How's life with a double major?

I’m hearing horror stories about double majors, all this talk about having to study like crazy, losing your social life entirely, not even having time to play games, etc. But it seems like a surprisingly common thing in some parts, so I’m just wondering if there’s anyone here double majoring and still kicking. Mind sharing your routine or talking about your workload? I’m not a particularly bright student, my GPA hovers around 3.0, and I could be called lazy and a procrastinator, so I’m not really sure if it’s something an average student like me could just step into, considering how much emphasis I put into fooling around.

Firstly, ask yourself “Why do I want to double major?” What benefits would it give you?

When I was in high school, I wanted to double major because I felt like it’d open more job prospects in case I didn’t like one. But now that I’m in my last year and a half of my degree, I’m just like, “Get me outta here, one degree and done!” Double majoring will usually require 150 hours at minimum, so that’s 5 years for your degree. That’s pretty doable theoretically. You could still get away with taking 15 hours each semester. But is it feasible realistically? This is up to things like your financial situation.

These aren’t horror stories about double majors; they’re horror stories about having a lot of requirements to complete in a really small amount of time. Your workload depends on what you’re studying and how many classes you take each semester, which isn’t necessarily determined by the number of majors you have. If you have to work a lot of hours outside of class, that can also affect your stress levels.

IMO, a lot of people overstate the difficulties of double majoring because they want to discourage students like [this[/url] who might otherwise double major for bad reasons. I’m a double major, and I definitely understand the appeal. It’s fine to just take the classes that interest you, but it’s also fine to prefer a more structured curriculum. (Majors are designed to give you a coherent overview of a field. Educationally, it’s easy to see why someone would prefer a major over a few random classes.)

However, having two majors isn’t inherently better than having one, and you should consider whether there’s a good reason before you double major. You won’t have as much time to take advanced electives that could help you in your job search or graduate school applications.

I’m a math/CS double major, which I talk about in [url=http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/18674155#Comment_18674155]this thread](Where can I multiple major? - #3 by halcyonheather - College Search & Selection - College Confidential Forums). (In the interest of full disclosure, I haven’t actually declared the CS major yet, but it’s just a matter of filling out a form.) Here are some other thoughts:

  1. My school encourages double majors more than a lot of places.
  2. I came in with 58 transfer credit hours that go toward my math major requirements and general education requirements. This helps a lot.
  3. I will be earning two separate B.S. degrees, but my double major (at least in my school) could also be done by earning a B.A. degree with two majors or one B.S. degree and one B.A. degree. These options would both have fewer requirements than what I'm planning. (This isn't universally true, because the difference between B.A. and B.S. depends on your school. Some schools only offer B.A. degrees or B.S. degrees in a particular subject, so they're essentially just labels. If both degrees are offered in the same subject, the B.S. degree probably has more requirements. At my school, the B.S. in CS is accredited by ABET, while the B.A. degree is not.)
  4. A lot of people say it's easy to double major in math and computer science (or math and engineering) because "computer science majors complete most of the requirements for a math major anyway," but this is misleading. The two majors might look similar if you come in as a freshman with no college credit from high school, but the requirements don't ultimately overlap very much.

Math majors need to take two semesters of algebra, two semesters of analysis, complex analysis, scientific computing, and six upper-level math electives (statistics classes don’t even count toward them, let alone CS). On the other hand, they don’t have to take CS classes at all.

I talk about studying and grades in [this thread](Straight A's? - #8 by halcyonheather - College Life - College Confidential Forums). Overall, you probably don’t need to decide right away whether you’re going to double major or not. I would recommend starting with a minor in the second subject, and seeing how it goes.

It really depends on the school. Like @halcyonheather I’m a math/CS double major. The way my degree requirements work out, there are no more requirements for a BS double major than a BA. This is because a Bs in CS requires additional math and the Bs in math requires additional CS, which are courses that I would be taking as part of the opposite majors. We also have a lot of flexibility in which courses to take (for example, complex analysis and diff eq count as electives for the math major and we need 4 electives). I have yet to decide if I’m declaring a BS or BA.

Mainly because I am also a music minor, but I may end up declaring a music major too, which is only a BA. You need special approval from the dean to do a BA/BS dual degree at my school, but I doubt that they would decline me. I am heavily involved in the music department but don’t know if I can fit all the major requirements in. If not, I’ll only be one or two classes short (not worth spending an extra semester).

I wanted to double or triple major because I love all three subjects. I have a full-tuition scholarship that is dependent on me being at least a music minor. I also really love math and CS. I plan to go into cryptography or cryptanalysis, which combines both. I can’t imagine not majoring in either one. I came in with calc 1-3 and intro CS already done, so that also helped with easing the requirements.

Double majoring and still having minors is quite common at my school. Most of my friends are double majors with minors. I have one friend who is a double major with two concentrations in each major. We still have plenty of time and go out to events and such together. Most of the big social events are on the weekends at my school, so it doesn’t really conflict with anything.

My daily routine last semester consisted of class from 10:30-11:45 every day, class from 12-1:!5 MWF, and class 3-4:15 every, with other things scattered throughout. In the evenings, I have rehearsal MTR and I have other lessons and rehearsals on fridays, saturdays, and mondays during the day. I often had concerts in the evenings (mondays, tuesdays, and thursdays being most common) that I was either playing in or attending.

I would wake up and go to class, then eat lunch with my friends or by myself (depending on the day) and do some homework. Then go to my next class/lesson and afterwords do some homework. I’d eat dinner with my friends and then go to rehearsal or a concert. When I finished around 9, I’d go back to the dorm and work on homework till I was done. If I had time, which was often, I’d watch tv, especially on fridays and the weekends. I also had a part-time job as a grader for the CS department, so I graded home work assignments on the weekends.

I don’t find myself spending more time than those who have only one major. I’m taking the same amount of academic classes, actually a little less because of my music ensembles (since the have credit), as most. I just distribute my classes among my three subjects and the few gen eds I have, while those with only one major distribute their classes among gen eds, their major, and electives. Basically, I’m using my electives to complete my second major and minor (maybe major).

Well that clears things up a bit. From what I can tell, the workload doesn’t seem far off from what I’m doing now. I’ll probably take a minor first, but if it fails to cover enough, I can probably manage a double major.