<p>Doing a dual (or close) in Math and Computer Science is a good choice (to me). It allows you to go for the fewer “mathematician” jobs knowing that you can have a software job in your “back pocket” as a backup plan.</p>
<p>There aren’t many jobs that hire only BS/BA math graduates that wouldn’t hire BS/BA CS graduates anyway.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>That doesn’t explain the “why” part. Could could have had a BE and and MS in four years but choose not to. Why?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I do. I’ve known someone that stayed for 9 years (but that’s another story). </p>
<p>It depends on how your school treats credits. Many (probably most) schools discourage dual degrees, and do not let you could any credits of Degree A towards Degree B. So an engineering and a non-engineering degree would require 135-140 hours for the engineering degree and 120 hours for the non-engineering degree, or about 260 hours, which would take about 7 years to complete. Even schools that allow you to count credits often only allow you to count non-major credits (calc, electives, etc). So then it’s 135-150 for the engineering major, and 60 credits for the non-engineering major, or 210 credits. At 17 hours/semester and 2 semesters/year, that’s over 6 years.</p>
<p>I actually had a very good professor take 20 years to get a B.A., M.S., and A.B.D., she took 2 courses at a time. I am essentially taking 7 years to get 2 degrees, though I am about to get one in 4.5 and then 2.5 yrs for the second while only taking 9 credits a semester and interning heavily. I have met many people that have taken various amounts of time to get a degree and received great job offers based on their abilities, not their length in school.</p>