<p>I'm interested in majoring in chemical engineering and political science. However, according to Columbia's website, the political science major is only offered at CC, while chemical engineering is only offered at SEAS. I was wondering if I would be able to double major in these two areas, and how feasible it would be.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>only way to do so is to be dually enrolled, and only way to do that is to do the 3-2 or 4-1 program (which depending how crazy you are could be a 2-2 or 3-1 program) in which you enter into one school and then are granted admission into the other based on your progress at school.</p>
<p>in seas you can also do a minor in political science.</p>
<p>i would probably first question why you want to double major in these diverse fields. what is your goal in doing so? nothing precludes you from taking as an engineer classes in political science, so what do you gain from having a major (over a minor or just taking classes) that you think is so vital.</p>
<p>i should note that such a double (chemE and polisci) is extremely rare and i doubt you’ll find students anywhere do it. chemE by itself is such an intense major that it will command a lot from you.</p>
<p>I guess my main reason for wanting to do so is because I’m interested in both fields, and see potential careers in both fields. I guess my best option would be to take a minor or just take classes.
Thank you!</p>
<p>well unless you want to go on to a phd in political science, if your goal is to enter into a policy field, politics or the like, then you really don’t need a degree in political science. in fact knowledge of the sciences, and especially emerging technologies will give you a HUGE leg up on the competition that is jam packed with kids who had polisci degrees (whose irrelevance toward most policy decision making can’t be overemphasized). this does not mean, however, that if you don’t find political science fascinating and quantitative social sciences as a skill useful that you shouldn’t majoring in polisci. but don’t do it because you have some image that to be a politician you need the degree.</p>
<p>in general - arts and science degrees (including natural sciences) are rarely necessary majors for careers in the future, unless your career path is to go on to further academic study (not professional schools). beyond that - knowledge of the field is all that is necessary, which means knowing your professor(s) well and taking a fair amount of classes, and/or doing an internship in a related job area. this would be just as good as majoring in that area.</p>
<p>things change when you enter more preprofessional fields, you can’t be an engineer in some cases unless you have an engineering degree, etc., but otherwise the world is more malleable than you think.</p>
<p>Dual degrees (BA, BS) are better done when the majors complement one another. The most common engineering degree for this is either Computer Science (goes well with most math and science majors at CC) and IEOR (goes well with Economics and Statistics). That said, there are valid reasons for doing a dual degree in very different fields. Intellectual interest is a great reason.</p>
<p>i should emphasize what jamescchen just said - if you want to do it for the intellectual sake, go for it. it may be the last time in your life you can feel like you’re taking classes for the sake of learning.</p>
<p>Thank you!
One last question: Would double majoring in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering be feasible? If so, how would it work? Would I have to participate in the combined plan program?</p>