How hard is it to double major?

CarnegieMellonU
Mon, 11 Nov 2013 02:49:08 +0000

I think you’re asking two separate questions here. Let’s take a step back.

How hard is it to double major? Not hard at all. Double majoring is extremely common. With CMU’s generous AP policy, it’s pretty easy to have room to take multiple majors and still take normal courseloads. Generally you just have less space for totally free electives and more restriction on having to fulfill specific requirements.

Now, doubling in ECE and CS is a whole different question. CS and ECE classes at CMU are very hard, and the major requirements are actually very different. So while you’ll still only have to take a “normal” load of about 5 courses per semester, you’re going to be taking twice as many hard CS/ECE classes as you would otherwise have to. And the difference between a hard CS/ECE class and a non CS/ECE class is pretty big. Do people do it anyway? Absolutely. But for a school entirely made up of overachievers, you’re taking only the kids who really feel a need to overachieve in their overachieving to pull that one.

You can do it and sleep and have a social life too. I mean, contrary to what people tell you, Carnegie Mellon doesn’t demand 120 hours a week even with the toughest of schedules. But if you do go about that plan at a certain point you’ll wonder why it is you condemned yourself to work so hard when you could have just picked one major and had just as many job prospects.