Would it increase my career and job opportunities or is it just a waste of time and money? Should I just stick with majoring in just one thing?
I think it could be difficult to be a psych/business double major as business majors have a separate b-school core curriculum in addition to any core that the college as a whole has. If you want to double major then it would probably be easier to do two business disciplines or two liberal arts disciplines. Of course check the graduation requirements at your particular college to see what is feasible.
In general I don’t think the double major you suggested would add much to your career opportunities. Focus in on what you want to do and pursue that road.
At my uni you only need 41 credits of psych classes in order to major in it. While Business Administration requires 61 credits. Is it still worth? I checked and I can still graduate on time if I double major.
Nonetheless, I won’t double major then if it won’t benefit me in anyway.
What do you want to do with both of these majors? Do you want to be in business with some psychology knowledge or a psychologist with business knowledge? I would say major in the more important one to you, and just take courses in the other one. So perhaps major in business but take psychology as electives…or maybe Behavioural Economics.
Actually I just want to major in psychology since I have a passion for it. However, I know that psychology is pretty much a useless major unless you get a PhD or Masters in it. I don’t mind going to school longer but I know I don’t have the grades to get accepted into a PhD program and I might not have the grades to get accepted into a Masters program either. Sp I thought I should have a backup plan so I thought I should choose a double major in something that won’t require grad school like business administration.
The way you explain it a double major may make more sense. But I would say if you go the business route out of necessity to get a job after graduation then:
– Don’t spend any extra time/money to get the double major. Don’t get caught up in getting a major – if it is a subject you find interesting it is OK to just take as many classes as you can fit in. For example, I love history but was an accounting major. I couldn’t manage a double major but I still did take a good number of history classes as an undergrad.
–Another option might be to get a minor in history – again it would be something just for yourself rather than something that would make a huge difference in terms of a business career. My D ended up getting what I dubbed an “accidental” minor just by taking a lot of elective classes in one subject that she found particular interesting. She was happy to get the minor- but she did it just to satisfy her own interest.
– If you are serious about wanting to work after undergrad I’d look at majors other than business administration. Business administration is generally thought of as a “soft” business major (compared to say finance, accounting, IT). At the very least talk to someone in career services about employment opportunities you might expect to have upon graduation with that major.
That said, if you decide to pursue psychology that is great as well. You may want to again ask about employment opportunities with that major. My D was a psych major (loved it) and is now in grad school studying speech pathology.
I can’t answer if it’s worth it. You would be considered a dual degree student. Since you would be seeking degrees from two different schools within the university. You might end up with a BS in Business Administration and a BA in Psychology from the school of say Arts and Sciences. Each school will have it’s own requirements. You would have two advisers and two sets of general education requirements which may or may not overlap. Scheduling can be an issue since each school will not be designing their schedule to accommodate students from other majors. It can be done but it is usually not as easy as it sounds.
It can be easier to double major. You would receive one degree within a single school. Say a BA from the school of Arts and Sciences with a major in Psychology and ???. You would have one adviser and one set of general education requirements. It would probably be easier to schedule as well. It’s still a lot of classes.