4.3 Gpa? - Page 2

Antiquark · 04-24-2008, 01:06 PM

I agree that Ma/CS is probably the easiest technical double major pair, since neither major has a lot of requirements and there's significant overlap. I've known a few people who graduated with this successfully. Bio/Chem may be possible for some, since they both require Ch 41 and there are a lot of shared Bi/Ch courses.

Some combos people graduated with in the last few years: ChemE + ACM (applied and computational mathematics), 2x(Ma + CS), 3x(Bio + Chem), EE + Physics, Bio + Ma, Bio + E&AS (engineering and applied science)

A lot of people had a humanities or social science major in addition to their technical one, particularly economics or business. History, English, philosophy, HPS (history and philosophy of science), and social science were pretty popular too. Also, control and dynamical systems minors are very common, particularly amongst engineering majors.

Double majoring in technical subjects is not recommended. If you really want to do it, please have a good reason for doing so. Double majoring because you think you can or to make people think you're smart are not good reasons*. Chances are, if you have extra interest in a field other than the one you are majoring in, it can be satisfied by a few extra courses. That way, you don't have to waste time taking less interesting courses so you can get a second major. For example, if you're interested in physical chemistry, majoring in chemistry and taking Ph 12, Ph 125 + additional interesting Ph/Ch electives is going to be much better than double majoring in physics and chemistry (assuming you could even accomplish this anyway.)

*Seriously, prefrosh, you're not double majoring in chemical engineering and astrophysics or math and physics.

RacinReaver · 04-24-2008, 01:20 PM

Quote:

Chances are, if you have extra interest in a field other than the one you are majoring in, it can be satisfied by a few extra courses. That way, you don't have to waste time taking less interesting courses so you can get a second major.

I can't even stress how true this is. I did a physics minor in my undergrad and was able to take exactly the courses I was interested in and not one class more. I had no interest in taking higher-level E&M courses, astrophysics, or any junk like that. I just wanted my quantum, extra thermodynamics, and solid state classes. A friend of mine did the physics double, and there's only one real class they could say was worthwhile having taken. Undergrad major was in Materials Science & Engineering, if that matters.

*Brahmin · 04-24-2008, 10:36 PM

are aerospace engineering and computer science available as minors in Caltech?

Antiquark · 04-24-2008, 11:28 PM

Aerospace is offered as a minor. CS is not, but all undergrads are strongly encouraged to take CS classes. If you're interested in programming, CS 1 + CS 2 + 3x(CS 11) will give you a good programming background from the ground up. If you're interested in the more theoretical side of CS, CS 1 + Ma/CS 6 + CS 21 + CS 24 + CS 38 (whatever you have room for) will prepare you for most of the graduate level courses.