<p>Haha, but please don’t let me dissuade anyone.</p>
<p>As UMTYMP points out, there are often strategic reasons to choose one major or another as your “primary”. And I don’t think there’s anything wrong with coming to college with the intention of double-majoring. I just want everybody to realize that it’s not always such an important end goal in and of itself. So come to MIT, plan to double, make out your class plan, and reassess your goals and position after a few semesters. Just don’t get so hung up on the technicality of completing the double that you miss important pieces of your actual education.</p>
<p>(And, full disclosure, in case people are not aware: I double-majored myself, in biology and brain and cog sci. I’m glad I did it, and I’d do it again. I just don’t think having the credential has been what was useful about the whole process.)</p>
<p>^But there’s no reason you should force yourself to eat two whole entrees if you’re uncomfortably full. It’s okay to eat one entree and taste bites from one or several other entrees. </p>
<p>Actually, that is not entirely accurate. EECS offers 3 M.Eng programs…</p>
<p>6-P: Master of Engineering Program
6-A: Industry-focused M.Eng variant
6-7: Master of Engineering Program in Computer Science & Molecular Biology</p>
<p>I double majored - it wasn’t as hard as people make it out to be and I never felt “locked” in. With some careful planning, you can maximize your coursework (in my case some of my major requirements qualified for both degrees). But I still had time to take foreign language, music, economics, etc. I never felt like I didn’t have enough time to do all the things I wanted to do while on campus. </p>
<p>I agree with lidusha. There are many classes (I think the class I had at graduation had at least 25) that I still had the pipe dream of taking. That list grew every year…</p>
<p>I was a double major 15 and 6-3. These have little overlap, but IMO great practical advantage. I am now working as a product manager at an internet company, where I draw on both majors quite heavily.</p>
<p>W.r.t the comment above about employers not wanting to hire double majors - if you are able to find work that is a combination of your two interests - than you are super rare and a very good fit. However, those roles are rate and you’ll need to work to seek those out. However if your passion is combining both do it! I think there are many unexplored areas at the intersection of disciplines.</p>
<p>Also w.r.t. research - people who combine disciplines <em>are</em> in demand for hiring (I heard this from a junior MIT faculty member) You just need to do both well. </p>
<p>My son will have around 600 units when he graduates this spring with a double major in physics and 6-1, and he <em>still</em> wants to take more classes! Yay for graduate school!</p>
<p>OOF! 600 units! I graduated with 384 units, though I did not double major. If only MIT still offered double degrees instead of the double major degree it does nowadays. That would have been awesome!</p>
<p>The thing is, you don’t need to double major to combine two disciplines. Often times, major requirements force you to be broad, when you may want to specialize in one major in a way that is applicable to the other major. As Mollie said, the actual knowledge you gain and can show is the important part. The credential is not necessarily the best way to show it and may cause you to spend time in places you don’t want for no particularly good reason.</p>
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</p>![http://web.mit.edu/mollieb/Public/Pictures/Senior%20Year/June/Double%20diploma%20dance.jpg]undeniably](http://web.mit.edu/mollieb/Public/Pictures/Senior%20Year/June/Double%20diploma%20dance.jpg%5Dundeniably){kind=link}
