<p>I heard that the math department discourage it. Do you know why? Is anybody pursuing it? Is it unproductive to split your time in two? What about grad school? If I only get a degree in math or computer science or in math, am I locked in that subject or can I change then. I really love both subjects and would like to intensely study both. Can any enrolled student gives me feedback please. Caltech is definitely my first choice, but Harvey Mudd offers a combined major Math/Computer Science and that appeals to me also if I cannot double major at Caltech.</p>
<p>There are a few people that I know of who are math/CS double-majors. However, you probably don’t know what a math major at Caltech entails- I can guarantee it’s almost nothing like high school math you have seen so far. I would recommend coming for PFW and talking to people who are math majors and seeing if you really want to do a math/cs double-major.</p>
<p>It’s not necessarily unproductive to split your time between the two, but the reality is that there aren’t that many people who actually like both math and CS.</p>
<p>i believe that is a pretty common double major at caltech, and i know some people who are doing that. there is also a decent amount of overlap between the two, and a lot of Ma/CS courses are offered.</p>
<p>I think Math/CS is one of the most common double majors. I know at my undergrad school CS majors were required to pick up a minor, and a pretty huge number of them went with math; many of them going on for a double major.</p>
<p>Thanks to all of you for the feedback</p>
<p>jdhutchins,
I wonder if it is because the math major is so intense that they do not want you to be distracted with another major. How is the CS major? Is it as hard? </p>
<p>jhutchins and take_remaster
What about the people you know who double-major, are they able to do well in both? I’ll definitely try to talk to some people during PFW,</p>
<p>RacinReaver
Was your undergraduate school Harvey Mudd?</p>
<p>I was at Carnegie Mellon.</p>
<p>If you want to go to graduate school though, know that you’ll have to convince admissions people that you’re just as qualified as those who were doing only one of the fields. I certainly know one grad student at my school, which is one of the top ranked math programs, who went to MIT and studied EECS, economics, and math. But that takes a prodigious effort and interest in each of the fields to keep up. If you find yourself leaning any given way, make sure to do the one that you’re leaning towards very well, and you’ll make it.</p>
<p>i think they are doing well. the thing is that you have to see for yourself how math is here at caltech. a lot of the upperclassmen i’ve met have told me that they used to enjoy math in high school, but after experiencing caltech math, they’ve begun to dislike it. i am actually a freshman planning on majoring in computer science, and i will decide if i want to major in math as well after i take Ma 5 (abstract algebra. it’s supposed to be really difficult).</p>
<p>One of the seniors who conducted a session at a Caltech summer visiting day was a math/CS major. He seemed pretty happy, but maybe he’s the exception.</p>
<p>Math and CS are very compatible as a double major. However, Caltech is obviously intense and I’m not sure how much extra work a double major would be. Definitely don’t do it just to put it on your resume because it’s not worth it in that regard.</p>
<p>Thank you for all the feedbacks. My goal is to go to graduate school and I can see how they would want you to excel in your field, and how it would be hard to do that with two options. I guess I’ll have to do like take_remaster and try classes out. Maybe I’ll try to take a lot of computer classes as electives to check how much I like the subject at Caltech. The reason I wanted to double -major is because I love both subjects, not to pad my resume.</p>
<p>As a prospective math major, I’m curious what you all mean when you talk about “Caltech math”. Do you mean college math in general, or is there something distinctive about the math courses at Caltech that causes the reactions you talk about?</p>
<p>I believe that PMA’s math major is pure math, so it wont be that compartible with CS, in caltech applied sciences are in a different division(along with Engineering).
besides, there is a “Applied Computational Math” major in applied sciences division and you might like it if you want both CS and Math.</p>
<p>caltech math is math at caltech. i have not been exposed to math at other colleges, so i wouldn’t really know how caltech math compares.</p>
<p>from what i’ve experienced so far, cs here can be very theoretical and math-based. there are some ma/cs and theoretical cs classes offered, like ma/cs 6, 117, and cs 21, 38, 138, 150, 151.
[cs</a> option requirements](<a href=“Computing + Mathematical Sciences”>Computing + Mathematical Sciences)
[cs</a> courses](<a href=“http://www.cs.caltech.edu/academics/courses.html]cs”>Computing + Mathematical Sciences)</p>
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<p>I do not attend CAltech, but I was very interested in it once, and have perused the course descriptions + style a lot. It basically seems like solid advanced math, and the experience of any college major should largely coincide with the experience of a Caltech math major. </p>
<p>Don’t force applied math just because you want to major in CS BTW, unless you like it. Applied math is not just applying math – it tends to be mathematics that is built to focus around applications. Pure mathematics answers some questions that could be rendered useful to someone, somewhere, but the difference is that it doesn’t aim to answer these questions with any specific aim except to address natural questions in the field of math ITSELF, independent of others.</p>
<p>Math/CS is both feasible and a reasonable idea in that if you’re good at pure math you’re likely good at theoretical CS too. Quite a few courses satisfy requirements for both majors. It’s not the most widespread thing to do – an average year it might be one or two or none who do it (in my nonscientific recollection) but there’s no huge reason not to do it. Plus, if you start with it and realize the workload is too much, you can always pick your favorite of the two and do that.</p>
<p>Hello, I’m an Applied Mathematic with Computation , in M</p>