<p>It looks like a lot of underclassmen can't find any co ops, internships or jobs due to the economy. I'm speaking mainly of sophomores. Companies consider interns with little experience expendable. What can I do to make myself more hirable for internships? I don't know if I should take more challenging classes, ace them, do research, or do a lot of clubs and get involved. I know that a ton of research gets you into grad school, which is what I'm looking at right now, but I'm not totally sure I want to go to grad school, so it'd be nice to get a feel for the career options right now.</p>
<p>Also, I'm currently a double major chem e and math. I'm thinking about com sci minor. It'll be a giant courseload if I do the minor, but I'm wondering if double major/minors are any use other than personal gain. Math and com sci both prove that I can solve problems. Com sci shows them I have proficiency in programming. Does that add to the hirable meter or does it just broaden my job search horizon?</p>
<p>ever thought that it’s because of the fact that you go to Iowa State?
I don’t see people here having real problem finding internships or co-ops that are worthwhile assuming that they are reasonably capable (GPA > 3.0) and try hard enough to look around…</p>
<p>You never fail to amaze me with these comments - they’re shallow, and show a general lack of emotional intelligence altogether. Whether you’re right or wrong in the statement is of little difference to me, it’s really just sad. It’s the difference between making fun of somebody for something they have very little control over, and giving them something constructive that they can work on which might actually help them out.</p>
<p>And FWIW, Iowa State is a very solid engineering school, especially in certain areas. Is it going to get you into your (bearcats) cherished ibanking positions? Probably not. But keep in mind, the vast majority of engineers go to school to do engineering, not banking. What they do when they get there degree is another story. I have definitely watched Iowa State engineers outperform engineers from Michigan, Purdue, Illinois, VaTech and GaTech out in industry. </p>
<p>At any rate, while it isn’t uncommon to have an internship as a sophomore, it also isn’t that common either. Co-ops are another story. Usually companies are generally happy to grab co-ops early on so that they can break them in over a longer period. It may just be the economy, at which point you might just be falling into the unfortunate situation of having to compete against juniors with more experience. Double majoring is not going to help you at all. What WILL help you is going to career fairs and coming off as a very competent, confident person and know what the company is before you talk to it. Of course, it goes without saying to keep your grades up, but grades can only get you so far, you have to be able to schmooze the company reps, so to speak.</p>
<p>^Hey. You. Stop posting. There have been so many threads on this that it’s not even funny anymore. If you want to go for a double-major then by all means be my guest, but don’t come in here asking a question if you’re only looking to get your own opinion confirmed.</p>
<p>Youll notice that the only real study they have to back up their claim is this one. One thing to notice in this study is that it does not mention having a double major in two technical fields and, perhaps more importantly, it does not mention that engineering majors garner any benefit from having a dual degree, only science, math, and business majors. </p>
<p>Personally, I think that the others on here (with the exception of bearcats), have given some pretty good advice. In general, I dont think that companies target students who have double majors, and I certainly have never heard of different starting salaries for double majors like the article claims. Double majoring is going to put a lot more stress on you, lower your GPA, and eat up a lot of time that you could be spending on things that companies really do value (like leadership positions in clubs, entrepreneurial endeavors, etc…). Overall, I would focus more on these other areas and, probably the biggest thing to mention here is to really take a hard look at your resume. Ive known people with greater than 3.5 GPAs who cant land interviews because of their resume Make sure its excellent, and then practice your interviewing skills extensively.</p>
<p>Do one thing well before trying to do two things just good and three things just fair. </p>
<p>Its a bit early before companies and students are seriously thinking about summer internships. We have seen job recruiting literally become nonexistent in 2002, 2003, very tough in 2004, and average in 2005.</p>
<p>That article isn’t really an article… it looks more like an essay someone wrote for a class and posted up to that ezine. The quality of it was not even worth being an A paper. Of course a humanities major will make a lot more if they also have a science or math or business or engineering degree. Chances are, they are going to use that other degree. Engineering + business is useful, but not at an undergrad level. If you want that, do BS in engineering and MBA. Having a dual major in two engineering fields is pretty useless, because companies want you to be good at the thing they are hiring you for, not ok at a lot more.</p>
<p>That article is a complete waste. The idea is a good one… but you need to find a peer-reviewed, well-written article with references.</p>
<p>I would contend that getting a double major is a great idea, if it’s something you legitimately want to do. Don’t just do it to run up the score and try to have a more impressive resume… there are better ways of doing that.</p>
<p>Do what you want to do, and people will recognize your ability and interest no matter what you do. Just do it well. If that means a quadruple major, that’s fine, but you had better think that through really hard before you start… most likely you can condense your interests. Smart people are generally interested in a variety of things, and could major in any of them and be happy, but… I think you know what I’m saying, at least.</p>
<p>And like I said, my double major went over really well at a company I interviewed with. That’s not why I did the double major, but it’s always nice to see that other people appreciate and acknowledge your accomplishments.</p>
<p>Since I’m so far ahead in math already, I might as well just get that double major. A com sci minor is only 19 credits, so I’ll definitely look into that considering computers skills are becoming more valuable.</p>
<p>One question. The classes get harder as you go up. But in actuality, shouldn’t they get easier? I mean you cover calc 1-3, diff eq, linear algebra as basis, and then the classes go into more depth on these specific subjects. There’s nothing entirely new, only deeper stuff. Am I right?</p>
<p>I am a double ChemE and Math major, and this line of thinking: “I might as well just get that double major” can s.c.r.e.w. you over. calculus 1-3, DE, and LA are also very basic plug-and-chug mathematics. Analysis, Number Theory, Topology, etc, are taught differently. You don’t really need math beyond basic calculus to theoretically be able to do Real Analysis - but, the math becomes (some uncomfortably) abstract and taught much more rigorously. Many people opt to do a math minor, because even for the mathematically proficient, a major can be overkill, and you have to prepare yourself to work hard.</p>
<p>This sentence that it hurts my head. First of all, they didn’t test for the fact that a single major in “business, engineering, science, or math” probably earns statistically the same as a double major. It’s no surprise that quantitative majors pay more. Second, they did not control for the fact that students that pursue double majors are generally more dedicated to school and have higher GPA’s.</p>
<p>Regardless, a double major in CS and Engineering will only help you in a position where you’re hired to code engineering software. Do jobs like that exist? Sure. Are they common? Not really. Do they pay more than other engineering jobs? No. But if this sort of job is your life’s goal, then go for it.</p>
<p>The vast majority of engineering company will look at your double major and make the hiring decision based entirely on the engineering major. I see many students with double majors in Math and Engineering (many 3-2 programs offer this: one degree from each school). I give no weight to the math degree. It doesn’t hurt but it doesn’t help.</p>
<p>On the other hand, will a double major in a quantitative field (say, engineering) plus a social science field (say business for example) help you? Sure. But it would probably take the same amount of time and effort to just get a master’s degree in the second field, and that is more valuable than a double major.</p>
<p>basically, what all of you are saying is that I should take at most two minors (math and com sci) and forget about the double major, because I’m never going to use real analysis in my future job.</p>
<p>But don’t mind me asking again since nobody answered this, how does double major affect grad school chances? It appears to me that going all the way to phD would be a good investment if you want to have stable careers with much higher pay. Plus, it’ll be good timing for the economy to recover and a big wave of retiring/promoted engineers. Right now my head’s at grad school. In my OP, I was asking about getting co ops and internships.</p>