Author Topic: Double major?  (Read 2381 times)

Offline Colin Michael

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Double major?
« on: June 05, 2009, 01:32:47 PM »
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Has anyone on here had any experience with double majoring? I'm thinking of double majoring in philosophy and psychology. Is something like this doable in four years?
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The Schaef

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Re: Double major?
« Reply #1 on: June 05, 2009, 01:36:10 PM »
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What would be the end career goal from acquiring either/both of these degrees?

Offline Korunks

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Re: Double major?
« Reply #2 on: June 05, 2009, 01:42:04 PM »
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I tried Double Majoring in college and it was very hard.  I ended having to drop down to a single major to graduate.  But I believe it is Possible in 4 years if you plan well from the start.  I had 2 years in school, left for a few years, then came back and tried to double major.  Don't ever do that!  With the help of a skilled School Counselor you should have less problems, still tons of work but possible.  As to whether you "should" do it, I will leave that up to you to evaluate your own goals and desires for Higher Education.  Mine wouldn't have helped me much at all.  Originally Music/CompSci, graduated CompSci. ;)
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Offline Colin Michael

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Re: Double major?
« Reply #3 on: June 05, 2009, 01:51:27 PM »
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What would be the end career goal from acquiring either/both of these degrees?
Well, there are a lot of options with both.
1) I can get into a graduate program easier with two majors.
2) It looks better for getting into law school (if I decided to do that).
3) I could become a therapist of some kind after more schooling.
4) I can do graduate studies in the fields of language theory and analytical/theoretical psychology, plus the philosophical studies that I love.
5) I could become a professor of either/both.

Suffice to say, academics or law are essentially the only options with a philosophy degree; academics or psychiatry with the other.
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Offline TechnoEthicist

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Re: Double major?
« Reply #4 on: June 05, 2009, 01:55:58 PM »
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Both have overlap, so that helps. As opposed to my Psy/Comp Sci I started with and ended as a Comp Sci/Business Admin minor, which if I would do all over again would have probably stayed Psy and Comp Sci, but eh, that's what grad school's for :P. But the extra stat classes would have been nice...I would look at the major but either should be easy enough to minor in...

The Schaef

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Re: Double major?
« Reply #5 on: June 05, 2009, 01:59:10 PM »
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That's about what I figured.  About the only thing you can do with a philosophy degree is teach philosophy; it seems circular in nature.

Another option you have is to major in the one with the best career option for you, and take classes of interest to you in the other field.  A bit less financially efficient but based on the ideal that college is for learning and not for taking the shortest distance between two points.

Offline Colin Michael

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Re: Double major?
« Reply #6 on: June 05, 2009, 02:02:37 PM »
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A big thing too is that I'm not really interested in clinical psychology, so if there's a lot of classes I'd have to take with a major that I don't really care about (i.e. anything non-theoretical), I'd probably drop it to just a minor (in which case I'd probably double minor, adding in either some kind of theology or a language).

That's about what I figured.  About the only thing you can do with a philosophy degree is teach philosophy; it seems circular in nature.

Another option you have is to major in the one with the best career option for you, and take classes of interest to you in the other field.  A bit less financially efficient but based on the ideal that college is for learning and not for taking the shortest distance between two points.
Well, I mean, being a professor of philosophy is actually my first choice, career-wise. Being a high school English teacher was another interest of mine, but I couldn't do the English major thing.
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Offline sk

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Re: Double major?
« Reply #7 on: June 05, 2009, 02:10:17 PM »
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What is the advantage to double majoring that having a minor can't get you?  You should end up with two BA/BS degrees either way, right?

Also note that doing a double major may throw another several semesters into your BA/BS degree.  My major itself is 51 units (once 69 GE units factored in, I didn't even have room for a minor), so taking two 51-unit majors would add nearly 2 more years.  (I'm guessing that your majors wouldn't be as full, since they mix better with other subjects than film, but they would likely be at least 40 or so.)  Also, check to see if this would disqualify one from the BS level degree... I know there's a limit of units on the AA degree.

I have a friend that is double majoring, but he is going math + comp sci (as well as a double minor in engineering and something physics-y), so there is a lot of class overlap that is simplifying things.  He is, however, planning to spend 12-15 full time semesters (5-6+ years) to get this, though.
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Offline TimMierz

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Re: Double major?
« Reply #8 on: June 05, 2009, 02:13:50 PM »
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I double-majored in Computer Science and Philosophy. In our school, Philosophy encompassed a wide variety of classes, from what most people would traditionally consider "philosophy" to areas like linguistics and logic (all of which I had and have great interest in), so it was easy to take classes I enjoyed while still furthering the degree. The School of Computer Science at CMU requires all students to do at least a minor in conjunction with their CS studies, and so I just went for the most interesting route rather than one that might be more "practical."

That said, I'm planning on going back to school in the relatively near future, hoping to go into CMU's Human-Computer Interaction program, getting to mix both my degrees and perhaps even accomplish something with my life.
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Offline Captain Kirk

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Re: Double major?
« Reply #9 on: June 05, 2009, 02:22:25 PM »
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Colin,
I am currently double-majoring in Business Administration and Marketing, and am graduating in 3 1/2 years.  However, many of the requirements for both of the degrees overlap as they are in the same division of classes, so that is not as difficult as it would be to double-major in degrees within different divisions.

And Scott,
Some schools, such as mine, do not award a BA/BS for a minor.

Kirk
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Offline sk

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Re: Double major?
« Reply #10 on: June 05, 2009, 02:24:19 PM »
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Oh, didn't realize that.  This thread makes a lot more sense now.
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