<p>My daughter worked her first two years toward a dual major ( applied math and Japanese). She is in her third year and is not sure whether she will finish both majors. She has had lots of conflicts because language has lots of contact hours. It seems as though the more similar the majors are the easier it is to accomplish.</p>
<p>^ Very true. DW’s majors were math and finance in two separate schools - no real overlap.</p>
<p>Im with JHS. D is graduating this spring as a double major. I think, in retrospect, she would have maybe minored in one, who knows. </p>
<p>Even with a semesters worth of AP credits, the requirements to complete both majors left little room for free electives. Personally, I think she would have been better off with more flexibility to pursue a mix of courses that either A) she was really into, or B) were practical from a career preparation perspective.</p>
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Shouldn’t that be how you choose your two majors?</p>
<p>My D is doing a double major in Psychology and Spanish. I can’t tell you how useful the Spanish is already, giving her an edge for research positions and jobs/internships that require knowledge of a language. Knowledge of a foreign language is really smart in this global economy, and her AP credits and semester abroad in Spain makes doing a double major fairly easy.</p>
<p>I apologize I’ve not read the whole thread but I do want to mention something in case its not come up. I think double majors can be great but it depends upon the school and how stringent the requirements are for a particular major. In the faculty in which I teach everyone wants to ‘double major’ (and feels compelled because, for no other reason, ‘everyone else is doing it’… I mean seriously this has turned into a fad). The problem is the requirements for each major are so many that it takes away soooooo much breadth and flexibility. Virtually no room for out of the box electives and those electives are critical! So ironically, students end up actually MORE narrow because of the double major, which is counter intuitive. And our extensive research also shows it does not help with the job market at all. </p>
<p>So I argue if you go to a school where two majors STILL allow lots of breadth then great, but think again if not. Undergraduate education should be mind expanding, not vocational training. Great ideas, breakthroughs and development in one’s thinking and mind come from exploration of ideas in different fields and the ability to take material from one to the other, and to also take courses you will likely never again be exposed to. It seems like a ridiculous lot of money just to rack up yet another job related course, especially if employers really could not care less.</p>
<p>Good points, starbright. Don’t sacrifice a well rounded education to get a second major. A semester each of many diverse electives may better educate you than completing two majors. College isn’t just about getting a job. Being versed in music, art history, another language or so many fields not available at the HS level or outside of college is part of being well educated. There is a reason there are breadth as well as depth requirements.</p>
<p>I love the CC community, you’re always willing to share. My son just turned 20 and I’m finding that he is less and less likely to take my advice or even ask my opinion. I heard about this double major idea because it would involve an extra semester and summer courses, so he was wondering whether Mom and Dad would be willing to fund that. I gave it serious thought, asked you all what your experiences have been, then went back and told him that I thought it could be be a good move and we’d pay for the extra if he wanted to go that route. Starbright and JHS have both made excellent cases for broader exposure to more fields and I think that also makes good sense. I don’t know what he’ll choose but he has the parents approval to make the decision himself. I really like that he’s weighing a number of options and making big decisions solo. Although I’m always having to remind myself, it is his life… it is his life… it is his life…</p>
<p>If you end up going to law school, I BS in any science might get you extra money. I think study abroad trumps double-major, but that is just one opinion.</p>
<p>One school we toured everyone we talked to was double majoring. I joked a bit with the tour guide and asked if double majoring was a requirement of the school. He said that it was “strongly encouraged”. That actually appealed to S because he was really torn at the time what he wanted to go into. He is still planning on double majoring, Spanish being the second major, if it works in his schedule otherwise he will just minor in it.</p>
<p>So much depends on what the specific school requires for a ‘major.’ Where I went to school, with a very heavy Core requirements, hardly anyone could do a double major. However DS’s school, which has very little in terms of breadth requirements, is a complete different story.</p>
<p>DS plans to do BS in Physics, and a BA/MA in Math in 4 years without any additional summer or semester work. And that is actually doable at his school with his 12 AP credits. He has no interest in taking classes outside math/physics and has no interest in broadening his horizons. Probably would have been happy at Oxford :D</p>
<p>I frankly would not fund more than 4 years at 55K/yr.</p>
<p>^^^^^ Mrs. Turbo attempted to pull above stunt and had to take a couple of extra classes when the college of sciences decided that taking all your electives in one area is not a good idea :). Who would have thunk statistics does not count as a lab science elective?.. So she ended up adding a Biology 100 + lab her last semester… Nearly all her courses were comp science, math, or statistics… Check with the school to make sure they don’t have strange policies like these. </p>
<p>DD1’s college has a 24+ credit college wide required curriculum that involves all kinds of courses (not necessarily hard courses but often outside one’s main interests)… Some fit into her major (architecture, some art/culture type courses) and some are a bit strange (what’s the point of an architecture student taking a statistics class?)… Some are required anyway (physics, math).</p>
<p>Sure it’s his life, but if it’s your money you’ve got a say in it. Like JHS, I think double majors are overrated, but I don’t really have anything to add to his arguments. My dh double majored (biology and physics), but it didn’t require extra time or taking courses he didn’t want to take anyway. He got his PhD in biophysics so it was all pretty logical to his career plans as well.</p>
<p>Our S toyed with the idea but ended up just majoring in EE. They didn’t give much flexibility in required courses and he did take the few “fun” courses he could fit in, including upper division geology courses that fit with his rock climbing.</p>
<p>D has also toyed with the idea of double-majoring but now we and she are happy she will likely graduate this spring with ONE major plus having taken a wide range of courses in fields she finds interesting.</p>
<p>I too think double-majoring can be overrated, depending on what has to be given up at that U in order to do it and how it fits into the student’s overall plans for the future.</p>
<p>Those of you who find little value in a double major, what if the student is concerned that one of the majors may not easily lead to a job without grad school? My ds is very good in German and wants to major in it, but he does not feel too confident about jobs available to him upon graduation if he doesn’t want to go to grad school right away. He is considering double majoring, although he is unsure what he would pair with the German.</p>
<p>If your S isn’t sure what he’d want to have as his 2nd major, it seems premature to decide he should (or should not) get one. The point of a double major is for the kid who has two very strong interests and prefers a double-major to a major and minor, or a major plus taking a wide range of courses of interest. There is benefit & drawbacks to each approach. For H, me & our kids, college was the time to explore & pursue different interests as much as possible rather than trying to satisfy lots of requirements for an extra major or a minor. For us, no regrets. Only your S can decide what interests he has.</p>
<p>Many, many undergrad degrees do not lead directly to a significant job. Engineering, nursing and sometimes business MAY lead to a decent job without grad school but these days not always. Some kids do get jobs in their fields with just an undergrad degree but often it’s a challenge to get one. Not sure that having a double-major would provide that much of an edge.</p>
<p>To the OP: my D graduated last spring from a LAC, with one major in Environmental Geology, the other in Modern Languages. Talk about spreading yourself thin-her languages were French and Spanish with a few classes in Russian for good measure. She did the summer field camp, the research for a thesis in a second field camp (for which she was paid) and wrote up her thesis senior year. Plus a few two week seminars that I’d happily have crawled into her backpack to be there for-the geology of various Utah National Parks. It did require a bit of extra money, but I do think that geology has got to be the most amazing major out there, in terms of diverse experiences. </p>
<p>Most of her geology class went on to grad school, funded grad school mind you. She is much more interested in geography and conservation issues, so is not on a true geology track. I’d encourage the true geology track, if job prep is the goal. Not sure how many schools offer the softer geology that she took. </p>
<p>I tell her that she is made to be a multilingual park ranger, but she states she is not thrilled with the uniform. </p>
<p>Seriously though, a double major with a language being one major is a great way to go, if working on something practical to add to the language skills. </p>
<p>Will also agree with the person above who mentioned lack of breadth being one of the downsides of a double major. Her college had classes she really wanted to take, but she never had the room in her very busy schedule. </p>
<p>But some of this depends on the school. This D, by taking 5 classes, did have some very interesting electives. Her sister, in a LAC with far more requirements, as well as a limit on number of classes, was not able to double major, or take much that was outside of her major and minor.</p>
<p>SmileAMile–does she have any thoughts about what she wants to do for a living? German is well, German. It’s use in the “real world” is pretty limited these days, however if she wanted to go into international business, it’s not a bad thing to have. Maybe she could pair that with a second language. She could possibly get a job with the State Department or with a major corporation that has business interests in Germany or what ever country she picks up as a second language (Chinese or Japanese would be a good start). Many major corporations employ interpreters to take along on business trips. Otherwise, pick a language that is common for any immigrant groups in your area and she could possible work at an interpreter for that community. The pay for those jobs is pretty substantial and generally you have a lot of flexibility in your schedule.</p>
<p>Just an update, as I said further up-thread we left the decision to double major (or not) up to our son. Double majoring would mean summer courses and an additional semester beyond the regular 4 years to graduate. We agreed because it actually sounded like the majors would be complimentary and because the small LAC he attends charges 5th year students by the credit hours taken, instead of full tuition, making the additional semester more affordable.</p>
<p>He called last night to say that he’d decided against the double major because it would limit his ability to take other interesting classes and he really didn’t want to do two senior capstone projects. Since he’s decided to go to graduate school in geology he said he wanted to get as broad an undergraduate education as possible. </p>
<p>Wow, he came to these conclusions without even reading this thread, maybe he IS learning critical thinking.</p>
<p>The tricky parental situation comes when they are allowed to make their own decision and do not decide as you would.</p>