<p>I'm wondering whether I should do a dual degree in Eng. (either mechanical, Electrical and comp engineering or Eng. Physics) and music, or a double major in any two of the above eng. fields. From a career perspective, which do u think is a better choice, especially if I'm planning of doing a phD sometime?</p>
<p>I never recommend double majoring in engineering. In the same time it takes to double major you can typically get a Bachelor's and Master's degree, which would be more valuable. This is especially the case if you are planning on going for the PhD.</p>
<p>Music might be a tough double major, as it has alot of time-intensive requirements. My son is double majoring in a foreign language, but he will be able to complete it in 4 years due to AP credit. BTW, he still studies and practices his music but not in a formal college program. There are also performance opportunities for non music majors. Maybe that's an option for you?</p>
<p>I think that if you are not 100% sure that engineering is for you, it would be worth the time to sample some other disciplines.</p>
<p>Thanks for your input. At Cornell, where I got in ED, a dual and double major last 5 years. So right now, I'm not in too much of a hurry, so I may do a dual major with music. But I may just take up music separately if I feel the need to graduate early or if I find the workload a bit too much.</p>
<p>As for Engineering, NOTHING else (other than music) suits me better.</p>
<p>Yeah... I'd planned on doing a double major in engineering and music at Rice, land of double-majors, and when I asked whether or not I could double in music and engineering, they more or less laughed at me. Having had a music major roommate and having ultimately decided upon engineering, I can see now that they were right, and that doing a double major in engineering and music would have been an absolute nightmare. It's very nearly physically impossible. There's no overlap, and where a usual dual major might take five years, it'd be essentially like going to college twice. It'd take you longer than five to get in all the requirements.</p>
<p>Still, I definitely got my fill of musical extracurriculars.</p>
<p>Any reason why you want to do a dual major in the first place? You certainly don't <em>have</em> to...</p>
<p>don't double major because you think it'll help you get a good job. It won't, if my summer job hunting is any good indication of real world job-getting. do double major if you find that two fields interest you greatly and it's feasible to fit both majors into your program. </p>
<p>at Berkeley most L&S classes will count toward your COE GE requirement so it's possible to do engineering + humanities major without dropping dead from overwork.</p>
<p>In general, I would lean towards dr_reynolds and say that you could probably spend your time more profitably getting a master's degree.</p>
<p>However, there are certain schools in which double-majors are special programs in which you actually end up not having to do that much more work than a regular single major does. For example, at one school, that shall remain unnamed, regular engineers have to choose a certain 'concentration' of coursework. For example, the chemical engineering students have to take a batch of elective biochemical engineering courses, or eletrochemical courses, etc. However, you can get out of this concentration by doing one of the special double-major programs. In effect, the 2nd major becomes your 'concentration'. Not only that, but the same dispensal of concentration applies to that other major - you don't have to do a concentration in that major either. The upshot is that these double-majors are really only double-majors in name only, as you only have to take maybe 1 or 2 extra classes beyond what a regular single major in engineering would do. But hey, if the school wants to call it a double-major, and grant you 2 degrees in return for just taking 1-2 extra courses, it's a pretty sweet deal.</p>
<p>I double-majored in engineering and liberal arts. I did that in four years, which meant that I didn't spend (much) extra on tuition - took summer classes one summer (while working) to get it all in. I was lucky - it was entirely possible that two of my requirements could have conflicted during senior year. You'll find that engineering will have a lot of requirements that you'll be required to take at certain times, and you fit in what you can with electives around those requirements.</p>
<p>The best advice I can give you is this:
Double-major only if you NEED to - if your gut tells you that there's an area that you love, want to explore, and you would feel like you're missing crucial intellectual satisfaction if you don't take the extra courses.</p>
<p>Engineering is rough. It's about 4.5-5 years of work, squished into four. You won't have many electives. If you're doing extra work on top of engineering, you have to LOVE it.</p>