<p>I am a senior in high school, recently admitted into UW-Madison, and even though I was admitted to the Engineering College, I am also interested in pursuing a business degree. According to the UW website, it sounds like it's fairly common to double major in two similar areas i.e. Biomedical & Chemical Engineering; however, I was wondering how difficult it would be/if it's possible to double major in two completely different subjects--for me Nuclear Engineering and International Business. If so, is it something that can be completed (without too much suffering) in four years? </p>
<p>Something that might help: I got a 35 ACT, so I think that means I may be eligible for direct admission into the Business Program. Also, I'll have AP Credit in Geography, Comp. Gov't, US/World History, Eng. Lit/Lang, Spanish, French, Stats, PhysC:Mech, Chem, CalcBC, as well as transfer college credit in Calc III and Ordinary Diff. Eq., so hopefully that can help push aside some basic requirements. </p>
<p>Double majoring in two totally unrelated topics can make it really difficult to graduate in four years. If you want an honest assessment of how long it’ll take, look at the degree requirements for each major as well as how many gen eds you’ll have to take and jot down the total credits needed. After you’ve got that all laid out, divide the total credits needed by 8 semesters. If you get something like 15 credits or less then it’s definitely doable without an unreasonable amount of difficulty. Between 16-18 credits would be really tough, and anything above that would basically not be doable unless you threw in summer classes.</p>
<p>It might come out OK for you if you have enough AP credits. For instance, a standard four year degree is 120 credits, so 120/8 = 15 credits per semester. Throw in another major (usually ~35 credits worth) without AP credit and you’re at ~19 credits a semester (155/8) which wouldn’t realistically be doable without summer courses.</p>
<p>First of all, you were admitted to the university as a whole, not just a specific college/school regardless of your intended major. I believe those who wish to start in the Business School as freshmen already applied for that and those few spots may be taken. For you that doesn’t matter since you want to start with preengineering courses and would want to add prebusiness courses as well. With your ability it is likely you could gain admission to the Business School when the time comes if you want to. For now, stick with your delared major in an engineering field for SOAR- summer advising. It may well be in your best interest to complete the engineering degree of your choice, work and let your company possibly pay for a masters in business.</p>
<p>In short, don’t worry or overthink things. Go with your current engineering plans. Once at UW you will learn a lot more about how to approach your eventual career goals. Better corporate management can come from those who first know the business from an engineer’s perspective then get the business skills with a masters.</p>
<p>((You were admitted to the university as a whole, not just a specific college/school regardless of your intended major))</p>
<p>I too was accepted to UW School of ENG so confused by your response. What follows is from the COE website:</p>
<p>“At UW-Madison, new students admitted to the College of Engineering are assigned to the pre-engineering classification. All pre-engineering students take the same basic science and math courses and transfer into a degree-granting program as soon as they are eligible, usually in the first semester of the Sophomore year.”</p>
<p>All undergrad students are admitted to the whole university. The admission stands even if you change your major and need to switch school/college within UW. Engineering students typically take mainly L&S courses (especially in math and science) freshman year, then transfer (as stated above) into Engineering for the major declared. Notice, you have the PRE-engineering classification, nottotally in it yet.</p>
<p>The importance is that choosing a major does not change your chances for admission to UW and you can switch majors without losing your admission. You need to meet certain criteria for admission to any major, some are easier to do than others- especially certain engineering majors due to limited facilities.</p>
<p>YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO!!! Look at the degree requirements for a business major. You are not allowed to major in both business and engineering. I know because I wanted to at one point.</p>
<p>“Students also have the option of selecting one additional major in the College of Letters & Science (L&S)”</p>
<p>The only double major allowed if one of your majors is in the Business school is a second major in L&S. Let me caution you further. There is a difference between major and degree. While you can get a second major in L&S with a degree in Business, you cannot get a degree in business and a degree in L&S. What this means for you is that you only have to fulfill requirements for the particular L&S MAJOR you chose, not the General Education Requirements from L&S. It is important for you to know this and to not waste time taking “quantitative reasoning” courses and the like. My adviser never knew this and I’m just barely graduating with a second major. My final caution is that once you finish your requirements for your business degree, you are forced to graduate and they don’t care if you haven’t yet finished your other major.</p>
<p>My advice is to not deal with the business school. They have too many requirements anyway. I had to take 28 classes (not credits) for my degree, and I only AP’ed out of five of them.</p>
<p>Now, generally about double majoring at UW-Madison (assuming I have convinced you to not major in business and we are therefore not talking about the business school). It is difficult, but doable. I am graduating in four years, but I needed to overload one semester - get the dean’s permission to take one credit more than is normally allowed. It’s very stressful. It is important to read thoroughly all degree requirements before embarking on any path. Your adviser will not know certain things such as “if you are majoring in the business school, don’t waste your time fulfilling the general education requirements of another school.” You can do it, but it means a lot of hard work and it comes with the dangers of being burnt out at the end and possibly hating homework forever.</p>
<p>Good luck, and remember that you can’t double major in business and anything outside of L&S (such as engineering, pharmacy, education, CALS, etc.).</p>
<p>Finally, to the other responders on this thread. Multiple posts are partially correct. It is possible to either be directly admitted to the School of Business as an incoming freshman or to apply to the School of Business later in your acadmeic career once you’ve already been accepted as a student in L&S. The same that is true for the School of Business is probably true for the School of Engineering.</p>
<p>From posts it sounds like your best bet is to pursue your engineering interest first. You can take courses that may help in getting accepted to a masters program in businesss later on, ie so you don’t have to take them later to be eligble for any admissions. You will find that getting the engineering degree now and later getting a masters in business admisnistration will be the better route career wise. You will find plenty to do with one engineering major and options for the business aspects later. Double majors in L&S that are related, ie have overlap in requirements, are easier than others. There are also some certificates available for those who don’t complete a major but have several courses in a field. A student can have a major plus get a certificate in Computer Science, for example. This matters in proving you have some knowledge of the field even if it wasn’t a complete major. Comp Sci competence can make a difference in job options.</p>
<p>Don’t worry about any of this now. You still have plenty of time once you start UW next fall to learn the ropes and decide things in future semesters. SOAR will help as well.</p>