Double Major = suicidal?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Chicago ✅
1

<p>Hi everyone, I just received my acceptance to Chicago yesterday, and I am pretty sure I'm going. Just wondering, I definitely want to major in economics, but how ambitious is a double-major in Chicago? I'm interested in either History and Economics or East Asian Languages & Civilizations and Econ. </p>

<p>And as an extension, how good is the History and EALC major? </p>

<p>Thanks in advance!</p>

2

<p>History/Econ is a pretty common double-major combo. People will do Econ and another field so as to increase their specialization and avoid being just a generic econ major. It's a lot of work, of course, but hardly impossible. </p>

<p>I don't know too much about History or EALC as a major, other than quite a few people are doing each.</p>

3

<p>I think you'll be fine. Your class combinations sound interesting. Asian languages tend to have a lot of class hours early in the morning, just as a warning. :)</p>

<p>A double major just means that you're taking your classes specialized in these two areas instead of having a bunch of electives. It can actually be easier becuase you'll be in classes you like and (hopefully) are good at. You can look through the course book if you have one or look online to see the particular class requirements for each. Most advisors here are really good, and you're required to have meetings with your advisor, so he or she will help you find a schedule and plan that isn't too overwhelming.</p>

4

<p>Glad to see this thread and the responses! I'm thinking about a double major too.</p>

5

<p>I don't believe that U.Chicago calls it a double major, as they grant one Bachelor's degree. Your diploma will show one major; but who will you ever show that to anyway!!! Nonetheless, you can take enough credits in 2 separate areas for both to count as majors. You should enquire with both departments about what the thesis requirements would be---whether 2 would be needed, or whether you could possibly do one 'interdisciplinary' piece.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.college.uchicago.edu/academics/majors.shtml%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.college.uchicago.edu/academics/majors.shtml&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p><a href="http://chronicle.uchicago.edu/000413/concentrations.shtml%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://chronicle.uchicago.edu/000413/concentrations.shtml&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p><a href="http://humanities.uchicago.edu/depts/nelc/prospectiveundergrads.htm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://humanities.uchicago.edu/depts/nelc/prospectiveundergrads.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

6

<p>East Asian Languages and Civilizations is a tough major, as is Econ, but it can be done. S, though not a double major, is doing premed and EALC and still has time for fun.</p>

7

<p>Would it be better to double-major Math/Econ than to just do the B.S. in Math with specialization in Econ?</p>

8

<p>It depends on what you decide you want specifically, but this isn't something you need to think about any time soon. A number of people do math/stat/econ, too, by the way.</p>

9

<p>Darn, I hate being common :P.</p>

<p>Thanks for your advice! But true, I guess it is too early to start planning out my four years, when I'm not even sure if I could handle the courseload.</p>

10

<p>You can quite easily double-major, you would just have less free electives. Also, if you have scored 4/5 in AP classes, it is possible to get credits towards the 42 required for graduation. Which means that technically you could graduate in 3 years, with 4 courses per quarter, and credits from 2 APs.</p>

11

<p>Double majoring in 2 drastically different interests? Biological sciences and Economics? Yes I was rejected from the Wharton Life Science and Management program and I am hopelessly compensating for it now...</p>

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<p>hey barbarusbarbatus, i was also wondering the same thing. It'd be great if someone could tell us the diff between the two options!</p>

13

<p>i was also wondering about the idea of socioeconomics (since both sociology and economics are so strong) and if there was room for students to sorta flit between the two departments in their choice of major/minor and how correlated are the courses within each major. thanks!</p>

14

<p>You can create your own interdisciplinary major, Kt Kegon. Look up Tutorial Studies and Interdisciplinary Studies in the Humanities under Programs of Study for more information: <a href="http://collegecatalog.uchicago.edu/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://collegecatalog.uchicago.edu/&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p>

<p>All double majoring means is that your courses are more focused on two specific areas rather than one specific area and lots of electives. The two subjects don't matter. If you're double majoring in, say, Spanish and Philosophy and also doing pre-med, then you'd have to be more cautious since those would have zero overlaps. It may require extra time in order to complete all of the required courses. It would also be not fun at all. But two majors in separate areas isn't a problem.</p>