<p>What is more advantageous? A double major in Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering or a degree in one of the two with a minor in business? </p>
<p>Will one look better than the other on a resume? </p>
<p>Also, which one would be more likely to get you into grad school at a decent university?</p>
<p>A business minor would have no effect on grad school, that’s for sure.</p>
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Depends on the job - if you are applying to a business-side position (like competitive intelligence or engineering sales) then the minor would be better. If you are going for a technical position, then the double major may look better. Honestly, I think the double major has very little real value under any circumstances - it is better to pick one major and rock it.</p>
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Neither. The business minor is completely useless here, but grad programs are very narrow and focused and are not going to be impressed at the slightly increased breadth of a double major, especially if getting it means sacrificing any depth or research.</p>
<p>I’m currently a junior double majoring in aerospace and mechanical. First off, you don’t “sacrifice any breadth” in doing so, since double majoring means (at least at my school) that you have to satisfy the requirements for both majors. Second, I’m completing it in 4 years, if it had required an extra year or if I had to take summer school every year it wouldn’t have been worth it. Third, my next summer (between junior and senior year) is completely free, and I’m planning on doing a research fellowship or an internship, so it’s definitely possible to complete a double major without sacrificing anything.</p>
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Never said you would - you are actually increasing your breadth, but the problem is that most employers and nearly all grad programs prefer depth. Time spent doing the double major is time that could be spent taking advanced courses for depth, or doing research, or doing an internship - all things that have more value.</p>
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Well, it sounds like at least some of your summers have been spent on classes, so I would not say that you are pulling it off “without sacrificing anything”, but you are nearly there. And whatever the cost is, if you are willing and able to pay it, have fun - no one has said “don’t double major”, what most of us say is “don’t double major and expect it to be a career or grad school boost.”</p>
<p>“Which one will look better on a resume?”</p>
<p>Job offers don’t automatically go to the applicant with the greatest number of majors and minors on their resume, so don’t double major/minor for the sake of collecting them. Personally, if I saw a guy with a gratuitous number of majors and minors on his resume, I would think to myself, “what kind of diploma mill did this guy go to?”</p>
<p>AE and ME have a lot in common so that would be better for you. I don’t think a business minor makes a lick of difference for an engineering job.</p>
<p>Grad programs are more likely to admit students who know exactly what they want to study and have already taken steps to get there. Therefore, depth is much better than breadth for getting into a good grad program.</p>
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this. 10char</p>
<p>Cosmicfish:</p>
<p>Sorry I meant to say “sacrifice any depth”. Again, I’m taking every single class I would have to take if I was in either major, the people single majoring have exactly the same depth in both majors as I do. As far as your claims, if you have actual data that compares double majors to single majors with regards to salary and acceptance rate into grad school I would like to see it, otherwise saying that is purely anecdotal. “Anecdotally” I’ve heard that double majors make about 10k more, I could care less however since I’m doing it purely because I want to and because it ADDS to the depth of my program. My primary interest is aerospace propulsion, so I added mechanical because it has more courses in thermodynamics, heat cycles, and vibrations, all of which are applicable to my field of study. If I do decide to go to grad school, I think they will understand that I didn’t put out the extra effort for no reason.</p>
<p>Could you have taken just those few ME classes (as opposed to the whole major) and then done research during the academic semester too? Also, requiring more depth is not anecdotal. Most graduate programs state when they look at your application they are looking at your ability to do independent research. If you’re taking additional ME classes to fulfill your major that aren’t relevant to your primary research interest, it stands to reason you’re wasting time you could be spending working with a professor (experience and a better LoR). I said earlier if you can do the double major AND research during the academic semester, not just the summer, go for it.</p>
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It absolutely is anecdotal - that is all most of us on here can offer.</p>
<p>Here is my anecdotal evidence: I knew several double majors in college, know roughly what offers they received (we swapped that info freely amongst ourselves, it was essentially a ***<em>ing contest) and none of them had offers significantly better than mine for comparable GPA’s, and yes that includes a few double-engineers. I know several engineers in my very large company and have had access at various times both to academic qualifications and to a certain level of salary information, and have seen zero evidence of any of the double majors having any significant edge in salary. I know several grad students at top programs, and cannot immediately find any double majors in the group - I know several double-majors who applied to grad schools, but all of them went down in “quality” of program in their acceptances</em>.</p>
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If that is how you feel, more power to you - it is your life, your decisions. But unless you attend a small school there should be a plethora of senior and grad-level courses that you could have taken that would have positioned you much better for some specific research area, and that is what I mean by depth. Most grad programs won’t care about the 24 credits of sophomore/junior level classes you take to get a double major, they will care about the 24 credits of senior/grad level courses that you could have taken in areas that they already expect their students to be strong in.</p>
<p>*: Note that this may in fact be good choices on their part, rather than any weakness of their applications - grad school being what it is, you go with the best advisor and research even if it is at a “lesser” school.</p>
<p>I appreciate your thoughts on the matter. One of the reasons why I’m doing it is at my school you only need to take 4 extra courses (16 units) to double major in aero/mech. All of them are upper division classes. I’m not even sure I want to go to graduate school, when I graduate I might be itching to do something else besides school. Job wise I have more flexibility, if I can’t find a job in aero then I also have the mech which is more broad.</p>
<p>Anyways we seem to have hijacked ArizonaAero’s thread… and I have a lot of work I should be doing (as a double major who would have thought huh? 
).</p>
<p>I think that the double major is extremely beneficial if all you need is to take 4 extra courses. The double major will widen your opportunities also if you choose not to pursue graduate school.</p>