<p>As a current sophomore in the Kelley School of Business I have had some time to reflect on my experiences at IU. Following this reflection there is one key takeaway I would like to share with you all. Before I begin, I will share my background so that you may have some perspective to my insight. I am a white male from the Chicago suburbs, played sports in high school and earned a 34 on the ACT and was awarded $106,000 in scholarships over the 4 years, of which $52,000 was from IU. </p>
<p>Coming to IU I knew I was going to study business. I decided right away to select the majors of Finance and Accounting, as I am sure many of you will end up doing. I selected Finance because I have strong interest in the capital markets; Accounting I choose just because. There is nothing inherently wrong with selecting these majors; however, as I have gone through nearly 3 semesters I have realized I really miss the hard sciences/math that I was exposed to in high school, but did not think I wanted to major in at the time. Unfortunately, I am unable to pursue this passion at IU. I do not see the value of obtaining a degree in math or chemistry from IU as an out of state student. If you enjoy the sciences, I strongly encourage you to go to a school that offers both business and engineering (U of I or something of the kind). If I had gone to U of I, I would be studying Finance and Chemical Engineering as a dual degree student. This type of education will no doubt differentiate you from the hundreds of Finance and Accounting majors that you see at Kelley and other business schools nationwide.</p>
<p>Some of you are probably thinking, "he must have not done too well at Kelley" or something of the like if he is encouraging us to go elsewhere. Actually, the complete opposite is true. I have killed it academically, (3.95+GPA), Kelley Honors, Hutton Honors, VP of a Club in Kelley, received admittance into a Kelley Workshop as a freshman and have an internship lined up at a hedge fund for the summer that I obtained through nothing but my own hard work (ie no BS family connections).</p>
<p>The point is, even though I have been very successful at IU there are parts of me that wonder what things would be like if I had gone to a school with both engineering and business as potential majors. I encourage you all to think the same way and understand that by coming to IU, you are, for all practical purposes, pigeonholing yourself in business. I would be more than willing to speak to any questions or concerns that you all may have regarding anything college related. </p>
<p>Thank you for your reflection on your experience. I think it is common for students to re-evaluate their majors after starting college so I believe the flexibility of the college and program is an important consideration while applying. My son is interested in combining economics with computer science and is considering IU. He has applied and been admitted to the College of Arts and Sciences - this is the school he has applied to in most of his applications as it will provide greater flexibility overall to combine or change majors. Most of the schools are indicating that it will be no problem to combine these two majors (he has to take the comp sci through LAS vs engineering which is fine with him) but the ease I’m sure varies from school to school. As compared to other flagships, I think that is the concern with the universities in Indiana - they split their specialties between IU and Purdue. </p>
<p>Singermom, I definitely agree with your assessment. Best of luck to your son going forward. </p>
<p>OP, would giving up the double major give you more flexibility in your schedule to take some science courses? Some of the pigeonholing you feel may due to your choice to double major.</p>
<p>Giving up the double major would certainly help free up space junior and senior year for science/math courses. The problem that arises is that say I wanted to major in both finance and chemistry I would have to complete the college of arts and sciences gen ed requirements in addition to the Kelley ones. I suppose that is to be expected with a dual degree, however. A minor is definitely possible. </p>
<p>viking, young man you are only a sophomore, take more math courses and dump accounting. Finance with math minor would give you a much stronger degree anyway.</p>
<p>Have you looked into the LAMP program? Or any of the business of life sciences programs? I know life sciences =/= hard sciences, but it might give you more balance.</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice, parent22 and soccergurl. I am definitely pursuing a minor in math or chemistry to round out my education. As for the LAMP program, I believe that is for students who want a business aspect to their college of arts and sciences degree. I looked into the business of life sciences program and that seems like a very interesting certificate program that I will research more. </p>
<p>Unfortunately I knew a lot of kids who did the opposite of you–majored in chemistry or physics or math and did the LAMP program to get the business side of things. It’s a lot harder to go backwards (business major + science minor) but definitely doable. I’d talk to the chemistry/math/biology advisors (whatever you’re most interested in) and see what they know of too. </p>
<p>I hate science, it would not affect me! But thanks for your insights!</p>