing to take a 5th year, you can probably do it. Course 9 (cog. sciences) has less requirements than an engineering major, making it slightly more doable. Know that doubling is pretty hardcore, though =P</p>

<p>The majority of the people who double-major don't take five years, though -- most people aren't willing to stick around another year just for a second major.</p>

<p>About 20% of MIT students double, and course 9 is a popular second major because it's very flexible in terms of requirements.</p>

<p>thanks for the responses, guys.</p>

<p>I guess it depends - doubling 20 and 7 is definitely doable, but 16 and 9 might not be, especially if you come in with 0 credit (<em>cough</em>me<em>cough</em>).</p>

<p>lol, what about like, 16 and 18? haha... pretty strange I know..</p>

<p>16 is a tough major to double with, because it has a lot of required classes -- it requires 198 units beyond the GIRs to complete the major, while most majors require 180.</p>

<p>What about 1 and 4, or 2 and 4, or 1 and 2?</p>

<p>i just want to know how long it took you guys to memorize what each of these courses actually are</p>

<p>You sort of catch on. I'm not even a student yet and I unconsciously think 5 when someone I know around here tells me they're majoring in Chemistry. </p>

<p>It's sort of like learning your ABCs- you didn't sit down and learn them in a rote memorization session at age 3 (at least I didn't...). You learn them in context over time. Same thing with the course numbers. I tried listing them all at once for a few upperclassmen at CPW and missed like 2, both of which were majors I had never had even an inkling of interest in, so I'd never been exposed to them.</p>

<p>curious8582008, 2 is a good double because you can choose to do 2A, which has fewer requirements. And I know one of my friends graduated in 1 in three years, so 1 must be relatively flexible as well. I don't have a ballpark for 4, because I didn't know as many people in the department.</p>

<p>eating food, I think I only knew the numbers for bio and BCS when I came to MIT -- I remember getting mixed up at orientation between 18 and 8. It does get confusing to translate back sometimes -- I remember writing a blog entry once and wanting to link to a chemistry website, and I was looking at the list of departments on the main MIT page (which is alphabetical) and trying to find "chemistry" in the F's because I was looking for "five".</p>

<p>A note about 2A: it's actually not that much easier to DOUBLE in it (unless the change the whole double degree thing) because all of the classes you "get out of" have to be replaced by other classes that count as engineering credit. So while there are fewer pre-determined classes, you have to keep that in mind.</p>

<p>Also, like every freshman thinks they're going to double major, until like, first semester sophomore year. Just so that you know. =)</p>

<p>
[quote]
Also, like every freshman thinks they're going to double major, until like, first semester sophomore year. Just so that you know. =)

[/quote]

Ahh, how true this is.</p>

<p>Don't forget that a double major is not generally more useful than a single major, and that doubling won't open up grad school or professional doors that wouldn't have been open already. You can also take classes in any department at MIT no matter what your major is, so if you're really interested in x, you can take classes in it even if you're course y.</p>

<p>Double majoring is basically useless except if you're taking so many classes in the other department that declaring the second major is a formality.</p>

<p>I doubled (in 7 and 9). I am glad I did it. It has not been useful for me in any sort of monetary or graduate-school-admissions sense.</p>

<p>The numbers are repeated so often that you just get used to it =D While 16 is hard to double in, doubling it with 18 wouldn't be the worst. The nice thing about 18 is it has an option that means a lot less classes (though still a LOT of work, the classes are no picnic). Also, there is some overlap - 18.03, 6.111, maybe a couple more.</p>

<p>hahah you guys are fun</p>

<p>Has anyone heard of anyone who has done 18 and 21W? :) I'm a weird one, aren't I?</p>

<p>Oh and I only know the numbers for the programs I've looked at.. which is not that many.. I guess you just pick it up as you go along.</p>

<p>2x majoring is also good if the two majors are closely related. e.g. i am in 8 and 18.</p>