<p>I have a few quick questions for all of you on CC. I am thinking about doing a double major in Biology and Environmental Studies. The job I want to end up is one with the EPA. At my school, you need 120 hours for one degree, which will be a BA in biology since they wont let u get 2 BS, and 150 for two degrees, with the second, a BS in Environmental Studies. I think it is worth the extra effort to get both. But, will two degrees make me much more marketable? and is doubling up honestly worth the effort, or should i just pursue one, with a minor? any advice from those who have double majored or anyone would be appreciated.</p>
<p>I'll bump this since this is something I'm interested in. Anyone out there who is pursuing a double major?</p>
<p>I think it would be a good idea for you to double major. In most cases it will make you more marketable. I am double majoring in international relations and philosophy and minoring in art history. In my opinion, employers like to see that people can handle a tough workload.</p>
<p>Not in most cases, I'd say in ALL cases it would make you more marketable. If only one major is related to your desired job, then all you've done is shown you wanted to explore more areas of knowledge while in college, which is an admirable goal. If both of the majors applies to the job - like in your case - of course an employer is going to hire you over someone with, say, only a Biology degree.</p>
<p>The only downside is to evaluate if you want to put in the extra effort into making sure that a double major would not decimate your GPA, which it shouldn't it you truly enjoy the subject. I'm double majoring in BME and Econ, and I can say that if I only had one major I would probably only do marginally better. Good luck purpleace (and gub).</p>
<p>One problem with doing a double-major is if you can't take as many courses in your major (via electives) making you less marketable. I interviewed a candidate from MIT with a combo degree many years ago and she wasn't attractive because she didn't have enough courses for what we wanted to hire her for.</p>
<p>Those of you going off to college, don't post advice like this and say "I'm double majoing and minoring..." You'll be embarassed four years from now.</p>
<p>It's NOT possible. It's NOT humanely possible. Many freshmen don't realize how tricky it is to plan out your college career because you will be taking classes that will shift your interests, decide to go abroad (and THAT can determine wheher you can double major or not), and other factors. I think I changed my course of plan every single semester several times until my senior year. You don't know what classes are going to be offered- it's generally the big reason. You don't know if a certain faculty member who teaches that particular class is going to be on sabbatical. When I found my old major declaration form, I laughed. On the form, we had to list courses that we'd take to count towards the major. Three years later, I never took ANY of those courses except for the major requirement one! I told my advisor of this and she also laughed.</p>
<p>Forget trying to double major right now. Focus on several departments that you're interested in and dabble on their classes and then decide how you will go from there. I don't know anyone in my school who was able to double major AND go abroad unless they could transfer ALL of their courses over (which meant dropping their AP credits and thus being forced to take a full load in senior year). Double major is recommended only if some of your courses can overlap between the two departments (IR and ethnic area studies (Russian, Italian, European, etc) are great ones).</p>
<p>College is about grabbing opportunities- don't let your second major steal you from taking an interesting-sounding class in another department. Instead, just concentrate on a minor.</p>
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t's NOT possible. It's NOT humanely possible.
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<p>That's wrong. Honestly - It depends on your school. I know several seniors who are graduating on time with double majors, and a good number of them have and at least one minor in addition. I met with one earlier who graduated 2 quarters early with a double major and minor.</p>
<p>It requires a lot of planning and hard work, though, and you should do it because you legitimately love all the subjects and not because you think it'll make you much marketable. And yeah - you have to overlap a class or two. That's how double majoring works and that's the advantage of it.</p>
<p>I am going for a double major. I have all of my classes planned out, along with several backup options for each quarter if one doesn't work out. Your major should have a list of what classes are typically offered, they shouldn't leave you blindsided. These things are planned out ahead of time, take advantage of that. I also have set aside 2 quarters to study abroad. With all of that, I don't have to take more than the average number of classes (3) each quarter to graduate. I have room to squeeze in a minor but I'd rather keep it simple or take interesting extra classes.</p>
<p>Then again - one of my double majors is a language. I'd still have enough time to study abroad and double major even if it weren't, but it would be a much tighter squeeze and I'd have to take the maximum number of hours. But it's possible.</p>
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Focus on several departments that you're interested in and dabble on their classes and then decide how you will go from there.
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<p>Good advice for a first-semester freshman who's not sure what they want to do. Not good for anyone else, or else you'll end up wasting a year or two of college with no requirements done. If you have gen ed requirements or prereqs, use your early years to get those out of the way while you figure out what you want to do. </p>
<p>If you want to double major: take interesting classes outside of your comfort zone, but try to make sure most of them fulfill something if at all possible.</p>
<p>what is the different between:
-double major
-joint major
-major + minor</p>
<p>and how to decide which one is the best for you?</p>
<p>thanks</p>
<p>There's actually quite a bit of difference between those three degree programs. First off, at my school a joint major is called a "dual major," and I think they're the same thing but in case they're not, I'm describing the latter.</p>
<p>They key difference between them is the number of classes and requirements that you have to fulfill and, consequently, the award you get. As you can imagine, the most work will lead to the more "coveted prize." A major and minor degree is just what it sounds like - ONE degree where you specialized in one major and chose to take enough classes in a minor field to gain a decent bit of knowledge in said field. You can't really do that much with a minor but it will tell employers that you have experience in that field and is something you're interested in (often this may be a language like if you wanted to be a doctor in France, you could get a major in Biology and a minor in French). At my school while a major is 10 departmental courses, a minor is just 5 courses in a different department. Most of the time they are somewhat unrelated departments.</p>
<p>The dual major (joint, whetev) is usually a special program set up by the school two connect two commonly-related majors and areas of knowledge. Here you will graduate with, again, ONE degree but they are basically of equal weight and it tells employers that you have experience in both related fields. For example, someone may choose to complete the dual major program in Biomedical Engineering and Electrical Engineering. These are two very related fields; if your school does not offer something that you feel should be dual'd, talk to your dean and he/she may help you set one up. To my knowledge a dual major will be around 15 courses, roughly the same as a major and minor.</p>
<p>The final course of action is the double major. Here you will actually receive TWO degrees, each with a major. I'd say usually the two majors are unrelated, but they could be related and you just want to show you have outstanding experience in the field. For example one may get a B.S. degree in Biomedical Engineering and a B.S. degree in Economics. Here you would have to fulfill the departmental requirements for both degrees, which would mean 20 courses for me.</p>
<p>You would have to decide which one works best for you based on how many courses you can take and how much time you have. Also you'd have evaluate if you even need a double major (hobby vs. career). If the fields are related, I would personally recommend a joint major because it roughly has the same importance and 5 extra courses for me would equate to more than 1 semester. Hope that helps... my hand hurts now.</p>
<p>Oh and I agree with ticklemepink in that unless you have a set plan fairly quickly after you get into college (a semester or two maybe?) you shouldn't prevent yourself from experimenting in other departments because you can only take classes in two departments so you can graduate on time. Who knows? You may find your "true love" profession.</p>
<p>But I don't agree that its not possible to double major (and maybe throw in a minor). If you do decide you want to do it early enough and plan (WITH YOUR ADVISOR, you don't know enough about requirements at that early stage) you can definitely do it. I know this because I'm halfway through my double major and because I've planned it out, I have 2 or 3 classes left over senior year and if I didn't take that random class freshman year, another minor wouldn't be bad. Know that it is hard though because you do have to complete the hardest core courses in both departments and you won't have time to take classes that you may enjoy (like Underwater Basketweaving for College Students :'( ).</p>
<p>be prepared to spend an extra year in college even if you want to major in two things with the same classes certain schools will only allow a certain number of credits from one degree to transfer into the other.</p>
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Those of you going off to college, don't post advice like this and say "I'm double majoing and minoring..." You'll be embarassed four years from now.</p>
<p>It's NOT possible. It's NOT humanely possible. Many freshmen don't realize how tricky it is to plan out your college career because you will be taking classes that will shift your interests, decide to go abroad (and THAT can determine wheher you can double major or not), and other factors. I think I changed my course of plan every single semester several times until my senior year. You don't know what classes are going to be offered- it's generally the big reason. You don't know if a certain faculty member who teaches that particular class is going to be on sabbatical. When I found my old major declaration form, I laughed. On the form, we had to list courses that we'd take to count towards the major. Three years later, I never took ANY of those courses except for the major requirement one! I told my advisor of this and she also laughed.</p>
<p>Forget trying to double major right now. Focus on several departments that you're interested in and dabble on their classes and then decide how you will go from there. I don't know anyone in my school who was able to double major AND go abroad unless they could transfer ALL of their courses over (which meant dropping their AP credits and thus being forced to take a full load in senior year). Double major is recommended only if some of your courses can overlap between the two departments (IR and ethnic area studies (Russian, Italian, European, etc) are great ones).</p>
<p>College is about grabbing opportunities- don't let your second major steal you from taking an interesting-sounding class in another department. Instead, just concentrate on a minor.
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Best advice so far.</p>
<p>Except that it's wrong from the start when it says double majoring with a minor is "not humanely possible"...? That's just silly.</p>
<p>If someone wants to go after something, we should give them advice for how that option could possibly be pursued instead of saying "nope. can't do it. don't even think about it. you can't study abroad or do anything fun with a double major." I really hate the trend of naysaying new and difficult things. My friend and I both wanted to start a new language - our advisors said nope, don't do it, it's too random and hard, don't worry about it. She didn't, I did. Guess who has regrets?</p>
<p>I definitely agree that you should not focus so much on your major(s) program to the point where you stop challenging yourself and trying new things. But the same can be said about anything. ("Don't do research! If you focus too much on that you'll miss fun other classes!" "Don't join that club! If you focus too much on that you'll miss fun other clubs!") and good sense is always the name of the game. At some schools, you'll be restricted if you double major. At some, most people double major. Don't give up on the idea until you figure out how it can work at your school.</p>
<p>I don't think he was saying that, he's saying that knowing you want to double major in X and Y and minor Z is a little ridiculous. Considering so many kids in college will change their major at least once, to think that you've made a 100% sure decision on what you're going to do is a little unrealistic.</p>
<p>I know I went into college thinking I'd get a minor in chemistry, but when I found out most of the courses were offered at 8:30 AM MTWF and conflicted with a number of my primary major's classes, I had to wind up going with physics (better choice in the end, anyways).</p>
<p>If you are not sure what you are going to do, major in biology. Especially if you might go to grad school. Take some classes in environmental areas.<br>
If you are sure you want to work in an environmental area, you could major in environmental studies.</p>
<p>If you can easily finish a double major in four years, a double major is fine, but don't stay in college more than four years just for the sake of the double major. Internships are important. (Your internship experiences will help you see what training other people have.)</p>
<p>Also, since you want to work for the EPA, talk to someone there! You may find that you need a master's degree for the type of work you are interested in anyway. </p>
<p>If you are applying to a job where they are looking for a B.S. in Environmental Studies, I honestly don't think that saying "I also have a BA in biology" will give you an edge more than other options (independent research, study abroad, internships, etc.)</p>
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I don't think he was saying that, he's saying that knowing you want to double major in X and Y and minor Z is a little ridiculous. Considering so many kids in college will change their major at least once, to think that you've made a 100% sure decision on what you're going to do is a little unrealistic.
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<p>I agree with that part of the statement. I was disagreeing with his statement, "It's NOT possible. It's NOT humanely possible."</p>
<p>He= SHE! Men wouldn't put "pink" in their screen names :)</p>
<p>What i have neglected to mention is the number of credits different majors require. For example, the English department at my UG reqires only 8 courses while my history department requires 9 or 10. Majors like biochemistry can take up more credits. Engineering majors can barely double, let alone do a minor- their major requires so many courses. People have been able to double major because their majors didn't require so many courses or not as demanding.</p>
<p>It just takes a LOT of work to do well in both majors. I'd rather see people just concentrate on a major they enjoy and wait until middle of their junior year and when it's time to register classes for senior year to see if it's doable to double major at that point. I'm just saying that by that point, you should be taking classes in both departments and if you liked it and want to keep going, then double major because the bulk of work is done. On the other hand, if you're tired of juggling, then don't be ashamed and just declare a minor. </p>
<p>Bottom line: Look at the course credits. You certainly won't want to be sweating out 21 credits every single semester...</p>
<p>To reply to some of the posters,</p>
<p>-ticklemepink, it is very possible to take on another major, about half of the students at my college do so, and these two are something I love and have been interested in for a long time. I have already changed my major and I have not even registered for classes yet. I've went from thinking about majors that will make me money, to things that I truly enjoy doing and that are also marketable.</p>
<p>-kenshi, all of the classes i take can be applied to both majors, but i know this is a school specific thing</p>
<p>-midwestmom2kids, definitely some of the best advice so far, i plan to intern in the summers, living close to a big city opens up a lot of opportunities. But I do think that having that extra degree will help me, the EPA has a very selective after college paid internship, they only select about 25 a year</p>
<p>-ticklemepink (again), over the summer im doing a freshman program that will give me 3 credit hours in a American Corporation class and then testing out of a language will net me 6. I have to have 120 for one degree and 150 for the additional. I will be doing about 18 a semester, which is entirely manageable. I could even cut down my first semester to 15 if i wanted. And like i said before all of the classes can be used towards both</p>
<p>I think the 2 majors will give you a lot of flexibility and definitly wil help you find a job that you like.</p>