Double major in math/physics + minor in political science -- viable?

collegemom3717
Fri, 09 Mar 2018 13:46:14 +0000

1. Physics/math double major: at many colleges you pretty much get a math minor as part of a physics major; bumping it to a double major doesn’t necessarily take that much extra- but obviously it is a heavy course load. Look at the specifics for the colleges that you are interested in.

2. Minors: one of the things about minors that students often don’t realize is how rarely they matter to anybody bur the student- and how much you might give up to get it. As you say your purpose is the love of the material, imo you are better off structuring your double major (which will be intense), and then cherry pick specific classes that are interesting to you, rather than having to take set classes to meet an artificial designation. Given your reading list so far, I would expect you to find really interesting classes in the philosophy / english / history / econ departments, as well as polisci. You also want to leave room for that random class that has the amazing don’t-miss professor.

3. Grad schools: start looking for summer internships in the autumn of your first year (deadlines are often as early as Dec / Jan. Start in the math & physics departments at your college, and the REU and (on the math side) NSA websites.