To my understanding, a standard business degree does not usually get you very far. People usually combine other majors (computing, health care, etc) with business to give them an edge in the competitive marketplace. Is it possible to double major at IU Kelley as a Direct Admit? How difficult are the informatics and computer science courses?
It depends on what you want to double major in. If you want to double major in 2 business majors, like accounting and finance, it’s very doable and only requires a few more courses than a standard degree in some cases. It’s also doable to major in something in Kelley and minor in something else if you come in with a few credits, take a couple summer classes, or just take a slightly bigger load.
But double majoring with one major in Kelley and one outside Kelley would take a ton of extra classes and would be virtually impossible to complete in 4 years in my opinion. There would just be too many required classes.
Also, I disagree that an undergrad degree from Kelley does not get you far. All majors at Kelley lead to an average starting salary of at least $50,000, and some even get up to $65,000. The majority of these students do not have a double major. If you want to do more than a standard undergrad degree, Kelley also offers solid graduate programs.
https://kelley.iu.edu/UCSO/Statistics/salaryStats/page40582.html
I don’t know a ton about the informatics classes, but one of my friends from high school said that they do not require a ton of work.
I agree with @iubaccounting that a double major in two different colleges is difficult. But it seems like virtually every Kelley student I’ve met has a double major, co-major or minor within Kelley and/or a minor outside of Kelley. If you are interested in IT, check out these Kelley majors and co-majors:
https://kelley.iu.edu/ODT/Undergraduate/page10993.html
And check this site for the full list of Kelley majors, co-majors and minors:
https://kelley.iu.edu/Ugrad/Academics/MajorsMinors/page39060.html
My daughter is graduating in May with a finance major, tech management co-major and Spanish minor (and most importantly - with a job!). She came in with AP credit for Spanish, calculus and psychology. She will complete the major, co-major and minor in 4 years, including a semester abroad in Barcelona and participating in the Business Honors program, and she is only taking 13 credit hours her last semester. She did take one online class through our local CC the summers between freshman/sophomore and sophomore/junior years while also working full time. She still had time to hold an executive position in her sorority, be an ACE mentor, exercise, and have a social life. I doubt all of that would have been possible with a double major in two different colleges.
@stbemtpynest I totally agree. I should have clarified - I meant that the majority of students do not have a 2nd major outside of Kelley. I am planning on double majoring within Kelley myself.
I am on track to double major in finance and computer science so it is definitely possible. It requires some planning; I will have to take some online classes over the summer and my class load each semester averages 17 credit hours.
However, I am only a freshman so none of my classes have been too difficult so far. I do know a junior who decided they want to add computer science to their information systems major just last year so they will end up having to spend an extra semester or year.
Another thing to consider would be how many credits you are bringing in. I had almost all of the first year Kelley requirements out of the way before stepping foot on campus because I took IU classes in high school (Indiana Resident) and had AP’s that covered other requirements.
I have a 4 year schedule planned out that hits all requirements listed. I’m planning to have it looked over by a Kelley and CS advisor to make sure it’s not missing anything. Currently I also have a semester abroad scheduled.
It’s difficult but doable if you truly enjoy both topics.
Wow that is awesome!
Do you think it’s possible to double major in entrepreneurship and finance and minor in computer science? If not, can I still take computer science classes on the side but not be as in depth as a minor curriculum? I essentially want to graduate college with enough knowledge in computer science to be able to code apps and websites.
The minor in computer science was supposedly changed to make it more difficult, not sure what exactly it entails now but I have met a lot of Kelley upperclassmen who did a CS minor. I think it would be a good idea to combine a entrepreneurship major with something like finance. One of the electives that count towards both the finance and entrepreneurship degree is a class on Venture Capital, which I plan on taking. Computer Science, especially higher level classes, at IU are more about theory than apps and websites. I know you can take classes that go in depth into developing both iOS and Android apps, pretty sure there are some for websites as well. There are no required prereqs for those classes so no prior knowledge is needed.
@GRAYSON1234 You give great advice and seem to have your 4-year plan worked out nicely. I just want to share one warning based on my daughter’s experience… Do not count on getting all of the classes you need when you study abroad. Depending on the program (and luck, good or bad), you may not get into all of the classes you want. You will not have seniority for scheduling classes like you do at IU. My daughter ended up getting only 3 of the 5 classes she requested for her semester abroad, and ended up with one class that did not fulfill any Kelley or gen ed requirements. Things worked out in the end, but she didn’t get to take as light of a schedule her senior year as she had hoped. Good luck to you!
@stbemtpynest Thanks for the input! I’ve read where you talked about your daughter going abroad in the past and was already planning on meeting with a study abroad counselor to see the likely hood of getting the classes I need abroad. I’m going on the same trip as your daughter and am very excited! Just out of curiosity what level of fluidity does your daughter have in speaking Spanish after her time in college? I really want to be able to come out of college fluid in Spanish.
@GRAYSON1234 Sorry for the delayed reply, I kept forgetting to ask my daughter your question. She said she was definitely more fluent in Spanish after her semester abroad, but she still wouldn’t consider herself truly fluent. I asked her, if she had an assignment at work that required her to communicate in Spanish, would she be able to do it. She said she could definitely handle written communication, and would do OK speaking Spanish face-to-face, but phone conversations would be difficult since you can’t see facial expressions to help with the context. So that gives you an idea of her level of fluency.
But her goal was to improve her Spanish and experience the culture, not necessarily to be truly fluent. If your goal is fluency, I definitely think it is achievable, but it will take extra effort. Pretty much everyone in Barcelona speaks Spanish, English and Catalan. So if you choose to speak mostly in English, as my daughter did, you will get by just fine but won’t improve your Spanish as much. It’s up to you to really immerse yourself in the language. I highly recommend living with a family rather than an apartment with other students, because it will give you more opportunity for Spanish language immersion. My daughter lived with a family, but they mainly spoke English (at her request).
I think there are Spanish conversation groups on the IU campus where you can get together and practice your Spanish in a social setting. That would be a low time commitment way to keep your Spanish fresh.
If you have any other questions about the CIEE Barcelona semester abroad program, feel free to post her or PM me. If I don’t know the answer, I’ll ask my daughter.