How does double majoring work? How can you find out if you can double major based on the number of credits? How can you find out in general?
I’m not sure where you are located, but we visited with UCIrvine this past weekend and they are very open to students having double majors. In fact they claim to be the only UC school that will entertain it. Only the engineering school was opposed to it.
Each school should have policy statements regarding majoring and minoring in their web site.
Typically getting a double major from subjects in the same school is straightforward, say math and economics since both are in the same school (arts and sciences). The question you may want to get a clear answer on is if you want to double major in say business and engineering (two different schools), which school is better to start from, to get that double major.
Typically majors in different schools will get you a double degree and can be difficult to do because you need to satisfy the graduation requirements of each school.
Lots of good info provided above, and almost all of it falls under “it depends”. You need to contact each school in which you’re interested to see how they handle double majoring.
Each college is different. Each situation is different. Details are important. The ability to double major can depend on a great many things including (but not limited to):
–Does the college accept AP credits (which could give you a head start)
–How large/flexible is the college’s core curriculum/distribution requirements
–The requirements of each major
–If the major is in the same school or not (ex. a business and a liberal arts double major would likely be more difficult than two liberal arts majors).
Much if not all of the above information should be available from the course catalogue of each college, many of which are online. If you try to double major you should work closely with your academic advisor starting in freshman year to lay out a plan. But do keep in mind that many students change their major while in college so allow yourself the freedom to do that as well.
FWIW my S went to a Jesuit college which had a huge core curriculum and it was not easy to double major. My D went to a LAC with very flexible set of distribution requirements and a number of students double majored.
I would ask:
Why double major?
What do you hope to do with it?
Do you really need a full second major, or would taking courses in that area be enough?
Would having a second major help you in your next step …either jobs or grad school?
Could you do a Master’s instead?
Do you have AP Credits that would help you take care of some distribution requirements?