Graduate Early (Likely with Honors) OR double major (possibly with honors)

I am currently a student at the University of California, Irvine. In high school, I hoped to find a career in STEM involving both hardware and software. I hope to make an impact on the world by creating a device or software that will become a part of people’s everyday lives, so during my college application process, I applied for Electrical Engineering as my major with Computer Science as a second choice. I originally wanted to double major in both. I understand that Berkeley has an EECS program incorporating elements of electrical engineering and computer science curricula, but UCI has two separate programs. I am about to finish my first year with a 3.9 GPA, on track to receive latin honors at graduation. I’m currently at a fork in the road however, as I chose UCI since they would allow me to double major with CS.

I will have no problem being admitted into the major, but pursuing both majors will cause me to either have a VERY heavy four year work load, or I may take a fifth year to graduate. I have taken multiple quarters with over 20 units (20 units is the maximum amount of units a student may enroll in without submitting an excess unit request), and I will need to do that around two or three or more times. As my grades suggest, this workload has not been too much to handle, but that may change with upper division courses, of which I hope not to exceed 20 units.

If I choose to only major in EE, it will be easier to graduate with higher honors and even graduate in 3 years instead of four; however, I have a strong passion for programming, and I believe that this challenge is doable, it just may be stressful. I would like to find a job in either industry, even greater if I can apply both. I also believe that I am likely to attend graduate school for a master’s degree.

This is a crucial decision for me in my college career, as I love both fields. I can always try pursuing both and changing my mind later. Please provide any advice if you can, and I appreciate any experience . Thank you.

UCI offers Computer Engineering. It seems like the perfect major to blend your interests.

Alternatively, you could just take additional CS courses, but not so many as to cause stress. Employers don’t really care about the paper anyway.

Lastly, graduating in 3 years is more difficult than it looks on the surface. Even if you have junior status now from lots of AP or DE, the order of the prerequisites makes getting out in less than 4 years a challenge at most schools. Start at senior project and trace backwards linking all the prerequisites and you can see if it’s doable or not.

Good luck.

Thank you for your reply. I’m planning on taking some CS classes either way to get my feet wet. I have been looking at the prerequisites and I will have completed all of the sophomore requirements by the first quarter of sophomore year. If things turn out that I will need a fourth year, I may minor in math or entrepreneurship.

I would never recommend to someone to double major in STEM. It just doesn’t make sense. Most of the STEM majors overlap, especially at the foundational skill/competency level (e.g. quant, analytical). If I were you, I would choose one of the two. And, if you have an interest, pursue a major or minor in humanities or social studies. If not, just pick one STEM major, and either do more in that area (I mean get involved, work part-time, research, …) or do something outside of academics (e.g. volunteer, service, …). With respect to 3 vs 4 years, as long as financially not an issue, go full 4 years. Undergrad is not just about how quickly someone can attain a degree. The experience and personal growth matters too.

Don’t waste your effort on doing anything to get a minor. Employers care nothing about your minor. What they care about are the courses you take. Extra math can in some fields be very beneficial. Taking more than you really want though to get a worthless piece of paper, crowds out your ability to take other classes more germane to what you will be doing on the job. Ditto for entrepreneurship. First, the paper is useless. Second, it will dilute your ability to go deeper in your technical studies. Unless you are quite sure you only want to work for yourself and need the foundation, focus on your tech work.

Don’t worry about the double major. Just try to graduate with a good GPA and give time for career exploration/job search.

The CS major is good, but you can showcase your CS skills in another way. prehaps you can put on your resume “proficient with _____ language” to show the employers that you have a desired skill in CS. Companies look for the specific skill rather than a major.