Triple majoring?

<p>I wasn't exactly sure where to post this?</p>

<p>I'm a high school senior and I was thinking about majoring in history, economics, and political science.</p>

<p>I have/will have credit from AP/CLEP/courses taken at a local college.</p>

<p>Each "major" requires 30 credits where I want to go...
However, these 90 credits needed become less than 60 when I subtract my credit, similar to double majoring.
I also have credits that would cover some of the basic requirements to graduate.</p>

<p>I obviously only have lower-level courses completed. </p>

<p>Does anybody have any advice? Am I being na</p>

<p>Those subjects should have a decent amount of overlap. Try to take classes that can count for two or more majors (I recommend looking through your school’s catalog and analyze the course offerings carefully with this in mind). Taking summer classes can reduce the workload during the year. Also don’t be too surprised if you have to take longer than 4 years to graduate.</p>

<p>To be honest, I do think you are being a little naive, but just because there are some problems doesn’t mean that it’s impossible, necessarily.</p>

<p>Some problems I see are:</p>

<p>Do the credits you received actually fulfill the requirements for each major? I had 68 credits when I entered as a freshman, and most of them I didn’t use. They contributed to the amount of credits I had total, but they didn’t actually fulfill very many of the requirements of courses that I had to take. I had to take all of my upper-division coursework (which had to be distinct to each of the majors in my double major) and a few lower-division prerequisites, in addition to some GEs that I didn’t fulfill the requirements. It’s not as simple as just subtracting credits out.</p>

<p>Would you be able to logistically be able to fit all of the courses into your schedule? If you have to take a certain number of upper division history, economics, and political science courses in a couple of years, that may be difficult to fit in. Is getting courses when you need them a problem? I had friends who had trouble graduating on time, just because the courses they needed to graduate were only offered once a year or other scheduling conflicts. Also, at my school, we had to take a certain amount of upper division classes unique to each major, so even if there is overlaps in the classes that you can take, you may still have to take a certain amount of courses for each major.</p>

<p>Is there an upper limit of units that you’re allowed to have? Many schools have a maximum number of units you can have in your time there, and having three majors might put you over the limit.</p>

<p>Why do you want to triple major? Would you use all of those degrees? Is there some point to it, or are you just doing it for the sake of doing it? It might be much more beneficial to take some of the time you’re spending trying to get three majors, and spend them in internships, doing research, volunteering, getting work experience etc. Triple majoring isn’t going to get you a job, but getting great work experience and developing marketable skills will. It’s okay to be interested in all three fields–you’re allowed to take courses outside of your major, but you don’t have to major in every interest that you have. You may also want to leave some room for taking courses that just interest you, taking a lower courseload because you’re doing an internship or something, not being able to get the courses you want with the professor you want at the time you want, etc. Cramming in a bunch of different courses to get a degree that you’ll never use could take away from many other things that would benefit you more. You could also even graduate early, and save some tuition money =D</p>

<p>And then of course, the most obvious problem is: Does your school even allow it? Many schools don’t allow triple majors, and that’s also something to look into at your particular school.</p>

<p>If logistically you can do it (and your school allows it) and you really want to, sure, go for it. But I would advise against it, unless there’s some career you want to go into where having those three majors would be very beneficial. Your time will likely be better spent getting experience outside of the classroom (or even graduating early!).</p>

<p>Keep in mind that many schools won’t allow a single course to be applied to more than two majors. So, if you have a class that is a requirement for all three of the majors individually, you will only be able to apply it to two of them, and you will have to fill that vacant spot with a different course.</p>

<p>AP credit doesn’t always get applied the same way at all schools, and it may get applied to one major, but not the others, or something of that nature.</p>

<p>It’s not impossible, but I don’t see the point. There would be a TON of reading and writing with those majors, which is another important consideration to keep in mind.</p>

<p>Although it might be possible depending on the school, it doesn’t seem like it would be necessary to have all three majors. Most political science curricula include some economics and a certain degree of history, so you might be able to get everything you want out of your education without the stress of three majors. Another thing to consider is picking one to major in and minoring in the other two so that you have a focus but you can still list all three on your resume later on.</p>

<p>I’m not sure why you want to do this. Just because you are a history major (or whatever) doesn’t mean you can also take courses in other areas. In fact that is pretty common. So if your goal is to learn about these three different areas that is something that can easily be accomplished without needing to have three majors. If you are thinking it is going to impress future employers or grad schools, think again. These three areas are all pretty closely related. Which brings me to my last point. At many universities you can only have multiple majors if they are in unrelated areas. So computer science and history. French and economics. And so on.</p>

<p>Better to focus on one or two majors and excel then do just okay with three. At my school they have a major called politics philosophy and economics. It might be good for you to consider an interdisciplinary major or concentration within a major. Many majors like political science have different areas in which you can concentrate like competitive politics or political theory. You could probably also get what you are looking for by just majoring in two of the disciplines you mention because the third will be automatically incorporated to some extent within the other two.</p>

<p>To echo what others have said, I’d advise to pick one or two of them and stick with those. You can use the remainder of your time either getting some kind of job experience or working on a minor (or potentially two in your case). I mean, if you really really really are that interested in all three subjects that you feel it best to triple major, go for it (provided you can feasibly do it).</p>

<p>Also keep in mind that while you may be interested in all those subjects now, by the time you take an upper division class or two in any of them you may realize that you’re not as interested in them as you originally thought. Before you decide on multiple majors, take a couple upper divs in each area you’re considering and see if you really want to major in those areas. If you discover you don’t, no harm no foul; just focus on the one(s) you are interested in and/or move the other(s) to a minor.</p>

<p>Another thing to keep in mind is that you’re still in high school, so you don’t need to narrow your options this early, unless you go to a school that wants you to declare right away (and even then, you can always change your major or add a new one). At most schools you have over a year before you’re expected to declare, so just take classes you like and take some time to figure out what’s most important to you.</p>

<p>Fwiw I triple majored in CS, Econ, Math and am currently pursuing a triple masters in CS, EE, and Systems Eng.</p>

<p>My schedule was carefully planned out before I started school. I didn’t take any free electives; all classes I took went towards fulfilling distribution or major requirements. (I knew what I had to take every semester to stay on track). </p>

<p>I had two fives in AP Econ and skipped intro classes. I also started in Calc 3. This left me with six Econ classes to take, and seven math classes to complete those. For CS I needed around 15 courses. I was pretty much done after seven semesters, letting me jump start my grad work. All in all ill be done in 12 semesters, without ever taking more than. 16 credits.</p>

<p>Why did I do it? Curiosity, a desire to learn, etc. It wasn’t for my r</p>

<p>I don’t see why you can’t triple major since those subjects have courses that overlap a lot. However, you do need to keep in mind policies regarding how many courses you can count toward two majors. Also, you probably won’t be able to take classes outside of your majors since that will take up your 4 years.</p>