<p>I'm 99% sure that I will be attending Wesleyan this fall, and I was just wondering if somebody could fill me in on the details about double majoring?
Are there any special requirements or procedures that one needs to follow in order to be elegible to engage in a double major program?
Also, am I free to double major in whatever majors I want?
For example, I would be really interested in studying film studies and business management.</p>
<p>Do you think this is something that I could pursue at wes?</p>
<p>We don't offer a business management major. The closest you get is probably Economics here :)</p>
<p>But double majoring is definitely not hard in general at Wesleyan. I'm a double Math & Sociology major, and they have pretty much no classes in common (except maybe Stats). I still have plenty of room for electives!</p>
<p>Yes madjoy, you are right.. I got mixed up hehe..
Still, Film Studies and Economics is something that I would like to do.</p>
<p>It is great to hear that it is definitely not an immense burden. I thought that double majoring would be kind of overwhelming at some times.
But I guess that it's not such a big deal, right?</p>
<p>Yeah... I am a History/Spanish double major... I think there is a pretty high overall GPA you have to maintain, like a 3.5 or something like that if you want to remain a double. If your grades dip below that you are forced to drop one. It would be easier to major in related fields, such as History and Latin American Studies, because many of the courses are crosslisted and you can received credit towards your major for both.</p>
<p>Whether it is a big deal or not depends on the majors. For me at least, I'm not going to have much room for electives- I plan on taking 2 Spanish classes + 2 History classes next fall, then studying abroad in the spring (and finishing my Spanish major requirements), and then dedicating all my of senior year towards finishing my history classes and senior thesis.</p>
<p>matiseijas: I can answer for wraider2006: no (though they might be anyway). There are very few departments that require a senior thesis for graduation (in fact, art studio may be the only one), and not that many even require a senior essay. (The current president IS looking to change to including a sr. capstone project, though probably not a thesis, for every major, but I don't know how soon that will happen, if it does). </p>
<p>Thesis are required for honors in most departments (and in some departments you have to have a certain GPA to be allowed to write one). Many departments will allow you to write a joint thesis if you’re a double major and can propose a suitable topic, though, in fact, film studies surrently won't.</p>
<p>PS. If you have any questions about the Film Studies major, I am one, so feel free to ask :D</p>
<p>PPS. If you decide to potentially double, you should work to spread the requirments out over all four years, since you know you want to do it. I was thinking of doubling but will probably have to drop it, because I spent a lot of time experimenting in freshmen and sophmore year, and it would require me to have basically no classes outside of my majors in the future. But I could definitly have done it with just a little more planning.</p>
<p>I am going to try to write a senior thesis for history, and a senior essay (only one semester long) for Spanish. That way I will still be able to graduate with honors in both majors, without being swamped by two enormous writing projects at the same time. Hopefully I'll be able to balance my time well.</p>
<p>eminently so, provided your planning is good. start taking history classes in frosh year - i took 3 - and it'll make things a lot easier. you want to get as many big introductory survey classes out of the way as you can, both because it'll give you something of a background to build off of your entire academic career and also because they're vastly less interesting than the higher level seminars that you'll want to be taking sophunior years.</p>
<p>Thanks for the info guys, it really encouraged me to consider the double major in seriously.
By the way, just out of curiosity, do you get two diplomas when you graduate? hahaha...</p>
<p>LOL, I wish! If only it worked out that way. Ah well, lol! ;)</p>
<p>I'm doubling-majoring in Spanish and Earth & Environmental Sciences. But blah! You only get a Bachelor of Arts Degree. If you're interested in getting a B.S. degree as well, however, you can always try out the 3-2 Engineering Program with Columbia, which would require that you take a much bigger workload (since you'd be taking tons of classes).</p>
<p>Do many students take 5 courses instead of 4? Is taking a 5th course pass/fail common? Also, would taking honors bio/chem/intro econ for econ majors and a fourth class be a particularly hard load freshman year?</p>
<p>I know people who have done a 5th class...and they regretted it. So, I wouldn't recommend it unless it's absolutely necessary. As for your preplanned course load, I know someone who did it along with physics. Keep in mind, bio and chem are really tough, and econ is a pretty tough class too. Besides that, there are tons of other really interesting courses to take, so make sure you look up your options! ^_^</p>
<p>Really? I thought it wasn't such a big deal... I guess I'll have to reconsider it then.. I was totally thinking of doing 5 classes, but you're kinda scaring me a little... LOL</p>
<p>DEFINITLY don't take five courses until you get here and have had a normal courseload first. I know some people who have pulled it off ok, but they were really careful about what courses they took, making sure to only take one or two really hard courses, with a pretty easy 5th class (like a science for non majors or such) and they'd already had a normal courseload for at least one semester so as to adjust and figure out what they needed to do to manage five classes (time management, finding out what kind of scedual they liked, etc).</p>
<p>I definitely agree - take four classes your first semester. Then, if you feel like you can do it, try five classes the next time around. I do know people who have taken five classes and been really happy and successful, and I know people who have regretted it immensely. You'll have a much better understanding of which classes you can take and have a successful semester, after one normal courseload semester :)</p>