I’m about to start at Michigan State University this fall as an electrical engineering major. I am interested in this field, but my goal is to eventually go to law school, and I’m worried that it will be difficult to get in for any field of law other than patent law with an engineering degree. I’m not studying political science because I’m afraid that I won’t get into law school, and be stuck with nothing, as I have no real interest in the other careers one can get with a political science degree, so I was thinking of double majoring. Can anyone tell me if it is possible to do a double major with engineering and political science at MSU? I heard that some colleges don’t allow students to have a double major or even a minor if they are studying engineering, so I just wanted to make sure this would be possible.
Personally, I think your best bet is to contact someone in the engineering department or academic advising center and ask them. Explain to them what you would like to do and see what they say. Since you are going to be a student there in the Fall, they will be willing to talk to you.
It is definitely possible. The only issue I see here is they are two completely different fields of study. When most people double major as engineers they go into something like “Environmental Science” for their 2nd major. Because of these similar study fields, most of the credits overlap, therefore completing most of the 2nd program before you even start it. Since you will be in two completely different fields, most of your credits will NOT overlap and you may be stuck in college for 2-3 years more.
On a different thread it was suggested that for Law School a student needs a really good GPA, and to do very well on the LSAT. Double majoring doesn’t help with either. It was also proposed that the major doesn’t matter much. If I can find the pointer I will post it here (it was relatively recent).
I don’t see what you would lose by majoring in EE and just taking the Political Science classes that you like. Also, it is not unusual to start with a double major and then back off to one (although one daughter went the other way).
Engineering is a challenging, time-consuming major. I would not think it a good idea to double major if you want to keep your GPA up. However, MSU has a great minor that would go along with law school- Minor in Law, Justice and Public Policy.