<p>I just got accepted to Carleton and I have few questions regarding double majors and concentrations. Is there any obstacle in the way of getting a double major (any policy or something like that). Since I literally have tons of academic interests I will most likely get more than one majors so this is really important for me. Also how does the trimester system affect the students' ability to have more than one majors. Does it make it easier to have more classes or does the academic pace and rigor makes this really hard. Thank you so much for your answers!</p>
<p>The biggest obstacle to double majoring is that you would need to do 2 comps (comprehensive senior project), as well as fulfill all of the major requirements for each major. If you want to do it, decide fairly early which majors you want, so you can get your requirements fulfilled, and do one of your comps Junior year, and one Senior year. The college doesn’t exactly encourage it, and you need to get the head of each department, as well as the registrar to sign off on your decision. Also, concentrations are not exactly the same things as minors. Not everything can be made into a concentration, and generally they have to be somewhat related to your major. For instance, you could be a Psychology major with a neuroscience concentration, but you couldn’t be a philosophy major with a biology concentration.</p>
<p>Concentrations don’t have to be related to your major at all, and most are interdisciplinary. For the most part, concentrations aren’t offered as majors, though there are a few exceptions (Women’s and Gender Studies, Latin American Studies, African/African American Studies, and maybe another that I’m forgetting).</p>
<p>Truth is, most of the people I know who planned to double major as freshmen but had only a vague idea of what those double majors would be (“I have SO many interests!”) wound up with just one major. Major+concentration is way easier than major+major, and for the most part major+major+concentration is impossible unless there is a lot of course overlap.</p>
<p>I am doubling and I had to plan most of the things out from the freshman year (but I was very much behind; came in with no credits, basically). Definitely feasible, especially if you plan from your first year. If you can separate comps and do one Junior year and one Senior year – great. If you can’t, you could minimize the overlap (trimester/double-trimester-wise) between the two in your senior year, depending on what departments you are working with. Also, double-compsing isn’t that bad, I would say. It’s distinction/pass/fail, and you basically don’t have to worry about the grade while performing work in the field you presumably enjoy. But that varies, of course, personality and department-wise. But yes, there are no prohibitions against double majors, just a moratorium on triple majors.</p>
<p>Most double majors are pretty predictably logical with one shoring up strength in the other - e.g. physics/math, math/CS. Especially if you come in as a freshman with APs and/or college credits in the department already in hand, this is very doable, even with double comps to contend with (e.g. math major with calc, stats, lin al already done and paid for).</p>
<p>Lots of concentrations around - popular include biochem supporting major in bio or chem, cogsci or neuroscience backing up bio or psychology. Of course, in the world of “and now for something completely different” there’s no reason you can’t do a Women’s and Gender Studies concentration along with Geology.</p>
<p>Understand that Carleton takes the idea of an academic “Major” pretty seriously. This is well evidenced in the capstone project required senior year. At Carleton this is the “Senior Integrative Exercise” or comps, at Princeton it’s the Senior Thesis. Not many colleges offer (and fewer require) this. Query Carls - you’ll find that most found it a wonderful, memorable, and invaluable experience. </p>
<p>The flip side - colleges that promote multiple majors and typically water down requirements to help this along. One midwest uni in particular comes to mind. But there is something lost in the process. And you’d be surprised how much grad schools understand this and respect the rigor and depth of academic majors offered at Carleton.</p>
<p>My advice (and yes, you’ve touched a nerve, aroused a pet peeve with this thread) if you really have tons of academic interests, find the major that works for you, achieve some level of proficiency in the field, and then go out and explore. Every major comes saddled with an inevitable group of negatives - courses that you have little or no interest in that must be fulfilled because that’s just the way it is. College is way too short to take a bunch of classes you couldn’t care one iota for just to label yourself a double or, worse yet, triple major. Have fun with the stable of courses that cross multiple departments and don’t intentionally waste a single class. Four years go by way, way too fast. </p>
<p>EmirMur: You sound like me, although I came in knowing the minor option was unavailable and none of the concentrations remotely interest me. Knowing that I still might want to double major, I charted a 4 year course for both Classics and Math (and I came in with no Calc, no Latin/Greek). Long story short, it worked. I even can fulfill my requirements. The downside? I won’t get to take Shakespeare, Dostoyevsky, Symphonies from Beethoven to Mahler. I’d suffocate, buried in either archaic text or mathematical equations. Don’t get me wrong- I’m enrolled in Latin Poetry and Calc 3 right now and relish both, but I don’t want them to be my life. I discarded the idea. The idea of being a true intellectual rather being funneled into two single disciplines sounds rather sweet. I figured I’d just keep taking these and see where it goes, and it’s entirely permissible to take all the COURSES in one major but not declare it.</p>