<p>Hey everyone... i will attend a liberal arts university and i am wondering if it is worth double-majoring...i am noticing that doublemajor has a lot of dissadvantages. besides the intensive and difficulties of courses, it does not allow you to choose many courses. i was thinking to double major in eco and cs, and in my final year i want to take a couple of elective but very important courses in eco and cs but which is impossible because i have no space available because of the double-major and some obligatory but non-related to the major courses... so what do you advice me to do: double-major whith the least required nr of courses for eco and cs, or to major in one of them with all the best courses and minor in the other one... ah yeah also tell me what do grad school consider the most, exellent scores in two majors whith normal courses, or exellent scores in one major but with very difficult courses.. please give me an opinion... thanks</p>
<p>Well... the latter questions that are related to acceptance... those vary greatly between your choices for particular grad programs.</p>
<p>Generally though, I'd say that double-majoring would be good prep. for Grad. school, in case you choose one or the other from the double major fields.</p>
<p>I think that there are two questions you should ask yourself: a) is it academically imperative that you double major, or b) you will be miserable if you don't double major</p>
<p>Some people's careers depend on double major (or at least on taking so many classes in each area that a double major becomes the obvious choice). For example, a friend of mine who wants to study the interplay between Western and Chinese double majored in Asian studies and musicology. Grad schools and fellowship of course loved the focused topic and the evidence of preparation.</p>
<p>Other people are confirmed dilettantes. I have another friend who majored in Chemistry and Spanish literature. Why? Just for fun. He enjoyed reading and writing in Spanish and found it to be a good diversion from his intense science studies. But all the time, he kept his chemistry studies a priority so it was clear to chemistry graduate programs that he was serious. Now in grad school, he gets teased about his former literary leanings, but his advisor also likes his excellent communication skills.</p>
<p>Most universities let you declare second majors very late (sometimes 2nd semester senior year). So I would say, play it by ear and see how you like your intro courses in each area or if you develop an interest in an area where ECON and CS overlap.</p>
<p>That's a great post, la_vie.</p>
<p>My two cents: I don't think anybody should double-major because it's going to look good on an application. I think you should decide to double-major for you, because you're genuinely excited about two different fields and want to study both of them in depth. (And I'm a double-major myself.)</p>
<p>I agree with molliebatmit that doubling is not really going to boost your application or your job-search prospects. You are almost always better off taking the time and effort to complete a double and instead using it to get a master's degree (i.e. as part of a BS/MS program). You should pursue the double only if you have a genuine interest in 2 separate fields.</p>
<p>There are certain exceptions however. At some schools, you can get a certain major ONLY by completing a double. As a case in point, I remember when Berkeley was in the process of killing its petroleum engineering undergraduate degree, such that for a time, the only way you could major in PetE was via a double-major with another engineering major. Over time, they ended up killing the double-major option too, but the point is, there was a certain transition period in which you could still get that major through a double.</p>
<p>most people i know double-majored in two totally unrelated fields, or fields that they would never use together, just because they enjoyed it (i.e. music and botany; religion and sociology; art and philosophy; chemistry and human development; asian studies and education; i could go on and on).</p>
<p>and what became of them?</p>
<p>werd814, i'll assume you were asking me:</p>
<p>-the music/botany major got her masters in music from one of the worlds best music schools
-the religion/sociology major is in a 1st tier law school
-art/philosophy major is working for some graphic design company in dc
-the chem/human development is in med school
-the asian studies/education major is a teacher in an inner city</p>
<p>wow; cool. Thanks Huskem (yep, I wa asking you =))</p>