# Bad Idea?



## aphinion (Apr 30, 2013)

Okay, so I'll be going off to college next year and I've been choosing what to major in. I've had a really hard time narrowing down what I want to do, so I decided that I want to go for a double major and double minor. 


Majors:
Engineering (probably mechanical)
Brain and Cognitive Sciences

Minors:
Creative Writing
Psychology


Does anyone have experience with a double major / double minor situation? How did it go? Everyone I've discussed this with makes it sound like a bad idea, but so far I'm pretty sure. I'm very interested in each of the subjects and I think without a lot on my plate I might get pretty bored.


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## Swiftstar (Dec 29, 2010)

I would honestly wait until you finish your first semester/year to declare because how the programs at each school is setup can affect what you're interested in. Cognitive Science sounds great in theory, until you find out that the program is more linguistics based versus neuro, for example. What you can do, however, is figure out the requirements for each major/minor and plan your schedule from your first year up until when you expect to graduate. Consider also what activities you want to do, if you want to do an internship/co-op program, study abroad, and so on. 

I'm finishing up my undergraduate degree in engineering and was going to minor in Cognitive Science (I was one class away from fulfilling the minor, but a class put me off so I dropped it). Honestly, there's a lot of overlap with Cog Sci and Psych, so that shouldn't be a problem unless your university has odd requirements. If you have AP Psych credit or equivalent, you can bet that that would knock out at least one require class (e.g. Psych 101). I can't say much about Creative Writing, but I'd imagine that you would have to take at least 1-2 mandatory English classes and several electives. 

Keep in mind, however, that engineering is difficult regardless of how intelligent/hardworking you are. My school has a large percentage of engineering/hard science majors, and there are many who switch because they can't manage their time or find the material too difficult/boring/etc. Expect to spend hours on problem sets, coding, etc. On top of that, you'd have to manage other classes that are heavy on writing or on research.

There's generally a lot of activities to do in college, so boredom is usually not an issue.

I'm not trying to dissuade you, but you should be aware of how much time each major/minor can add up to.


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## SingingStars (Mar 9, 2014)

I will say this, please don't kill yourself trying to do a million majors/minors. It honestly won't matter THAT much in the end and it may make your grades suffer or stress you out to the max. Don't burn yourself out in college because trust me, you will have wished you had relaxed a little more (and this is coming from straight A student). I say pick your main major, then take a couple of classes in your possible double major/minor classes and see if you really need to declare a double major/minor or if you just enjoy taking these classes as electives. Use your electives for stuff that you find interesting. Don't get too bogged down with having so many requirements to fill and coordinate, especially considering that all of these classes cost money and more importantly they cost TIME. Certain classes are only available at certain times of the day or year and you may find yourself unable to coordinate all of your requirements without prolonging your time spent in school and pushing your limits to the max.

Good luck though. You sound ambitious. Just stay focused on your true goals and what you really want out of life.


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## anarchitektur (Feb 11, 2011)

aphinion said:


> Does anyone have experience with a double major / double minor situation? How did it go? Everyone I've discussed this with makes it sound like a bad idea, but so far I'm pretty sure. I'm very interested in each of the subjects and I think without a lot on my plate I might get pretty bored.


Don't waste your time or money; you aren't going to get any benefit from doing it. Pick *one *major and _maybe _*one *minor if they are somewhat related. For instance, a major in International Relations with a minor in Arabic. The minor in this example provides some additional specialization for someone who wants to be involved in international relations with Arabic-speaking countries. Your proposed degree has multiple personality disorder. Speaking as someone who has had to review resumes and hire people, if I looked at your resume and saw your double major/minor, my reaction would be _What. The. Fuck._

If you really want to study some additional material, go ahead... but you can do that on your own without paying a huge amount of money for the additional classes to get more stuff tacked onto your degree.


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## RandomGirl (Mar 10, 2014)

What career are you pursuing?
As previously noted, you're required to take a number of electives. If you're interested in multiple subjects, use the electives to explore those interests. 
You typically don't have to decide/declare a major until Sophomore year. Get a taste for college and your major before committing.
Anticipate that you're likely to change your mind and it's okay to do so. (You're going to learn a lot about yourself, the world, and things you never anticipated about your major)

It's better to be well-rounded with job experience/involvement in extracurriculars than to focus on a double major and double minor.
Get your feet wet and take advantage of your college adviser, counselors, and professors.


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## tangosthenes (Oct 29, 2011)

Mechanical engineering is a time consuming major. I would say do whatever you want-if it wasn't for that major. I don't blame you for trying to learn as much as you can, though. I didn't realize how much of a boon learning things in a lecture format really is when I was in college.


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## jbking (Jun 4, 2010)

I did a double major with a minor at my university and I'd have a few questions for you to ponder:

1) Diploma room requirements. If the diploma can only list one major and at most one option, other major or minor, are you prepared to have a couple of your achievements cut off on the diploma itself? My choice was to list both my majors and so I have a letter that came afterward for the minor I completed.

2) Course attempt limitations. How many courses would be required here and how many does your program allow? At the university I attended, 50 was the limit of course attempts and I had 46 when I graduated. If I had grouped my electives differently, I may have had a double major, double minor situation but I'd consider caution on this point.

3) Restrictions on course selections. In going down this road, are you aware that you may not take all the different courses you want? Some courses may have limited offerings and unless you take extra semesters you may have to take a specific regiment of courses.

I'm not sure I'd say this is a bad idea, IF you've done your homework to see that the above conditions don't wreck things for you. If the first couple make you go, "Aaahh... I didn't realize that," then I'd think you may want to ponder this as some people may want to see the diploma plus the letters for the minors if you do go for completing all four sets of requirements.


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