Triple Major at UVA

<p>My son is a second semester engineering student at UVA. He is currently laying out his program for the next 6 semesters. His plan is to major in: Systems Engineering, Math, and Economics. He also wants to minor in: Physics, Business Engineering, and Computer Science. He says he can do it by using his electives to add the necessary courses to fullfill the requirements for each major and minor and not have more than 17 hours per smester or take courses over the summer. These are all courses of study that interest him and he says he can handle the work. He wants to go on to graduate school, and is currently intrigued with the dual Law/Business degree programs. My question is, do graduate schools or employers look at what he is doing favorably, or not?</p>

<p>If he can do it than great. However, I don't think it will give him a leg up to get into grad school, but it shouldn't hurt him either. If he's interested in getting "papered up" he should then consider dual MS/MBA programs.</p>

<p>Personally, I think he'd be better served targeting what he wants to do and defining a more clear tragectory with better grades and better co-ops/interns/research. Also, he's kind of got a peppering of business, math, and computer science there. He'd probably be better off, socially, widdling the course load down and joining some clubs or extra-curriculers.</p>

<p>I'm sure he's a smart kid, but if he wants to go into business he'll need to be more than a nerd. And, once the core classes for the majors hit he might find the load harder than he thought, and himself lonlier than he'd like.</p>

<p>Thanks for your reply. He has an internship this summer in Hong Kong working for the CEO of an aerospace company. He is also involved in literary and debate society on campus. I too am concerned about balancing school and social aspects of college. He seems driven, and I don't want to discourage him, but am also concerned about burnout.</p>

<p>I would say his scheduling needs to be spot on and im not just talking about scheduling in order to graduate in a certain amount of time. You can only stack so many time consuming classes on top of each other before you literally have no time. The systems engineering is the main concern for this, in some of those technical classes his projects will be very long and it doesn't matter how smart someone is the projects are just that long. Sometimes people underestimate these type classes because they think it will be a lot of daily work, but it is much much more than just daily work. I wish your son luck, he seems like hes very intelligent and mature.</p>

<p>I would encourage him to drop the business based classes, and possibly the math.</p>

<p>The math makes no sense. And, an MBA would make the business undergrad obsolete, if he does an MS/MBA.</p>

<p>I don't see how he could actually do it and I'd be very surprised if the school would allow him to. You usually can't just use the same courses for multiple cross requirements and start racking up the majors/minors. Has he run his plans by the counseling center at UVA?</p>

<p>Why would you major in Math when you are already doing Systems Engineering? You get enough math in engineering as it is. People in industry know that, graduate schools know that, and maybe your son should know that too.</p>

<p>the guy who interviewed me from CMU was a triple major: MechE, Math, and Econ. So it must be doable. He had to argue with his dean to let him do it though.</p>

<p>Your son is going to have to do a lot of arguing to double/triple/quadruple count some of those units. Often times you can't double count core classes for majors, and if you're taking that class for some other reason you'll be required to take some other elective within the major so you keep the required number of credits towards the degree.</p>

<p>I can also see the MechE/math/econ major not being that bad. You need a depth sequence at CMU, and a major is only a handful of classes extra over that (one of my friends got a Psych double just by using some of his electives his last three semesters). Math is only a few more classes than what would be required of a MechE, and if he took his technical electives within that it seems pretty possible. At CMU I had friends doing doubles with two minors, a BS/MS with two minors, and stuff like that within four years, so it certainly is possible. Just remember that there's no point in double majoring in that second major if you don't care about a bunch of the classes. I had the ability to double in physics in addition to Materials Science & Engineering, but there were a ton of core courses I wasn't interested in, so I took only what I cared about and got my minor. With the classes I saved I was able to take almost all of the upper-division MSE courses and graduate a semester early.</p>

<p>I think you need to stress to your son that he doesn't need a piece of paper to prove his proficiency in something. I know some triple majors and some of them were a little too interested in their undergrad education. He needs to <em>at most</em> choose two majors (preferably a major and a minor) and get into some clubs and land good internships. It is not a good idea to take courses over the summer either unless there are circumstances that require it (for example I had to take classes one summer to get the prereqs for a special program I was doing a year early).</p>

<p>For what your son wants to do, I would absolutely scrap the minors you listed and only take a couple math classes if that. If he's committed to law, it might not be a bad idea to take a really abstract math class because it will put him out of his comfort zone if he feels like he only knows engineering math.</p>

<p>Triple major and three minors? Way too much. It looks tacky. Three majors is possible, or two majors and a minor, or two minors. But 6? Come on. If anything, that indicates he cares more about pieces of paper than learning.</p>

<p>I'm planning on a double major, possibly one minor. CS & Physics / Math.</p>

<p>Major lack of direction. Why would he want to do such a thing.</p>

<p>Get an undergrad in Engineering, maybe also double with Math since they are closely related. Then go get an MBA. That's what you son needs to do. Getting 3 undergrad degrees with 3 minors would not only be a waste of his time, but also his and/or your money.</p>

<p>Waaaaaaaay too much. That physics minor makes no sense.</p>

<p>Thanks for all of your responses. I asked my son to meet with his E School advisor and ask the following questions:</p>

<p>1- What does the advisor think of the plan? Is it achievable?
2- Will the school allow this plan?<br>
3- What is the time requirement of the System's project's in the upper level classes?
4- Can courses be used/applied across multiple major's/minor's?
5- Instead of multiple major's/minor's, what ec's would make a greater impact on graduate schools?</p>

<p>Thanks for all the feedback, and I'll report back in after my son's meeting.</p>

<p>Ok...that is the definition of academic suicide. You would have to be insane to try and do all of that. Take the engineering degree and get one minor (business or econ would be good for grad school). Seriously, I don't think you/your son understands the workload of engineering alone. I am in mechanical right now, and I would probably throw myself off a bridge if I had two other majors to worry about at the same time. Not too sure what exactly systems engineering entails, but I am sure it close in difficulty.</p>

<p>Also, your son should know that taking 17 credits a semester really means nothing. 17 credits as an engineer is more than 24 credits as an econ major. In my undergrad career, I found nontechnical classes usually took about half the time given in the course catalog, and engineering/technical classes were 1.5-2 times as much (3-4 hours of lecture a week plus a 12+ hour homework was typical for a 3 credit class).</p>

<p>I do know a grad student who had four undergrad majors; physics, math, chem, and CS, a minor in Chinese and a minor in some engineering field. He is a PhD student now and going into academia to be a professor. However, there is no reason to put yourself through that. If his goal is to go into industry, then one major will suffice. Two is great. But any more than that is completely unnecessary. First, decide what kind of grad program you want to go into… Get an undergrad degree that makes that possible. Then, choose another degree that really interests you and broadens your knowledge beyond your other major while also giving you a leg up in your professional interests. Engineering and econ would be a good mix, especially Systems engineering and econ. This would put you in prime territory for a top B-school program. If his goal is something like grad school within Systems engineering, then perhaps the math major would be an added bonus. Just make sure he focuses his talents instead of blindly choosing degrees. In other words, strategize for the future…</p>