Double Major

Colleges and Universities A-Z Stanford University
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<p>my 1st post!</p>

<p>how difficult is it to aim for double major for 2 unrelated field (bio & cs). son mapped out course plan fr start to finish & is very confident it's doable. i checked it out & it seems fine & not overkill. he's motivated. will stanford confer 2 degrees in such case?</p>

<p>abt me: lurking for awhile, since start of son's college app last yr. appreciated lots of info & input, esp fr zenkoan and phantasmagoric, among others. son's going to stanford this fall. although im a huge fan & believer of stanford, it was actually my 2nd choice. why? $$. thought for a while it's not worth the difference compared to arguably, equally great institution (pls dont start any argument though). but now truly believe that stanford is the best fit for him. still painful, finance-wise, but no regrets now. 'cant wait, very excited. cant put a price on his happiness too.</p>

<p>anyway, back to my ?. thanks in advance.</p>

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<p>Welcome out of lurkdom, hillary21. Yes, it is possible to double major in unrelated fields, though it can be difficult and, if the objective is to graduate in four years, it obviously will involve giving up a certain degree of latitude in choosing classes. This is something to think carefully about, IMO, because a huge number of kids change their minds about their majors after starting college. At Stanford, there are so many great classes in so many areas that it can be very hard to narrow down a focus. (I’m probably going to choose either an interdisciplinary major, or design my own major, when it comes down to it.) Another option to consider is maybe minoring in one of the fields your son is leaning toward for double majoring. That would preserve more flexibility in sampling a wider array of classes, especially during the first two years.</p>

<p>As to your comment about costs, I’ll mention this. My family is not eligible for need-based aid even under Stanford’s generous policies. I’m also a legacy of several Ivys (multi-generational in one case), but the only two colleges I applied to were Stanford and MIT, because after looking at lots of colleges, those were the only two I could personally justify asking my parents to spend $54,000+ a year for. I love both of these colleges but chose Stanford in the end because of its across-the-board academic excellence, more balanced student body and lifestyle, and the great climate. (And a larger pool of attractive women, I’ll admit too.) I’m really glad I did. I know this isn’t the same issue as having to take out loans, etc. for one school and not another, but I am just sharing my perspective on the value of attending a school like this, for what it may be worth.</p>

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<p>Yeah like zenkoan said it’s a sacrifice. Many students also want to study abroad, which for STEM majors isn’t the most convenient thing in the world. </p>

<p>Another option is a coterm in one of the fields. There are bio and CS coterms, but I couldn’t find much information as to how many classes in the field a non-major applicant needs to have a good shot at admission. I would also think a masters degree in either would look better than a minor.</p>

<p>I guess one problem with coterm is the cost. But if your kid gets any form of a CS education from Stanford he shouldn’t have much trouble finding a high paying job, at least in this market. I know a B-student working at Palantir. Another option is to complete both a bachelors and masters in four years. </p>

<p>Maybe a major like biomedical computation would be good. By the end of his sophomore year he would have taken the CS core and bio core. </p>

<p>Anyways it’s not too urgent to decide. The biocore isn’t until sophomore year, and his freshman year will be at least 3/4 full with math, IHUM, PWR, and intro CS classes. If your son did well in high school chem, then he probably doesn’t even need to take chem 33 to do the biocore the next year.</p>

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<p>hillary21, that combination seems doable but might be difficult depending on the requirements; as you can see [url=&lt;a href=“http://registrar.stanford.edu/bulletin/4892.htm]here[/url”&gt;http://registrar.stanford.edu/bulletin/4892.htm]here[/url</a>], both are unit-heavy majors, although the difficulty of doing both would depend on how each major counts in-major and outside-major units. In fact, sometimes unrelated majors are more easily combined than related ones, because Stanford has a very strict policy about double-counting units. (In almost all cases, you can’t double-count classes for both majors, unless it’s an intro class that’s used by more than one department, e.g. the math 50 series. If you count a requirement common to both majors toward one major, you have to make up for the units lost in the other major by taking a more advanced class.) Did your son take this policy into account when plotting out his 4-year plan?</p>

<p>Even if that all works out, there are other reasons not to double-major. For example, since CS is in the engineering school, it has additional requirements unrelated to the major. Another reason might be the requirement of a track: both bio and CS require that a student ‘concentrate’ in something, in addition to the core requirements. One of the tracks in CS is biocomputation; if your S doesn’t want to do that, then he can even design his own track. The School of Engineering also allows students to design their own major, so that might be something of interest.</p>

<p>The reason I say this is that often there’s little point in majoring in both. Every major will have some extraneous requirements that just aren’t worth it when you consider that you might have to sacrifice going abroad, or taking some classes that are a peripheral interest of yours, and so on. When you take on two majors, you’ll likely have even more extraneous requirements - classes that you just aren’t interested in. So it usually makes more sense to major in one and then take courses of interest in the other.</p>

<p>Of course, this might not be the case for your son, so I’m not trying to discourage him from doing a double-major. But like him, I was interested in double-majoring (one was CS, the other much less unit-intensive), but the logistics just didn’t work out, and I realized that the only tangible benefit I got from double-majoring was having both degrees on my diploma. Once I realized that such really didn’t matter (not for employment or grad school), I was fine choosing a single major and just taking classes in the other. After all, my transcript would be viewable by employers/grad schools, so they’ll know I have the expertise in the other (non-major) area. It’s just a title, after all.</p>

<p>My advice: forget about major titles. Go through the bulletin, pick out all the courses that you want to take, then find a major that a) has the highest number of those courses as requirements, and b) has the lowest number of courses that you don’t want to take. If that satisfies CS and bio anyway, then go for it; if it requires additional classes that might make it difficult to enjoy your undergraduate experience (e.g. forcing you to take on 20-unit quarters, or stopping you from studying abroad), then it’s probably not worth it, but that’s something that can be decided over time.</p>

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<p>Thanks! Love the responses. Very helpful. Had my S read all these, make sure he understands your points (he’s receptive and very open to info:). Actually, he really planned to take BioE, maybe even coterm. But after ProFro overnight, he developed the appeal for CS bec of the possibilities of “ridiculous connections”, so to speak. He’s eyeing for medical school, but he said that he wants a fallback just in case it won’t materialize, for whatever reason ($$, etc). And CS it is. He started researching and plotting out his 4-yr plan. At first, he did CS major, Bio minor, but he figured out that it is possible to double major, so why not? I look at his 4-yr plan and it doesnt even look very rigid, in my opinion. Apparently, the 2 degrees in his diploma matters to him.</p>

<p>One of my questions is research opportunities for double majors of unrelated fields, and internship - will his opportunities be limited? Will he be at a disadvantaged? I wonder how it will work, how he’ll divide his time and if it’s not possible to do both, or the possibility of favoring one over the other.</p>

<p>@phantas, thanks for that link! Also, he took into account policy you mentioned in his 4yr plan. He said it is for that reason why he cannot (or is very difficult) to double major in BioE and CS. He still wants BioE but he wants a fallback, which I support too. We cant forget about major titles as we need to have a plan and stay on track. If he’ll pick out all courses that he wants to take, I would imagine it’ll be all Math & Science.</p>

<p>@senior & zenkoan, is studying abroad common? What are the advantages. We dont plan for it as we would not be able to afford it anyway. Also, what happens to your mapped-out curriculum when you study abroad.</p>

<p>@senior, he’s doing biocomp cs. That’s why it’s not so rigid, imo. Why is cost a problem in coterm?</p>

<p>@zenkoan, I agree with sacrificing degree of latitude doing both majors & that concerns me. As for $$, we gave up Cal Regents scholarship wherein all he would pay is $1K/yr, which the leadership award would more than take care of. UCLA offered him full ride also, with dream fund scholarship given to top applicants. Cal Regents was too inviting with all the other comps that goes with it, & UCLA is tempting cause medical school acceptance is more realistic. we only want to stay in CA, so other univ are out. Stanford is his dream school. He worked hard for it & got lucky to be accepted. Cant buy his happiness & dont like him to live with what-ifs for the next 4 yrs. Knowing what we gave up, money-wise, would be a motivating factor for him to be really focused. I hope he truly fits in and do good to make it all worth it.</p>

<p>update: after attending send-off party, he met 2 who are planning to take bioe. now he’s confused again. he really wished he can do bioe & cs at the same time, but he said it’s almost impossible or very difficult.</p>

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Honestly I think that’s a poor reason to major in something. He can make connections anyway by taking CS classes and becoming friends with coders.</p>

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<p>I totally agree with Senior0991–that’s no basis for choosing a major. If someone has the requisite skill set, he can definitely avail himself of the ridiculous connections at Stanford by attending events such as StartX and getting to know other people who are hooked into the startup scene, as Senior stated. If your son really wants to study BioE, that’s what he should choose. </p>

<p>As to study abroad, the program is great and has many options, so it’s popular with many students. I would say it’s probably a little more popular among humanities majors since it can be challenging to maintain the course sequences of engineering majors while doing study abroad (though it definitely can be done with good advance planning). I know many students who plan to do it, but also many who don’t. Some students come here having already traveled extensively so they may view the opportunity differently. BTW, I am under the impression that there is financial aid available for the study abroad program for students who otherwise qualify for aid, but I’m not completely sure.</p>