<p>Hi,</p>
<p>I was wondering how hard it would be to double major in Econ and CS? There are a few pre-reqs given on this site:</p>
<p>But I couldn't really figure out how hard those pre-reqs and maintaining a good GPA in those will be, so what are your thoughts?</p>
<p>My plan is to go into either IT or management consutling, so would doing a double major in Econ and CS be too hard or what?</p>
<p>Stop calling it your "plan"... you have no plan. Your "plan" changes every other day. Seriously stop this madness. </p>
<p>How hard will it be? Extremely hard. When you have no interest in the subject you are studying, it will be nearly impossible to do well. When you don't care about what you are doing (which you clearly don't).. it is clear as day and your professors, your peers, and your potential employers will see right through it. </p>
<p>You don't even need to go to college. Take some time off and figure out what you actually want, because you don't have a single clue. Every day you come on here with some ill-formed plan to pursue a career you know nothing about.... some job de jour that you read about this morning that you think has a high salary...</p>
<p>There's no magic combination of degrees and majors that will somehow get you those jobs. When will you finally realize that?</p>
<p>If you spend all your time planning your future, when will you have time to live it? I can relate, though, I've had my fair share of sleepless nights because of worry. I can tell you from experience that its unhealthy, and that you should stop worrying and start living.</p>
<p>Jeez ......... I thought my case of OCD was bad enough, but compared to you I was nothing.</p>
<p>Here's the deal, you're not gonna be anything you projected to be in your hundreds of millions of master plans to become rich and famous. Start working your OCD little butt off and you might be able to keep yourself alive and out of debt.</p>
<p>Some people become failures because they don't believe in themselves, you don't have that problem. Your problem is much worse: you live in lala-land and have an incredibly low awareness of reality. You have no education, no credentials, no skills and no talent - aside from dreaming about how rich you're gonna be while doing nothing, but I highly doubt that it's a marketable trait given the fact that anyone can do that.</p>
<p>Want revenge? Become a success and prove me wrong, at least then you will have something concrete to present. Until then, you're just a nameless loser on the Internet who talks a lot and does nothing.</p>
<p>Double majoring in anything is tough. When one of the majors is in engineering, it's even tougher. Hmm... I don't think I know anybody who has said that a CS degree alone isn't difficult.</p>
<p>Sheesh, guys, lay off. So cali's OCD. Big deal. It's still a plausible question.</p>
<p>I say go for it, cali. I'm doubling in CS and Physics, and haven't had any trouble so far. Of course, I love both subjects, and that helps. Anything you don't like will be hard and will break you.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Stop calling it your "plan"... you have no plan. Your "plan" changes every other day. Seriously stop this madness.</p>
<p>How hard will it be? Extremely hard. When you have no interest in the subject you are studying, it will be nearly impossible to do well. When you don't care about what you are doing (which you clearly don't).. it is clear as day and your professors, your peers, and your potential employers will see right through it.</p>
<p>You don't even need to go to college. Take some time off and figure out what you actually want, because you don't have a single clue. Every day you come on here with some ill-formed plan to pursue a career you know nothing about.... some job de jour that you read about this morning that you think has a high salary...</p>
<p>There's no magic combination of degrees and majors that will somehow get you those jobs. When will you finally realize that?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>wow again. Stop making these stupid assumptions OK? Its because of that idiot Uria that you guys somehow think that I hate math and science when honestly, I love it. Look at my stats and ECs. All you'll see is math and science. So please, stop your "madness" of false assumptions. And how is my plan changing everyday? I'm still looking at an econ degree with a degree in engineering? I've decided that I want to do consulting, maybe IT consulting, and so what if I'm trying to see how tough my road is? Is that really a problem? I want to know how to prepare myself? Is that a bad thing? And I'm not looking for a magic major. I know I can even major in english and sometimes get into consulting, but I am interested in engineering and econ, and I'm seeing how hard it is to keep my GPA up since I know thats important as well.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Some people become failures because they don't believe in themselves, you don't have that problem. Your problem is much worse: you live in lala-land and have an incredibly low awareness of reality. You have no education, no credentials, no skills and no talent - aside from dreaming about how rich you're gonna be while doing nothing, but I highly doubt that it's a marketable trait given the fact that anyone can do that.</p>
<p>Want revenge? Become a success and prove me wrong, at least then you will have something concrete to present. Until then, you're just a nameless loser on the Internet who talks a lot and does nothing.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Dude what the **** is wrong with you? That was the most uncalled for flame ever. You haven't commented on my posts or anything and you just call me a nobody based off of no reason or logic? Although I'm not super brilliant or anything, I'm still fairly bright and can get into a few semi-target schools at the very least, so please unless you know me, **** OFF. I work my ass off when I need to, and you have no right to say I'm just a lazy ass when you know nothing about me and just go off of false assumptions others make.</p>
<p>I don't think your problem is your motivation or interest, but rather your pattern of post. You are still in HS (so I am), but already plan to do too much things. You switch from business, PhD & Research, engineering, consulting.... and the list goes on. That's what I assume by reading your threads. Besides, just realize that you are posting a new thread on your future career plan, which changes quite frequently, almost every 2 days. You have almost as many threads as posts.
You have to realize that you are planning all over the place in very disparate fields, which appeal to disparate persons. So what I advise you to do is just to find a passion, and THEN, base your career on that passion. If you like Invest. banking, don't do engineering to do I.B. If you like Engineering, don't do business in order to do engineering later.</p>
<p>"If you spend all your time planning your future, when will you have time to live it? I can relate, though, I've had my fair share of sleepless nights because of worry. I can tell you from experience that its unhealthy, and that you should stop worrying and start living." </p>
<p>Very accurate post! California, I would highly recommend you to follow that advise. I also have your problem of trying to plan everything ahead, and definitely, I will try to follow his advice.</p>
<p>"wow again. Stop making these stupid assumptions OK? Its because of that idiot Uria that you guys somehow think that I hate math and science when honestly, I love it. Look at my stats and ECs"<br>
People are not basing their assumptions on your stats or ECs. They base it on sth much more accurate: the pattern of your threads.</p>
<p>Watson&Crick, I couldn't have said it better myself. Very insightful and true for someone not even in college. But, california_love8, take it from me (someone who has an engineering degree, several years of industry experience and several years of graduate school) that no one is here just to put you down. We're trying to help. We see the foolishness in your ways, and we are trying to get you going down the right path. </p>
<p>Realize that it doesn't matter how hard some major is, if it's something you're interested in, the difficulty won't bother you. I did a "difficult" major, but it wasn't that bad, and my passion for the field helped keep me going at 3am finishing projects and has led me to do a PhD in the same field. I sometimes work 80 hrs a week now in my PhD program, but it's not a big deal because I love it. Could someone ever do the work I do if they don't care about it? Of course not.. and I've seen people either drop out or do poorly because you could tell their hearts weren't in it. </p>
<p>I want you to just stop fooling yourself. I want you to realize that there's no magic degree that will get you in consulting or banking. You've asked this question 20 times, each with a different combination of majors and degree levels (BS, MS, PhD, MBA) and the answer isn't going to change. You don't even know what it takes to get any of these degrees, and you don't know what those jobs you "want" do. You just know that somewhere along the way you heard they make some money. </p>
<p>Why did you pick CS in this latest combination? Because you actually care and want to know something about computing and software? Or is it because a lot of people said CS was the most versatile degree in another thread on this forum? Do you know that CS is a very time consuming degree? It's not something that can be taken lightly on a whim. Either you are serious about it or you are not... clearly you are not.</p>
<p>LOL California I apologize for my harsh comments earlier but I wasn't trying to insult you, and I am sorry you feel that way. CS is a very difficult degree to obtain - programming is very precise and a very big pain in the butt. Please take into consideration what everyone has been telling you. Your undergrad degree won't matter if you want to do consulting you can major in any field as undergrad and apply for a consulting job. Or, you can pursue an MBA and have the consulting firms recruit you. Most freshmen go into college undecided and take various classes to find what they would be good at. Maybe that would best for you?</p>
<p>Consulting is a very broad category and you need to understand that most students with any BS degree will start out in the area of 50-60k per year plus benefits which will come out to around 70-80k a year. Nobody is going to throw 120k a year at you out of school unless you are the governors son or excel profusely at a top school such as this student did.
<a href="http://media.www.columbiaspectator.com/media/storage/paper865/news/2007/05/16/Commencement2007/Senior.Profile.Greg.Cass-2903930.shtml%5B/url%5D">http://media.www.columbiaspectator.com/media/storage/paper865/news/2007/05/16/Commencement2007/Senior.Profile.Greg.Cass-2903930.shtml</a></p>
<p>no uria, I think I should apologize. I way over stated what you said. I've been frustrated at something lately, and I sort of vented here, so you shouldn't apologize. I need to keep my temper in check and not take it out on people unnecessarily. I'm not going to lie that I took some stuff you said personally (which I maybe shouldn't have), but there is still no reason to be an a** to you when you're trying to help. In fact, it could just show that my writing sucks and that I need to communicate more effectively. </p>
<p>But seriously, my plan isn't changing AS much as you guys think. Like I've said a hundred times, I'm set on consulting, I'm just looking for a solid major combination so that I have a good backup career, because again, not everyone makes it into consulting. As far as I'm concerned, my future is clear, but my plan B isn't. Thats why it may seem when I'm asking in another forum about a different job that is completely different because I'm just looking for a backup. I've been set on econ, but I'm still exploring either accounting or engineering as a double major so I have a backup in case I don't make consulting.</p>
<p>But anyway, this thread's Q has been answered: it will be tough. So now we can just forget about this, and move forward.</p>
<p>But in the future, please, please note that when I ask about a completely different major or job, its just for my backup career. I think I got a bit frustrated that I kept getting told that I'm worrying too much, when really, I'm just looking for a feasible backup. That, and being harangued by people like Kharatos who simply are insulting me and not helping at all is really irritating. I mean, seriously, this is an anonymous forum. No one has the right to pass judgments about others because we don't know each other personally, and when people like him/her do that stuff, it really annoys me.</p>
<p>So I hope this explains some of what I'm posting about.</p>
<p>Be careful, California, that your plan B is humble so that you have at least 95% chance to succeed in it. Besides, if your plan B jeopardizes your plan A, it's better to take the risk and go for it with your plan A (assuming plan A has 70% success chance, and that prospects won't be dismal if you fail)</p>
<p>you may be right W&C. I guess maybe CS, although I seriously do enjoy programming to some extent, may not be worth it. CS isn't a requirement for consulting, and if it does lower my GPA and keep me out of consulting, then that would be terrible. </p>
<p>Besides, with an econ degree couldn't I possibly do something in corporate finance, or does that require a finance degree? Corporate finance would be cool, so thats the only reason I'm asking.</p>
<p>Theoretical economics has **** to do with jobs in high finance. </p>
<p>Either way, as other people have said, you need to find something that you really do enjoy and just go for it. Majoring in something because you think it will lead to your Roth IRA ineligibility your first year out of college is a plan pretty much predestined for failure.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Majoring in something because you think it will lead to your Roth IRA ineligibility your first year out of college is a plan pretty much predestined for failure.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Very true. I'd also add that most "consulting" gigs are not highly paid. Most don't pay much better than being a regular staff engineer. The ones that pay big expect a lot of experience, and getting a position at such a firm is about as likely as getting into ibanking. It comes down to connections and luck. Are you really willing to put your "plan A" into such a high risk category? That would be fine for most people, but you don't care one bit about your plan B. What are you going to do when "plan A" doesn't work out (which it doesn't have a large chance of doing so), and you are stuck doing CS work? The smarter choice is to do what you love, and learn to capitalize on situations that allow you to move towards jobs like consulting. </p>
<p>Secondly, many engineers don't like consulting firm work. Many people even consider consulting companies a joke if you've ever seen the type of drivel they put out much of the time. It's not rewarding and is not the type of work many (maybe most) engineers want to do. It's also not something that new graduates (or with only a few years of experience) can really do. Consulting is in many ways like management. People hire consultants because they have the experience that the companies themselves do not. If you do get a job at a consulting firm as a college graduate, you'll be stuck doing grunt work. </p>
<p>In other words, california, don't pick jobs based on the salary and jobs you know nothing about.</p>
<p>Also, please note that when you say something like "I might do CS because I seriously do enjoy programming" it illustrates your ignorance in the field. A famous computer scientist once said "Programming is to Computer Science as a telescope is to astronomy." I'm getting a degree in computer science and I hate programming but I love the theory.</p>
<p>Yeah, I agree ^^^ that Computer Science is way, way more than programming. But I tend to find that those who enjoy programming also get a kick out of the theory stuff, but its good that you can enjoy the theory anyway. </p>
<p>I think a nice analogy is: </p>
<p>computer science : programming :: mathematics : solving equations</p>
<p>Of course there are people who can't solve an equation to save their life, but still love mathematics, but solving equations and figuring out problems is the implementation of math theory, the same way programming implements the theory of computer science. </p>
<p>I also agree with everyone else that you should do what you enjoy. Of course you need to make some money, but also remember that work is what you'll spend most of your time doing as an adult. Even if you get a lot of money out of a job you dislike, you won't have a whole lot of time to enjoy the benefits of that money, and your un-enjoyable work will be a burden. </p>
<p>Compare that to getting a job with a lackluster income (but enough to support yourself). Sure you won't get the nicest car or the biggest house, but you'll feel better because you'll look forward to work every morning, and you'll probably find that there will be opportunities to make money in that field anyway. </p>
<p>So while its good that you are thinking about income (better than not caring at all, I must admit, you do need some money to live happily), it should not be the #1 reason why you pick a job.</p>
<p>well actually from your description al6200 that is better for me. See, I really enjoy the theories behind math, but am not always the best at putting them to use (which is why I only got a 4 on the AP calc test :(). So if computer programming is a lot more about theories and concepts than hands on programming, that bodes well for me.</p>
<p>My main concern though is just how much programming is involved? I mean, I like the challenge of trying to apply programming principles to everyday problems, but if I'm not the best at problem solving, will I be totally unsuccessful at CS?</p>
<p>Also, just to let you know, I seriously am not in consulting just for the money. I really do think that I can enjoy the work. It is a bit premature to think that without having done college, but still. Besides, I'm sure that software engineers, especially those that have a masters can make pretty good money right? I mean, they can always move up into management, and make good money from there right?</p>
<p>Forgive me for being nit-picky, khoda, but I must correct your quote:</p>
<p>"Computer science is no more about COMPUTERS than astronomy is about telescopes.</p>
<p>Yeah, CS isn't programming... that being said, however, programming is <em>the</em> most marketable skill CS majors have after graduation. Plus, software design can be a rewarding creative experience. I just don't think one should, hand-waving, imply that real computer scientists shouldn't worry too much about programming. That's like saying a mathematician shouldn't worry about knowing how to solve equations. Imho.</p>