<p>Double majoring seems to always be discouraged on CC, why exactly? I looked at the degree plans for the college I'm going to and a double major for me seems very possible due to the AP credit I have. I'm very young compared to my peers, I won't even turn 21 until the first week of my senior year in college, so what harm does double majoring have? Everyone says to just graduate early and get a job, but I see no problem with majoring in something for a job (Computer Science) and double majoring in a field for interest (Astronomy). Any comments?</p>
<p>Btw, I do have an interest in computer science too, I’m not just in it for the money. I’m actually just more interested in astronomy then I am in computer science, but I don’t like astronomy enough to get a PhD in it.</p>
<p>It’s discouraged only when the students inquiring about it have the attitude that it will make them more competitive in jobs or grad school applications. That’s not true, so that’s not a good reason to double major.</p>
<p>The only real reason to double major is out of interest. If that’s the case, there is no reason *not *to double major. If you have the interest and are going to be taking the classes anyway, why not declare two majors? But at the same time, if majoring in both is going to put a real strain on you, and might make it difficult for you to take other classes of interest or to graduate on time, then declaring both isn’t such a good idea–it’d be better to pick one as your declared major and just take classes in the other. However, if you’re genuinely interested in both and double majoring wouldn’t be too difficult, you should definitely go for it. </p>
<p>Don’t let anyone tell you that you shouldn’t do something you want to do, but always make sure you’re doing it for the right reasons.</p>
<p>I generally discourage double majoring since your second major will likely have a bunch of extra classes you’re actually not that interested in. For example, I minored in physics, but wasn’t interested in all the upper-level E&M classes required. Instead I was able to just take the specific classes within the department that interested me (quantum, thermo, and solid state physics). Not having to take all those extra classes allowed me to have more freedom to take extra classes in my primary major, most of which were some of my favorite classes.</p>
<p>thanks for the info guys! RacinReaver, now that I think about it… that actually makes a lot of sense. I’m sure there are plenty of astronomy courses I would hate. I guess I should just stick with the single major in computer science and then take whatever other classes I enjoy!</p>