<p>Hello all, I'm about to enter my fall semester as a Mathematics and Computer Science major.
I will most likely be going to Santa Clara University. However, I would really like to make things challenging for myself, so I am thinking about either adding on either a electrical engineering or a computer engineering major to my mathematics and computer science major. This isn't something that I want to do just because it will lead to greater job prospects or something like that, rather I have a great interest in all of these fields I've mentioned and I want to take advantage of the next 4 years in uni to grow as a person not only socially but I also want to really push myself academically. So this is my reason for wanting to do this double major.
I have contacted the chair of the mathematics and computer science department at santa clara and he brought up 2 points for me to consider:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>the scheduling might be hard to do because of overlap between CE and CS for example, and courses taken can not count for both majors.</p></li>
<li><p>when applying for a job/internship/etc, you will have to explain your academic background. Thus I'd have to give a legitimate reason for doing such a double major. I was thinking I could give reasons along the lines of:</p></li>
</ol>
<p>a. I wanted to push myself beyond the norm and since I have a great interest in said 2nd major, I decided to do this double major.</p>
<p>b. I wanted to have a very complete understanding of computers from the very lowest levels of the circuit to the highest level software engineering perspective and be able to have a job that involved any particular portion of this spectrum.</p>
<p>c. I have a very great interest in both of these subjects and thus double majored in them.</p>
<p>I am not so much concerned about the 1st point (scheduling issues and the like) because I just emailed an adviser at santa clara to see if this would present a major issue or not and I'm sure she could elaborate more on how much of a problem this would be.</p>
<p>However the 2nd point about explaining my academic background is something I've been thinking about. For example, my mother brought up the point that if I simply said I wanted to push myself beyond the norm then they might ask a question like: Well didn't you go to a good school? Didn't they push you already without a double major in these subjects?
So I was wondering what others might have to say about this. I am mainly looking for commentary about how this would look on a resume or a graduate school application.</p>
<p>I’ve never heard of a double-major hurting anyone applying for graduate school, particularly one that links up quite well.</p>
<p>The chair is right that it may be difficult to coordinate scheduling and, depending on the offerings, you may have to take an extra semester to complete all the requirements for two quite intensive majors. That would be the only issue I’d see… and that’s not going to affect your opportunities for graduate school.</p>
<p>Again, I really don’t think that would be a worry, unless you’re thinking about looking for an academic job. CS and EE are two quite complementary majors and, if anything, I would guess employers would be looking for someone with that background.</p>
<p>Ya I know programs like UC Berkeley are EECS, but I didn’t know if doing a double major like this could come off as indecisive, unflexible, etc despite the fact that I have a true academic interest in both fields.</p>
<p>I doubt that anyone is going to make you justify why you chose to study math and computer science and electrical engineering. They complement each other very well. Your concern is analogous to worries that a French major who studies both French language and French culture might be perceived as unfocused and indecisive. Nope, they are getting several perspectives on their subject, which makes them arguably more qualified for most practical purposes.</p>
<p>I am more concerned about the sheer number of requirements you’d be facing, and whether you’d really enjoy taking all of them. Many students find that there are a few courses in each major that they really don’t care about. Oftentimes people are happier with a single major and the opportunity to take interesting courses in other fields without worrying about additional requirements. </p>
<p>I thought for the longest time that I was going to double major in math and CS. Eventually I noticed that I got really excited about the math-y CS electives (computer graphics, machine learning, etc) but kept postponing the core systems classes for the CS major (computer organization, operating systems, compilers). I realized that seeking formal recognition of my CS classes required too many courses I didn’t care about, and so I decided to stick with a single major and just continued to take interesting CS classes.</p>
<p>My advice to you is not to worry too much about completing a double major for the time being; just start taking interesting classes in both fields and see where that path leads you.</p>
<p>
I know plenty of grad school applicants who probably got hurt by a double major (in particular when an unrelated second major commands too much time away from the grad school-relevant first major) but that’s not a concern here.</p>
<p>No, not really. They have nothing to do with one another. Employers aren’t looking for this “joint” background, since it’s far too broad of a requirement to ask for. </p>
<p>EE is a huge field, encompassing 5 or 6 subfields, and nobody really knows much beyond his or her chosen subfield. Employers typically look for training and background in some specific subfield. So they might look for someone who is into power, or who is into RF, or who is into semiconductors, or VLSI, or DSP, or whatever else. None of these have much to do with CS. </p>
<p>CE, on the other hand, is quite close to CS, and might be regarded as complementary in some way. I still don’t understand the OP, since it seems like he is interested in a triple major, something which will likely take up a boatload of time.</p>
<p>-edit- re-read the OP.</p>
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<p>In practice, it won’t work out this way. You cannot really have a very deep understanding of every layer. You can have a broad idea about each part, but you’ll need to pick something to specialize in. Employers won’t really care much for your super broad knowledge either, since a) there are very few totally vertically-integrated companies and b) they are still looking for something specific in the stack, not a generalist.</p>
<p>Ok tetrahedr0n, I understand what you’re saying about EE and CS not being related. But what do you mean about me wanting to do a triple major? I was saying CS and then either CE or EE, one or the other but not CS, CE, and EE all together.</p>
<p>I suppose I didn’t understand what you meant by "Mathematics and Computer Science " major. Is this one major? I’m used to these two being two separate majors (although, of course, they do have a number of courses in common.)</p>
<p>Yes, at SCU this is one major in the Arts and Sciences department. Although I’m thinking I might end up switching to the Computer Science and Engineering major (also just one major).</p>