<p>So I was wondering. I am thinking that I really want to double major in Chemical Engineering and Mathematics. Good idea? bad? Would it be much harder to tack the Math major onto the ChemE major?</p>
<p>Haha, I would answer…</p>
<p>but, as you can see from my own indecisiveness concerning double majoring (see my thread), I don’t think I’m in a position to really help you.</p>
<p>That said, I do think the additional math major would be a wee bit difficult, but it all depends on how much you like math and your aptitude for it. You’ll take a lot of math classes just for your ChemE degree, so some of them will also apply towards your major. But then you’ll also have to take clases like toplogy, anyalysis and all different types of math clsses requiring proofs…and THAT will seriously be outside the scope of your engineering curriculum.</p>
<p>keep in mind, you will also have many chemistry classes to take, so fitting that into your schedule will also be difficult. I imagine that you’d be going to school all year round just to kep up with the demands of both ChemE and a Mathematics degree.</p>
<p>But what do I know? I’m just as lost as your are. =/</p>
<p>my suitemate is ChemE and math and it works out as a good combination (chemE courses here are notoriously difficult and the math actually raises his gpa)</p>
<p>I bless this double major, for what it’s worth. With the appropriate choice of math classes, you can not only get exposure to an interesting second field of study, but you can also complement your ChemE degree immensely.</p>
<p>ChemE and Math are different enough that it doesn’t seem redundant. Where are you going to school, Salve!? I assume there would be a core associated with the math degree (probably cal 1,2,3, differential equations, linear algebra, algebra, analysis, etc.) as well as a number of required elective classes. Any idea what kind of courses you’d take as a math major?</p>
<p>I have always loved math and at one time just wanted to be a math teacher. I’d probably be going to somewhere like UIUC for school.</p>
<p>I think that double major is very reasonable. At my school, an applied math concentration overlaps pretty decently with my EE program and also includes other math courses that seem like they could strengthen my power as an engineer. </p>
<p>This is a good idea.</p>
<p>i tried it and just ended up dropping the math major…not because it was ‘hard’ but because i realized how useless advanced math was…numerical methods is the only advanced math course you need for chemE but theres a chemE version that is already required for all chemE majors so it would be silly to take the math version…you can schedule probability or statistics as one of your electives but apart from that its a silly idea to do a math MINOR let alone a MAJOR, if you’re a chem E…look into some cmpsc (programming) courses instead…</p>
<p>racnna:</p>
<p>It’s very seldom that I will be advising people to take math over CS courses, being very pro-CS myself, however…</p>
<p>I think it sends a bad message to say higher-level math is useless. I assume you are talking about proofs, yes? Or perhaps the subject matter of algebra and analysis.</p>
<p>In my mind, the double major should be for personal fulfillment and satisfaction first, and any benefit to the first major should be a secondary concern. As a corollary, you should not double major in a field you don’t enjoy. If Salve! enjoys mathematics, or thinks he might enjoy it, or would be disappointed to have graduated college and not have taken a good deal of mathematics, then he should emphatically double major in mathematics. I have a secondary major in physics - not because physics is particularly helpful for getting CS-related jobs (well, it will help for some jobs, but that’s beside the point) , but because I liked physics before college and wanted to see it through at least to the undergraduate level.</p>
<p>(That being said, CS is awesome too. If Salve! isn’t really sure what to do, Salve! should look into the courses in a math double major and the courses in a CS double major and compare the two. CS is a ton of fun, too, but at the double-majoring level, he might be stuck taking a bunch of hardware classes and not get into any theory, whereas with math at least he’ll be able to take cool theory classes. In fact, I’m going to check the programs at UIUC.)</p>
<p>The UIUC CS major makes you take a course called “theory of computation” and it makes you take a course on algorithms. Regarding learning how a computer works, the curricula makes you take two courses that are somewhat hardware-related. </p>
<p>Their equivalents in the ECE dept. are way better though, Salve!, if you find that you are interested in actually learning how a computer works.</p>
<p>After having looked at the curricula, I would say that Salve! could go either way. If Salve!'s gut says math, then math it is. If it were me, I’d probably go with math… lots of interesting math courses.</p>
<p>What about at Rose-Hulman? That is another school I was looking at. </p>
<p>Also, thank you all so much because your posts are REALLY helpful!</p>