<p>So, it seems like lots of people double major at WashU.</p>
<p>What are your thoughts on that? Is it VERY VERY VERY hard? Doable?
Hard-but-not-to-the-point-where-you're-driven-to-suicide? What are the positives and drawbacks of double majoring here?</p>
<p>Just fyi, I'm planning to double majoring in poli-sci or business, and drama.</p>
<p>I think you can just sit down with the distribution requirements and the major requirements and figure it out for yourself.</p>
<p>I know it is very, very easy to get minors in things. My son even know some people who received minors without planning to do so, simply by taking courses that interested them.</p>
<p>Yeah, I just wanted opinions from people who have gone/ are going through the process of a double major at WashU, since double majoring seems to be so popular here. Drawbacks and positives can't be known by sitting down with the requirements!</p>
<p>Thanks for the tip about minors!</p>
<p>Well, some drawbacks can be found that way. For instance, you find you don't have time for other electives you are interested in or you can't finish in four years. Or you find that the courses offered that interest you don't add up to a major.</p>
<p>My son originally planned a double major, then found he wasn't interested in one of them after taking one course in it and looking at the other offerings.</p>
<p>My daughter is at another school and she recently decided to add a second concentration. Going by name alone she would have picked a different one than she did! Looking at the courses themselves she found that a different department had what she was more interested in. She also looked at the concentration requirements and realized that she could do it by adding a couple courses she didn't mind taking and that her schedule could accommodate.</p>
<p>I do hope that people with actual experience at WUStL can offer their experiences for you, though!</p>
<p>washu makes it very easy to double major. you can find info about course listings and major requirements online, which will help with planning.</p>
<p>The admissions counselor that came to my school mentioned that someone TRIPLE-majored and still managed to graduate in 4 years; so a double major should be feasible.</p>
<p>Whoaaa....a TRIPLE major?! How did they like...live? Haha but that's really awesome.</p>
<p>Any other things I should know that haven't been mentioned yet? </p>
<p>Thanks everyone, for your help!</p>
<p>To make things even more interesting, you can also create your own major.</p>
<p>Haha very true! Gah WashU sounds way too good to be true :-P</p>
<p>It's not as daunting as it sounds. If you plan ahead, it can easily be done while having a lot of electives. I'm planning to triple major and I can still graduate in 3.5 years.</p>
<p>I plan on having two majors (physics, economics) and two minors (math, philosophy), and I can still graduate in four years. But often times how long it takes to finish a major depends on your major's requirements and the breadth of coursework. A second major in economics isn't very difficult because only six economics courses and a few math courses are required in addition to micro and macroeconomics. Other majors here may require as many as fifteen courses...so it all depends, really. Generally though I've noticed that it's pretty easy to double major here.</p>
<p>So, for all of you planning on doing lots of majors/minors, how do you get your gen ed requirements all in? In only four years?!</p>
<p>WashU requires you to take a certain number of courses from each of 4 subject areas (language and arts, social sciences, natural sciences, textual and historical studies). If you have two majors in different areas, say biology (NS) and english (LA), then you've taken care of two of those areas right there. All you need to do is take what is known as a "cluster" of courses in the other two areas. A cluster is a set of courses in an area that are somehow related to one another; so for example, to fulfill your social sciences requirement you might do a cluster known as "basic microeconomics," which would require you to take intro micro and intermediate micro. It's a bit confusing and frustrating at first, but once you work it all out it isn't that hard to fulfill requirements.</p>
<p>Also, everyone must take Writing 1, a quantitative analysis course, and a social differentiation and racial diversity course. And in addition to your major(s) and clusters, that's it.</p>
<p>Haha it sounds a bit perplexing, but I'm sure it all gets clear once you're actually doing it. Thank you for your help!</p>