<p>Is it encouraged? Would it be possible even if we study abroad and such?</p>
<p>How difficult is it relative to Harvard? It seems that joint-concentrations at H are fairly hard to get.</p>
<p>Not impossible. I think somewhere btn 15-25% of graduating seniors have dbl majors. If I had planned out my workload just a teeny bit more, I would have done History and Econ. As it were, I could only do one senior project so only majored in Econ – despite my 33 credit hours in History (which would have been more than required as a ‘minor’ at most colleges).</p>
<p>bump bump
i’m curious about this as well.</p>
<p>What is the attraction to you of double majoring?</p>
<p>I thought about 10% were double majors. I know a guy who is double majoring in biology and music (violin).</p>
<p>I plan on double-majoring next year, and have spoken quite extensively with current Yale students about exactly how “hard” it is.</p>
<p>From what they’ve said, it’s NOT any harder. The only drawback is that you have less room to take random classes. The only part that makes it “harder” is that you have to do two senior theses, but a student told me that you schedule it in a way that doesn’t actually make it harder, just twice the work (if that makes sense). Basically, you have the thesis of one major to do first semester of your senior year, and then you do the second one during second semester. So… it’s not harder in the sense that you have to do two at the same time. You do one like everyone else, but then you have to do another (so… twice the work lol.)</p>
<p>But other than that, it’s not any harder during the first three years because you’re still taking the same amount of classes, it’s just you’re focusing them in two major areas. If you’re willing to sacrifice your freedom to take off-the-wall classes, then double-majoring is a good fit for you. Due to Yale’s distributional requirements, you will still be able to take some classes in unrelated fields, so it’s not like you’re completely cut off from subjects unrelated to your majors. Plus, if you plan it out right, you’ll probably still have some free spots to take random classes.</p>
<p>Hope I helped (and was coherent) :)</p>
<p>Oh yeah, and a couple more things:</p>
<p>DON’T double major if you’re just trying to boost your resume. The only reason you should double major is if you’re equally in love with two subjects and want to delve to equal depths of them both. That’s it. </p>
<p>As of how hard it is relative to Harvard, I’m not sure. You say that joint-concentrations are hard to get at Harvard, so I will say that it is probably easier at Yale. Because, basically, if you make the decision to double major and plan it properly, no one will stop you. It’s completely up to you. Once again, if you’re willing to limit your space to take random classes, if you’re willing to write two thesis essays, and if you’re NOT doing it to pad your resume and only because you truly love both subjects… then GO FOR IT! </p>
<p>Also, you have until the end of sophomore year to decide. So you can always try it out, and still decide it’s not for you.</p>
<p>I was a double major (philosophy and anthropology) and really liked doing it. This was some years ago, but I don’t think the rules have changed much. One thing that helps is that many majors include requirements in other fields (such as foreign languages) that can count in both majors. Sometimes a course in one major can also count for the other major (such as a philosophy of science class counting for anthropology, or an anthropology class in Aztec philosophy for a philosophy major).</p>
<p>It can be harder with some majors that have more required classes, but only if those can’t be counted twice. For example, you could put together biology and physics more easily than physics and english.</p>
<p>Later in life I at least am really glad to have expanded my studies by a double major. I think it is a really cool thing to do if you can manage it and like it.</p>
<p>It’s not that hard, although it does depend on what majors you’re combining. Some only have 10 course requirements, whereas others can have reqs. in the mid twenties, with prerequisites. I’m doing biology (up to ~24 credits if you can’t pass out of prereqs) and classics (10 credits). </p>
<p>I don’t think it’s encouraged… i think in general students are encouraged to pick one major. But it’s not discouraged either. If you’re willing to give up extra electives, it’s fine. Although i do think there’s a lot of value in those extra classes you take. And if your two majors are in different sorts of disciplines (like biology and classics…) it makes it easier to satisfy the distributional requirements in addition to your majors. </p>
<p>It’s pretty easy to do a double major, not really any harder than taking other classes where you would have had ones for the second major. And you don’t need special approval, . you just get a form and have the director of both depts. approve your planned course of study</p>
<p>In response to the post above, i would <em>not</em> recommend putting together two hard science majors, or humanities majors, etc. I think that’s a terrible appropriation of your time.</p>
<p>Stupid question, but do they offer minor’s?</p>
<p>As of right now, no minors are offered at Yale. the idea is that you take the classes required for your major, but they don’t want you to feel stuck trying to take classes that you need in order to fulfill a minor with the rest of your open spots. Instead, you are supposed to explore whatever you want, though you can take a bunch of classes in one area if you want (as long as you are fulfilling your distributional requirements.)</p>
<p>However, the YCC (yale college council) has a proposal to institute academic minors. I have no idea if this will go through or not, but it is possible that there will be a pilot program of academic minors as early as next year.</p>
<p>LOL: I think the “Minor” proposal has been proffered up by the YCC since I was there!</p>
<p>I’m stuck on whether or not I like that. I think it’s a valid fact that students do worry about tallying up classes to fit into their major and minor’s ; especially since most minor systems are set up so that you can’t take the same classes to fulfill two area’s. But at the same time I feel like I rather do a minor, then do a second major.</p>
<p>Is it difficult to do an interdisciplinary major in several subjects? Because I’m interested in Creative writing, theater, english literature, and anthropology. Can I take classes in all of these subjects without completely neglecting some of them?</p>
<p>I never understand the logics to assert that it’s resume padding to take minors or a second major. There are two main ideas: 1) By not offering minors, a student is more likely to take diverse courses. 2) Graduate schools or employers will look into what courses a student take. So it doesn’t t make difference getting a minor or not.</p>
<p>By the same logics, why offer a major in the first place? Yale should just give a bachelor degree with no majors. This way, students could really explore a liberal art education without worrying about the requirements of a major. And it won’t make a difference as employers will check transcripts and figure out what a student’s specialty is. </p>
<p>The current no-minor system works in reverse of the intention. Some students are forced to take more courses in a secondary area in order to get a second major. At the end, there are plenty of students who are not able to finish the second major even after taking some courses they wouldn’t take if not aiming for another major. On second thought, this may just be a clever design to penalize those who do not buy into the “logics”.</p>
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<p>I guess I am a dumb one compared to these 15-25% of Yalies.
But I am one course credit short of satisfying all the prereqs for another major. It is purely because I am interested in it, not because I have to do so.</p>
<p>I think it is beyond my capability to pursue two majors at the same time (especially when I need to maintain a good enough GPA for a premed.)</p>
<p>mcat: I was one class short of dbl majoring as well. It was a Senior History Seminar. I already had a huge project in my prime major and I knew I couldn’t spread myself between two. As is, I know that I got a lot from the Hist dept.</p>
<p>T26E4: I guess I did not make myself clear. I am one course short of the PREREQs to enter the major (Because I am such a music junky, it is the music major that is like my 2nd “incomplete” major). I am not one course short of satisfying all the requirement of that major as you probably is. I did take many electives in addition to these prereqs though. I also have never taken any course Cr/D/F – just because the guy at UCS told me not to do so. What a neurotic premed. Sometimes I hate myself for this.</p>
<p>Wow, T26E4, that’s crazy that you came so close to double majoring and didn’t… is that a common occurence amongst people who were PLANNING to double major (as opposed to someone who just happened to fill all the requirements out of pure interest)?</p>
<p>I want to double major, and from what I hear it’s the same amount of work until your senior year, when you have to do a senior project/thesis in both majors. </p>
<p>Is it really that difficult to wrangle? A current Yale student told me it’s not a big deal because you can usually do one during your first semester, and then one during your second.</p>
<p>@ mcat… do you really think double majoring significantly affects your GPA? I plan to major in Engineering and either English or Humanities.</p>
<p>pink001: It depends on the indivisual. I know somebody who manages to take 6 courses almost every semester (likely double majors), joins several clubs and still pulls a very high GPA. He seldom sleeps though.</p>
<p>I am mostly a science person. From my experience, many hardcore humanity classes require a lot of reading and writing. I almost always try to finish all the reading assignments so it takes me a lot of time. I think I spent more time on reading the assignments for my humanity class than all of my premed science classes this semester. BTW, I think I am not particularly weak in this area, as indicated by my two AP 5s and 800 SAT readings in this area – if these high-school-ish metrics really mean anything.</p>
<p>One of my suite-mates very often starts to write his paper the night before the deadline and still pulls an OK grade. He just has a better talent than I do in this area. – A big difference between him and me is that he cares very little about his grades because of different future plans.</p>
<p>I think it is not easy for most science majors to maintain a GPA close to 4.0 after all the pre-reqs and core courses. I happen to know a single person (only) who majors in science and stills maintains a 4.0 GPA after he has completed his major requirements. </p>
<p>You do not intend to major in Chemical Engineering, do you? I heard that the requirements for that major is the most demanding one among all majors.</p>