Which elite or semi-elite colleges can you apply to with the intent of double-majoring? I’m thinking that maybe double-majoring in pol sci and econ might be something that I’d like to do, but since all of my extracurriculars fall into either one or the other, I think it would help my application stand out a bit since I show interest in both.
University of Rochester. Open curriculum makes it pretty easy to double major.
Consider applying to colleges with an available public policy major, a major that relies on the fields of political science and economics, as well as on philosophy, for its foundation.
Rochester does require a major, minor, or 3-course cluster in each of science, social science, and humanities. Since political science and economics are both social science, they do not automatically help fulfill the divisional general education requirements any more than one of those majors would (unlike, for example, a double major of physics and English literature that would cover both science and humanities, leaving only social science as a needed general education requirement).
It does look like Rochester political science requires 12 courses, and economics requires 11 courses + 2 allied field courses which can be political science (i.e. overlap), so that makes up 25 courses for the majors. Add 6 courses for science and humanities general education to get 31 courses needed. A typical student there needs 32 courses to meet graduation requirements, so the double major can be made to fit if you schedule carefully.
I don’t think that there are any the you apply as a double major. Just pick one if they ask for your an intention. They are two easy majors to switch between. The boy thing to keep in mind is the math requirements for Econ. Some schools have already combined programs like PPE or Political Economy.
- Check that having more than one major is allowed at the college in question. For example, Princeton does not allow students to have more than one major.
- Check the volume of requirements for each major and the volume of general education requirements for the school. Add them together, subtracting overlapping requirements (e.g. political science or economics courses that can fulfill social science general education requirements) and requirements that can be fulfilled by AP credit accepted by the school, to see if the double major would fit into the usual number of courses or credits in 8 semesters (or 12 quarters) at the school.
Political science + economics is probably doable at many schools if the non-overlapping general education requirements are not voluminous.
Princeton is one of the schools with a Political Economy major.
Doubtful. Most of the elite colleges do not care which liberal arts major you select. There are some exceptions, especially outside of colleges of arts & sciences (e.g. BME at JHU), but generally your major is scarcely considered at the Ivies and comparable schools. The admissions officers are well aware that many students wind up changing their minds, often more than once.
In any case, selecting an extremely popular major like poli sci or econ is particularly unlikely to have any effect on your applications.
Northwestern is on a quarter system and touts the ability to easily double or triple major.
Carnegie Mellon offers many opportunities for combining unusual majors.