EE + Math and CS Double Major

Colleges and Universities A-Z Santa Clara University
1

<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>Thank you very much,
mikfig</p>

2

<p>Salutations from SCU!</p>

<p>As a math/CS double major, I recommend NOT attempting this course of action. First of all, the department chair is correct. The engineering school is ABET-accredited whereas the CS department is not, so even introductory programming courses typically don’t cross over. Additionally, you’d be subject to the stringent requirements of the engineering school as well as the heavy core distribution of the Arts+Sciences. The second point is not so bothersome. I would, however, focus on your true interest. By now, you should have a pretty well-formed idea, and employers and grad schools will both want to see that in the STEM disciplines.</p>

3

<p>I believe that the engineering school offers minors. That seems like the more logical path to pursue. </p>

<p>I don’t mean to be dismissive (at all!), but you’re way ahead of yourself here. It’s great that you’re so eager to get to studying and courses, but you should really keep an open mind freshman year and see how it goes.</p>