<p>Can someone please explain how the system works for Double Majoring at Berkeley? I understand that it is possible to "create" your own double major but that's about it.</p>
<p>I was looking at bioengineering and chemical biology?</p>
<p>Any inputs would be wonderful</p>
<p>Without any real background knowledge, I would say that a lot of the classes will overlap for a double major. But honestly, why would you want to double major Bioengineering with Chem Bio? It seems like Bioengineering would suffice.</p>
<p>I was looking at Berkeley’s Joint Major program for bioengineering and materials and sciences engineering and got interested in the concept of double engineering. However, i am much more interested in chemistry as opposed to biomaterials but I’m not sure if I would want to do bioengineering with chemical biology or bioengineering with chemical engineering =/</p>
<p>So there is a terminology subtlety surrounding having 2 majors. I don’t know about the nomenclature elsewhere, but at Berkeley you can pursue a double major or simultaneous degrees. You would pursue a double major if both majors are within the same college (e.g., bioengineering and mechanical engineering are both in College of Engineering; history and poly sci are both in L&S; etc) and you would pursue simultaneous degrees if the two majors are in different colleges (e.g. bioengineering is in CoE and chem bio is in College of Chemistry; chemical engineering is also in CoC).</p>
<p>Simultaneous degrees require a lot of planning and hard work because you have to complete the graduation requirements (breadth electives and GE’s) for both colleges that your majors are in, plus all the pre-reqs and upper-divs for your majors. For the double major, both majors are in the same college so you only have to do that one college’s GE’s plus the pre-reqs and upper-divs for your majors.</p>
<p>So for you, if you choose either BioE and chem bio or BioE and ChemE, you’ll be getting simultaneous degrees. I would suggest chem bio over ChemE. Chemical engineering relies heavily on math and physics; it uses some chemistry but chemical engineering classes are very different than the general chem and organic chem classes. It’s probably most similar to physical chemistry if you want to compare it to pure chemistry. ChemE majors are required to take gen chem (chem 4A/4B), 1 semester of ochem (chem 112A), and 1 semester of pchem (chem 120A), but that’s it for pure chemistry classes. I can direct you to the College of Chemistry Announcement and the College of Engineering Announcement for 2009-2010 that has all of the required courses for the majors you’re looking at if you would like to see them. I think BioE and chem bio have a lot of overlap for lower division classes.</p>
<p>Ah, I see, I didn’t realize that I was using the incorrect terminology.</p>
<p>I had a few particular concerns with both chemical biology and chemical engineering in relation to the level of chemistry required of both majors. I have heard that the courses 4A, 4B, and 112A are particularly difficult and I don’t know if I will be able to handle the difficulty of these courses. I would like to think that I have a decent foundation for chemistry but I do want to underestimate Berkeley chemistry. However, I have also heard that these such courses are optional and instead that a chemical biology or chemical engineering major could take 1A/1B in place of 4A/4B and 3A/3B for 112A. Is this correct? or do all chemical biology and chemical engineering majors have to take the more rigorous versions (4A, 4B, 112A etc)?</p>
<p>And from the way that requirements are posted for chemical biology, I believe that both majors require upper level chemistry. According to the Darsweb for students, Chem Bio also requires Chem112A/B, Chem 103, Chem 120A/B, Chem135, Chem 105, etc but certainly a significant amount of upper division chemistry courses.</p>
<p>If possible, I would like to set a goal for myself to attain simultaneous degrees. However, I still do not see whether I should take ChemBio or ChemEngineering. With regard to your statement of ChemEng relying heavily on math and physics, doesn’t BioE also rely heavily on those two?</p>
<p>Also, there is the other thing about a language requirement for chem bio which I’m not all too sure about. Would it be possible to complete both the curriculum for both BioE and ChemBio or ChemE within 4 years or would it perhaps require an extra semester or two?</p>
<p>And yes, I would really like to look at the required courses for these majors. Thank you for your responses, it’s already been a really big help. :)</p>
<p>What comments, advices, suggestions do you have about Civil Engineering and Bioengineering which I know understand will be a double major? I was thinking about doing a minor in Bioengineering but I may do graduate school in Bioengineering. Whato do you think?</p>
<p>not to be rude, but bump</p>
<p>I’m also really interested.</p>
<p>Yah, me too.
Is it even possible with the rule that you can’t have more than two overlapping required courses?</p>