<p>I'm thinking of double-majoring in either journalism and business or journalism and political science. Will the workload be overwhelming? Or is it manageable?</p>
<p>We are getting a lot of questions about double majors, minors, electives, etc. You have to look at the detailed degree programs and use them as your guide. They are “punch lists.” Once you punch out all the requirements for one, you get a degree. Come up one short, no degree until you get the last one. Come up one over, and you can buy a cup of coffee at Trojan Grounds with that extra unit and a dollar.</p>
<p>A typical degree might require 128 units total. Divide by 8 semesters, you get 16 units per semester average to finish in 4 years. Your tuition pays for 12-18 units per semester. If you loaf along at 12 units per semester, it will take 11 semesters to graduate. If you take a full 18 each time, you might shave off a semester if everything works out perfectly. You can pay about a $1000 per unit extra for over 18 hours a semester. (Have fun with that.) AP credits might punch out some requirements before you even start.</p>
<p>For a double major, or minor, or triple major with a 2 minors, whatever, you just have to meet all the requirements for all the programs. How you get there does not matter. You have to see how long it will take, and at what work load, to decide if that is something worth doing. USC will let you pay tuition to take whatever you want as long as you want. You will not get financial aid forever, however.</p>
<p>It is easy to combine non-engineering majors and graduate within a reasonable time, because they have a lot of elective space that can be filled by the other programs. Engineering majors have almost no room for anything else within 4 years. Also, the work load is so hard that many have to cut back to 13-14 units a semester and maybe drop something along the way, and end up taking 5 years.</p>