<p>I know USC really pushes the idea of double majoring... so I was wondering: Are there any downsides to double-majoring? Is the academic workload significantly tougher? Do students find it harder to juggle their other commitments?</p>
<p>One obvious downside to a double-major is that it would limit the range of courses you could take if you're trying to carefully choose your courses to fulfill requirements for each of your majors. One thing I enjoyed about college was the flexibility to explore various areas & things I had never thought much about previously, including jewelrymaking, snorkeling, criminal justice, community service & public affairs, philosophy, bowling, folk dancing, and a range of things that helped make my college experience very "rounded" and interesting.</p>
<p>I'll try to get input about this subject at orientation, which we'll attend in Honolulu 5/20.</p>
<p>i want to attend the hawaii orientation but I haven't heard yet for transfer =( I'm curious about double majoring info too so please post when you find out!</p>
<p>Maybe if you called USC tomorrow about the status of your transfer ap, they could let you know & then you could attend orientation if you're admitted. If you explain that the orientation is 5/20, who knows?</p>
<p>I have a friend double majorign in cinema and business. He says it isn't too bad because they're both things that he likes to do. He says the only downside is that you have to take more classes than regular students and that he'll most likely end up graduating in 5 years as opposed to the regular four, since summer school at SC is pretty expensive ($4,000 per course). So if you want to double-major, be my guest, but realize that you'll either end up at USC for 5 years or will need to go to summer school every year if you want to complete your courses.</p>
<p>In the school of Engineering, they also said that if you double-major, you'll likely take 5 years to graduate because there are already so many requirements for engineering. If you want to graduate in 4 years, they encourage you to consider either minoring or just taking courses you're interested in. If you are thinking of spending 5 years at USC, you may wish to consider the 3/2 program, where you'll get a bachelors & masters in 5 years.</p>
<p>It's not impossible to double major in engineering and something else in 4 years, just difficult. I wouldn't consider it possible unless you have significant AP credit, are willing to stay summers, or at least waive the 3-semester foreign lang with a placement test)</p>
<p>Another note, the 3/2 program is a little different, it lets you get a bachelors of arts from another local liberal arts university and a BS in engineering from USC in 5 years.</p>
<p>The progressive degree (formerly called 4/1, hence the confusion with the 3/2 program) is what I'm going to do, with 5 years leading to both a bachelors and masters in engineering. It's even possible to do that in 4 years, I know one guy who is. But you have to be pretty sharp to pull that off.</p>
<p>The AP credits don't really help you all that much for USC because they don't satisfy specific CORE or diversity requirements (with rare exceptions). It is POSSIBLE to do many things, but there are quality of life issues that need to be weighed as well. We're encouraging our son to try to take at least one course outside engineering every term to help provide him with a more rounded education (not even positive he'll stay in engineering or which specialty within it he'll choose).</p>
<p>Sometimes being too narrowly focused makes you miss out on a whole lot, even the associate dean of engineering is counseling her child to take courses in various fields to see what they're like & not to obsess in double-majoring/minoring.</p>
<p>the AP credits actually do help in the sense that to "double" major in the college of arts letters and sciences you need "5 years worth" of units. So technically you need to be there for 5 years before they let you out with two degrees, but if you have a year's ap credits or credits from a CC you can finish two degrees within 4 years.</p>
<p>If one of the intended majors is architecture, just don't do it. Everyone I know who tried this ended up dropping one of the majors, and they weren't slackers either.</p>