Dual degree in 4 years [mechanical engineering + philosophy or political science]

College Majors Engineering Majors
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Circling back to add Case Western to the list of schools that say you can double degree and still graduate in 4 years with good planning and incoming AP credits.

Also, someone mentioned Northwestern. Schools like NU that are on the quarter system typically lend themselves more to double majoring/dual degrees. Lots of west coast schools are on the quarter system. Just be aware that depending on the school, it may be difficult to get priority to register for classes for your second major although that is usually more of an issue when the second major is CS/AI/DS related.

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This needs extra emphasis. By diluting the depth of the engineering curriculum the student will look less attractive to the people assessing resumes when applying for a job. They will be a less qualified engineer for the other degree. There’s no way around that. They can only cram so many classes into the time they’re at university.

Then comes the why. If it’s simply because they find it interesting, fill the humanities requirements with some of those courses. The Philosophy of Space and Time was one of my son’s favorite non-engineering courses. Or, just self learn.

If the end goal is to be the most competitive engineering applicant, gunning for the elite positions, the deeper their education is and the more club, project and job experience they have, the more they’ll stand out.

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It looks like WPI has a minor in Religion and Philosophy and Religion (it’s one minor). When so few classes are offered (that’s it’s just a minor), one has to check the schedule to see if classes of interest are offered often enough. They don’t have Poli Sci but rather Policy Studies with a concentrations including Complex Systems Thinking, Development and the Environment, Econ, Pre-Law, and Science Technology Policy.

So OP would need to study the tracks and classes to see if the spin WPI puts on their major (likely tech infused) works for them.

UR says its possible but must be approved. On Reddit, someone discusses with engineering being the most difficult and like here asks about AP credit.

So I think it comes down to:

  1. Do you really mean double degree or just double major.

  2. Develop your school list - where do you want to be

  3. Investigate that school - including where APs fall and that will also depend on scores. If the student has 4s/5s only, it will open up more doors than if they bring 3s to the table as well - as some higher level schools might not take 3s but lots and lots do.

  4. Timing - what if they have to study over the summer and that causes an internship or two to be missed - more likely on a double degree than a double major

  5. Budget - not a topic here but it always drives a decision unless it’s unlimited

Just some things to think about.

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I’d just emphasize this really depends on several possible variables: how AP credits work, how the general curriculum works, and how many courses you need for the second major.

What could in theory be a variable, but isn’t usually in practice, is the course requirements for the engineering majors, because as others explained that is not much of a variable for engineering specifically.

And then in terms of favorable curriculums, again others already explained how Rochester’s sort of exploration-in-depth form of distributional requirements is helpful, intentionally in fact.

Another college with a similar curriculum structure is WashU. A bit more complicated in description, but the upshot is the same, between the two majors you will already be satisfying most of your graduation requirements, and it won’t be hard usually to do the rest. They also tend to be on the light side in terms of course requirements for their majors, and again that is intentional, they really like kids to be able to do multiple unrelated majors (FYI, my S24 at WashU declared two majors, Computational Biology and Classics).

OK, so that gives you an idea of what you can look for.

And finally, I agree the degree name you put on this second interest tends not to really matter. Like if you can do a certain number of credits that gets you to a minor but not a second major at your school, this is unlikely to really matter to your future. It is more about just knowing the curriculum won’t be forcing you to take a lot of classes you don’t really want to take.

ETA: By the way, to my knowledge almost all US engineering colleges still have some form of gen ed requirements, you cannot in fact do 100% of your courses in engineering. So that can’t possibly be the expectation for competitive engineering graduates in the US.

On the other hand, I understand doing the bare minimum to graduate sometimes might not be ideal, although I think here you can actually lean on the above point about engineering requirements. Like, ABET or such will not typically let you get a specific type of engineering degree without you taking a robust list of specific courses on top of the general engineering courses they require.

This is why it can be hard to actually do an engineering degree and a second full major and fulfill your gen eds all in four years . . . unless either you are using a lot of APs to cover gen eds, or the gen eds are designed such that a second full major could cover most of them. But I would not automatically assume it is impossible for you to do a competitive amount of engineering courses and do a second major IF at least one of those conditions is met.

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Dual degree means two degrees - B.S. + B.A, B.S. + B.Music, B.A. + B.Music, etc.

Double major means one degree with two majors.

Engineering major leads to B.S. while political science falls under B.A. B.S. degree requirements usually include heavier math credits, with additional core courses requirements for the major. B.A. degree requirements usually include more humanities credits, plus core courses requirements for the major.

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ABET doesn’t specify what general education courses a student must take, just that there’s a complementary component. Their institution will though, and they’ll cover a broad range of topics. In order to graduate, a student has to hit a minimum for both engineering and general education courses. Beyond that, there is generally space for electives. The student that uses their electives for technical coursework, rather than on classes unrelated, will be more competitive for most jobs over the one who doesn’t. The exception would be hiring an engineer for a non-technical job, like finance.

People hiring are looking for reasons to eliminate candidates. EVERYONE who applies meets the minimum. Doing other things like co-terminal MBAs and unrelated minors signals, rightly or not, that they aren’t as passionate about technical work.

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Maybe related to this - S22s English minor kept getting him called back to jobs that were less straight engineering, more project management. That was two of his summer internships and one of his other permanent offers - they told him that they were impressed with how well he communicated (unspoken was “for an engineer”). But given that he doesn’t want project management, those weren’t good fits for him.

So - unrelated minor may have led to fewer straight engineering looks, but it did lead to other interest, albeit not something he wanted.

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It probably varies from employer to employer, but at my S23’s employer, they hire directly from engineering teams like Formula SAE; they have recruiters look up team rosters and reach out to students directly. He says this is another reason not to overload your schedule with unrelated courses; you want enough time for projects.

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ABET requires that accredited engineering bachelor’s degree programs include some general education (note: Brown’s ABET accredited engineering majors have four humanities or social science courses in their major requirements to fulfill this ABET requirement).

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