<p>I'm considering a double major myself: in international relations and journalism. In this case, a double major is the norm and the journalism program is structured to not be so demanding that it is not only a possibilty but a requirement to concentrate in another field of study. My mother majored in econ with plans to go to law school; it's a good thing she majored in math, as well, or she wouldn't have her job as an actuary when she decided that more schooling wasn't for her. I do not think there is an issue with depth as far as double majors go, especially since students take heavier loads and may even do some summer school. Like the above poster said, the biggest problem that doesn't seem to have an immediate remedy is the lack of time to take electives and other courses of interest. Also, double majoring cuts back on time you can devote to socializing, working and special programs like research. Quite frankly, handled well, I think double majoring can definitely be an asset.</p>
<p>My D began her uni career as a science major, they provided a heavily tracked system of coursework wherein she followed the plan in order to complete the major. Along the way she learned that her science major was not what she thought it would be and was not what she really wanted to focus on. She also found a humanities major she adored. With so much coursework already completed and killer classes like OChem in the GPA, she decided to go ahead and finish the science degree whilst simultaneously pursuing a double major in the subject she likes :) When she finishes her last couple of classes she will have two separate degrees and, interestingly and unexpectedly, they will have different years of completion.</p>
<p>I am not sure how it will benefit her to have both the BS & BA, at the very least she shows her versatility. Some classes in the two majors overlapped counting for each, that was helpful. She is debating grad school down the line in her humanities degree, but she felt she needed to finish her BS for herself, to prove to herself she could do it and do it well, even if she did not like it after all.</p>
<p>D2 is now a sophomore and declaring a science major, even after hearing all the grousing of D1 about what she did not like with her BS major. D2 is also thinking about picking up a math double major because she likes math. Is there any tangible benefit to a math degree if one already has a science degree vs. just taking many upper division math classes?</p>
<p>Edad's point about double majors for performing arts students struck home.</p>
<p>Our S had a double major in Theater/Dance (one department) and added on a Music major (another department). A requirement of his first major was to stage a senior final capstone project (performance or research paper). </p>
<p>He wanted to write, direct and stage-read an original musical. On this particular campus, there was not a well-developed relationship, budgetarily, between his two major departments. But his double major gave him some pull with the Music dept to break new ground re: providing financial and personnel support to his project, which essentially was a requirement of the Theater/Dance department.</p>
<p>Interesting and timely discussion for me. D (HS senior) is "undecided" but wants to major in something to do with languages (foreign or English)/linguistics. But some of the scholarship money is being offered based on her willingness to <em>also</em> major in music performance. One school in particular has been somewhat agressive in getting her to commit to a double degree. Since the first two years are identical for a major or minor or BA, she said okay, figuring she will have a better idea of what she wants down the road. But when I look online at what it will take to get two separate degrees (a music performance degree has a lot of extra requirements), I am concerned that this isn't the best road for an "undecided" student -- when will she have time to explore? She knows she doesn't want to be a professional musician, so the performance degree doesn't make a lot of sense. It might be what knocks this school out of the running. (Unless they offer enough money that it makes a 5th year painless.)</p>
<p>The world is full of scientists and techies with minimal communication skills. The world also has an oversupply of people trained in the humanities who have no math skills or understanding of rigorous analytical techniques. I really think the double degree kids are unique and have the tools to progress in areas beyond what is likely for the single degree majority. I don't know what makes sense for a kid with a linguisitics and music background, but I would be willing to bet that something unanticipated happens and both those skills are involved.</p>
<p>Just a little bit different are the 3-2 engineering programs usually started (three years) at a liberal arts college and then finished (2 years) at a more technical college. From the Franklin and Marshall website
What are the advantages of the 3/2 Program?</p>
<p>The advantages of the 3/2 program are:
•the broad liberal arts background acquired by the students
•the flexibility to change one's career direction without any loss of time resulting from such change
•the breadth of future choices
•the additional maturity and self-confidence the student will acquire before selecting an engineering field of specialization
•the ability of the College, because of its small size, to assist the student to develop personally and to prepare for a career.</p>
<p>As already mentioned future teachers are often encouraged to double major but at many colleges, it's required.</p>
<p>My school strongly encourages double majors or minors to qualified students, especially in unrelated areas. They even offer $10,000 scholarships for graduate school for people they call "renaissance scholars", which are people who do really different minors or double majors, like engineering and creative writing, or math and art history, etc.</p>
<p>The thing is, it seems that breadth is becoming increasingly important (over depth of undergrad). Depth can come as an extra add-on later; anyone in graduate school <em>should</em> be able to pick up any undergrad textbook in their undergrad major and be able to read and understand it, even if their undergrad was not "deep" enough to include that course. Breadth can be significantly harder to gain at that point.</p>
<p>Allegheny has an interesting take on it - they require you to have a major and a minor (or two majors) in different disciplines. I thought this would be a major negative for my D when we visited - since, at Allegheny, music and languages are both in their Humanities discipline, so she couldn't do both. She was fascinated by the idea of being forced outside her comfort zone, though. After looking at the majors and minors offered, she decided that if she ends up choosing Allegheny (which I doubt - but who knows?), she would do music as the minor, and International Relations as the major - I don't remember what category it is in, except that it's not humanities. </p>
<p>It's funny that at one college music and languages are simply different departments in the same discipline, and at another, they're completely different schools.</p>
<p>edad - I think/hope you're right about her finding something that uses both. She is a talented musician, but didn't feel like following in big bro's footsteps. She loves languages, and the nuances of communication. She considers her music "just another language." Along with traditional languages, she also gets excited about things like Pig-Latin or Tolkein's made-up language, or even binary -- will be interesting to see what kind of cake these ingredients end up baking!</p>
<p>I don't think double majors are bad. My wife has two majors, one in business the other in math - two different colleges in the university so it was not the norm. She has more than once received an interview based on the business degree and the job offer based on the math. As far how to list it, she has it as a BSBA with a second major in math.</p>
<p>For what is worth, there are a lot of misnomers --and misinformation-- when it comes to the issue of double majors, dual majors, double degrees, and other esoteric combinations. For instance, the position of MIT on double degrees that was explained by Mollie might be far from universal. It really varies from school to school. </p>
<p>While there are very valid reasons to pursue a combination of degrees or majors, the relation between additional efforts and the immediate benefits might not be so apparent. Discussions on the subject do, however, seem to be quite a favorite of naive freshmen or ... proud parents at social functions.</p>
<p>Harvey Mudd requires you to have a humanities minor in addition to one of their sience/amth/engineering majors -- their definition of humanities is pretty broad (I understand Econ is popular), but for my math/science kid who also likes liberal arts, it is a requirement that caught his attention in a very favorable way.</p>
<p>Like another poster, I fell into a double major (this was in the Jurassic age aka 1970s). I loved Math, but knew I didn't want to teach and was not equipped to be a genius. Without so much as taking a single course, I decided to double major in Computer Science. It did take me 5 years to complete, as I also took Literature and Film during my first year or two. I started out as undeclared (a proud family tradition). As for the original question, I recommend listing both degrees separately.
Fast-forward 30+ years, and my S is doing a double major in Classics and Applied Math. I do see that he has less opportunity than I did to take classes just for the fun of it. Also, I have a totally different perspective on 4+ years of college, now that I am paying for the tuition.</p>
<p>My DS double-majored in college, one in physics and the other in biology, but decided afterward to do Ph.D. in chemistry. He did have some unexpected delay in completing his physics thesis and end up getting two separate BS one year apart and asked for a year delay entering graduate school. He love both physics and biology, but realized that his interest is more focused on molecular scale and decided to become a chemist.</p>
<p>inverse, is he done with PhD? Did he go into research? Academics? What a great background!</p>
<p>
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inverse, is he done with PhD? Did he go into research? Academics?
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Thanks for asking. He is finishing up his Ph.D. and will graduate this June. He had published many papers along the way and likely going into academics in the future.</p>
<p>I certainly wish him the best. I am in awe of people who excel in the sciences, it is a tough road and only for the most dedicated.</p>