Is a triple major a good idea?

<p>Hello,</p>

<p>Starting from my freshman year I finished Calc BC and have been taking math courses at my state university. I also will be taking a lot of AP's and it turns out the state University in question allows unlimited transfer of AP
credits that are not directly related to your major. Given this I think it would be practical for me to graduate in 2 years or 1 if I take courses over the summer and winter and receive a math degree since any math courses I already took there would transfer. </p>

<p>But Math isn't the only thing I enjoy. I am very passionate of computer science and have a lot of curiosity in physics.</p>

<p>Seeing that I would already have the mathematics background necessary for both these fields, and since I have been studying both heavily outside of school I wonder if I should consider a triple major?</p>

<p>The three are closely related since any type of intensive physics research depends on computer simulations and extremely-efficient algorithm design is basically just math. If I were to go into a career in physics research I would need to have these three skills either way so why not acquire them in college, while I can, and still finish in 4 years.</p>

<p>I do not know how much work this is going to be though. Has anyone triple majored before? What is your take on the matter?</p>

<p>I’m sure there are people who have. Probably they started like you, with substantial college course work already completed while still in high school.</p>

<p>You may want to count courses or credits needed for your majors and breadth requirements to see if they all fit within the number of semesters you will attend college.</p>

<p>Of course, you could choose to do just one major, while taking the most interesting or useful courses in the other subjects without worrying about fulfilling the other major requirements.</p>

<p>I’ve considered the same triple major…but after really looking into it more and seeing exactly how many courses would be involved to complete it, I threw the idea out. For me, it would have turned into taking 20-22 credits every semester, along with 9-12 credits every summer…and completely throwing anything resembling a social life out the window.</p>

<p>I’m transferring from a CC, so my situation is a little different, but I’ll have all of my geneds done before transferring too. Don’t forget about all of those, they take up a sizable chunk of your undergrad courses too. </p>

<p>Personally, I’m going to be majoring in physics, possibly double majoring in math. I’ll definitely have a CS minor, and I may drop the math down to a minor.</p>

<p>Realistically, a lot of the courses you would get in a CS minor aren’t really going to be necessary in physics. These are the conclusions I’ve managed to come to over the last few months that I’ve been tossing my options around.</p>

<p>There is no reason to triple-major. The key is to take the right courses without taking the courses that you don’t need. Let me break your 3 areas into something that may be doable without you having gray hair at age 21:</p>

<p>1) The cool thing about taking computer science (and I mean actual computer science…not I.S. or I.T. or MIS) is that you do not need to fully major in it to get enough knowledge to support other technical majors. CS can be a minor (18-21 credits).</p>

<p>2) When combining majors that are similar (like Math & Physics or Math & CS), I personally feel that it is better to take a dual/hybrid major (using as many courses that can apply to both majors as possible) instead of two separate degrees. On top of that, there are some schools that offer either a major in Mathematical Physics or a Mathematical Physics option for either a Math or a Physics major. I would Google those programs/options and tailor it to the school that you choose.</p>

<p>An employer does not have to see 2 or 3 separate degrees…they just need to see (from your transcripts that you have taken the coursework. Although, I am a software engineer, my primary major was Applied Mathematics but I took like 85% of the CS program for my electives. </p>

<p>You may also have to choose the B.A.-version of your primary major…to allow the flexibility to dual-major (or take a bunch of credits in another area).</p>

<p>…And one more thing…pay attention to the minimum requirements of graduate programs for the academic area that is NOT your primary major and at least take those core courses. This helps just in case you decide to get a graduate degree in the area that was NOT your primary major.</p>

<p>For example: Let’s say Physics is your primary major. Your want to make sure you take an Analysis/Real Analysis/Advanced Calculus course to make sure that you can get into a graduate Math program (if you decide).</p>

<p>fantanstic advise</p>

<p>I don’t think it’s a good idea. Double-major is as high as I recommend. Being a triple-major you won’t have time to do other important things like getting internships or participating in undergraduate research. A lot of math classes won’t have anything to do with physics, same goes for a lot of cs classes.</p>

<p>These are some interesting responses! Perhaps I should clarify a bit about myself, if it helps you guys guide me with better answers. </p>

<p>My primary subject interests are as follows (in no particular order):</p>

<ol>
<li>Number Theory (from useless to conjecture to encryption algorithms… I LOVE IT)</li>
<li>Quantum Computation (definitely an interesting field, and could be lucratic iff it takes off)</li>
<li>TOE research, with that higgs boson discovery there is going to be a lot more push for creating a unified framework for gravitation and QFT. I would really like to get in on this action, as it seems like a very engaging, and just generally interesting place to put my time into.</li>
<li>Tech Startups, when I was little I have always dreamed of working in high-stakes, high-income digital companies. I still seriously consider it. </li>
</ol>

<p>Their requirements:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Basically Pure Math, (Sieve Theory, Abstract Algebra… ) and some very very deep algorithm design skills (optimizing etc…, Quantum Algorithms)</p></li>
<li><p>Good understanding of Quantum Physics, decent skills and mechanical and electrical engineering, a lot of creativity and algorithm design kills.</p></li>
<li><p>Very strong background in multiple areas of physics, strong background in math, mostly analysis + (some) abstract algebra styled stuff, and then a little of weird stuff (category theory etc…). If i want to do anything concrete or experimental then I would have to have a solid knowledge of algorithm design.</p></li>
<li><p>Strong CS skills, and a lot of creativity</p></li>
</ol>

<p>It’s important to keep in mind that a good portion of the classes you would have to take for a computer science major would be almost completely irrelevant in those fields. Networking and system maintenance and stuff like that, while possibly “helpful,” aren’t at all necessary. A CS minor would be more than adequate for what you’d need to know. While there would be a lot of course overlap between those three majors, it’s important to realize that not all schools will let you apply a single course to more than 2 majors.</p>

<p>I think you need to narrow down what field you really want to go into. I was considering the same triple major, but after really looking at it and seeing what would be involved, I threw the idea out the window. I’d suggest going to some schools websites and looking up just what would be required for each major. It would be an incredibly difficult combination to manage. I’d suggest either a double major in physics and math, along with a computer science minor. Or a physics/cs double major with a minor in math.</p>

<p>You can really only get an introduction to advanced math or quantum mechanics (never seen and undergrad version of qft) as an undergrad. You’d need to go to grad school for math or physics to really “do” something in the areas you mentioned.</p>

<p>As a rising senior majoring in physics, I am actually familiar with 2 and 3.
2. Quantum computing is a pretty broad field ranging from quantum information theory/algorithms to experimental work making qubits. There are many ways one could make a qubit in theory, there are many areas of condensed matter theory and experiment that focus on creating actual systems that could be manipulated as qubits (optical lattices, josephson junctions, trapped ions, etc). Topological quantum computing uses states with nontrivial topology which are robust under smooth transitions. The biggest problem for quantum computing is decoherence. A quantum system can be in a superposition of states, however if the system interacts with the environment, the state in essence “collapses” into an eigenstate of the system within a certain time scale (this collapse is still the subject of research although most physicists agree with Von-Neumann’s idea of entanglement and the many worlds interpretation).
3. People do not generally claim to research a “theory of everything”, if you are talking about unifying quantum field theory and general relativity (making a renormalizable quantum theory of gravity) most work being done is in string theory, which has no experimental component. My major advisor is a string theorist, and from what I can tell most of the work being done in that field is purely analytical theory. You would need to increase the energy of the LHC by a factor of 10^15 to get to the length scales at which string theory becomes significant.</p>