<p>DS has just received a letter from the Department of Economics, Finance & Legal Studies asking him to consider the University Scholars Program in their department. He’s currently planning to major in Political Science and is intrigued by the idea although not sure if his ability in math will be equal to the “rigorous curriculum” requiring “a sequence of calculus classes.” He has the Presidential Scholarship and is a good math student but not stellar like some of the students I see posting here. He’ll also be coming with 27 AP and dual enrollment credits.</p>
<p>Looking at the UA Finance Department website it seems as though the Finance major actually requires a second major or specialization so presumably DS could double major in Political Science and Finance. </p>
<p>Questions he has are as follows:</p>
<p>If you double major how many extra units do you take and how many are double credited? Presumably the core curriculum courses count for both majors? What about electives? Also, how many extra credits (over the standard 15) do students who follow this path typically need to take each semester and over each summer?</p>
<p>If you start on the University Scholars track and ultimately decide just to stop at the double major instead of going on to the master’s degree is there any penalty for this?</p>
<p>What are the pros and cons regarding a dual major versus a specialization? Does one path require more credits than the other? </p>
<p>Are there any difficulties taking one major in the College of Arts and Sciences, and the other in the College of Business?</p>
<p>He would also really appreciate hearing about the experiences of anyone who has done University Scholars/double major. Is the workload manageable? Is there tutoring available if necessary etc. </p>
<p>Thanks for any help you can offer.</p>
<p>I was hoping that SeaTide or Bamafana who have experience with this might chime in. Perhaps I overdid the questions though. Any advice is truly appreciated!</p>
<p>He doesn’t have to major in finance to participate in University Scholars in Finance. If he wants to have a double major and participate in University Scholars, I can give a response specific to that. He’d probably want to take a crash course on business subjects before starting the degree program.</p>
<p>I’d caution against getting a graduate degree in Finance if one isn’t a good math student as some of the courses are very quantitative in nature. EC 470 (required for graduate degrees in finance and economics) covers a lot of the calculus sequence such that one might not need to take MATH 227 (Calc III), though the department might require one to take MATH 227 to be admitted to the graduate program. </p>
<p>What interests him about finance? A lot of political science majors also major in economics through the College of Arts and Sciences and are University Scholars in economics. Economics is a unique major in that it’s offered through both C&BA and A&S. The requirements for each college are different, but all economics courses are taught by faculty employed by C&BA. One can be a University Scholar in Economics through C&BA or A&S, though A&S is encouraging University Scholars in economics do so through C&BA as it requires less paperwork for A&S.</p>
<p>Generally speaking, C&BA has more favorable policies when it comes to double majoring and participating in dual degree programs. </p>
<p>Each master’s degree program typically has around 40 students each year, less than half of whom are University Scholars, so one has a good group of students to study with. The workload is generally manageable and some of the graduate courses might count towards ones undergraduate major(s).</p>
<p>Remember also that graduate courses count as honors courses, so a University Scholar would only need to take the 6 UH credits to satisfy UHP course requirements. </p>
<p>There is no requirement to complete the University Scholars program, but with only 10 courses required for the degree, students will typically complete the program.</p>
<p>Thanks so much SeaTide. I will pass this along to my son.</p>