<p>Hi I was just wondering if I would be able to do a simultaneous major with math and art at berkeley- I know it’s a weird combo but art is my passion and I think if I don’t do it in college it will not develop and will go away. I know math is extremely rigorous at berkeley but I’m also interested in that. Would a simultaneous major be too hard? Anyone know of anyone that’s done it with two odd majors? Plus would they even allow that? </p>
<p>Thanks for the help</p>
<p>hi nobodycares,
i know someone who did a mcb/art history combo, which is unusual but makes for an interesting pairing. you definitely get a broad view of things when you study two distinct fields. certainly one rigorous major may take up considerable amounts of your time, so as you begin your freshman year you should sort of gradually take math in combo with art and gauge your performance in the two while you take them simultaneously. then you’ll know if you manage both well. both majors are in the college of letters/sciences and yes it is allowable. you wouldn’t have to worry about cross-school majors in this case. good luck man :D</p>
<p>Usually freshmen come in with these big ideas of double majoring in this and that with x number of minors, but after they have experienced college academics for a semester their plans usually change. So wait until you arrive on campus and then decide.</p>
<p>hey thanks guys for the input…anyone else have any input?</p>
<p>also i ahve a question about the cross-school majors because are math and art really w/in the same school? i see they are w/in the college of letters and science but i don’t see anything there that’s not in that category… any more clarification on whether this really is within the same school?</p>
<p>Math and art are both in the College of Letters & Science (L&S). There are other colleges and schools at Cal, some of which are graduate only. The Undergraduate colleges and schools at Cal are the College of Chemistry (CoC), College of Engineering (CoE), College of Natural Resources (CNR), College of Environmental Design and the Haas School of Business,</p>
<p>Some clarifications:</p>
<p>Math and art are both in L&S. Majoring in both will get you a single Bachelor of Arts (one diploma) with two majors attached to it. This is called a “double major”.</p>
<p>If you major in two subjects from different colleges (e.g. math from L&S and business administration from Haas), then you get two degrees (two diplomas): a BA in math and a BS in business. This is called a “simultaneous degree”.</p>
<p>You are looking at a double major right now. You only have to satisfy L&S college requirements once, but the upper div coursework can overlap in at most two courses (not that it matters in your case). With some careful planning, it is entirely doable, but you may want to take the classes first before you decide.</p>
<p>thanks guys-</p>
<p>that kinda makes me a little more at ease because i heard that simultaneous degrees require a little more convincing to the people that say yay or nay to that sort of stuff- iono maybe i just heard that and it’s not true. </p>
<p>i just figured that since math and art are so different that they’d be in separate schools- in general are they in the same school or is it a college-by-college thing? </p>
<p>if you go in undeclared is it harder to obtain a double-major status? and i hear if you double major then you pretty much just get left out of “exploring” other courses available. and what’s the difference in my first year courses if i go in undeclared vs. going in w/ a major and/or double major…sorry for all the questions…thanks for the help, though</p>
<p>Since you want to do Math and Art, you would be applying to L&S and it doesn’t matter what major you put on the application because L&S lumps all their applicants together and admits people that way. The major you put doesn’t matter because you need to complete the preqs for each major before you can declare that major.</p>
<p>The preqs for a major in Math are here:
<a href=“http://math.berkeley.edu/undergraduate_major_requirements.html[/url]”>http://math.berkeley.edu/undergraduate_major_requirements.html</a></p>
<p>The preqs for a minor in Math are here:
<a href=“http://math.berkeley.edu/undergraduate_minor.html[/url]”>http://math.berkeley.edu/undergraduate_minor.html</a></p>
<p>thank you golden bear and everyone else too-</p>
<p>so…for these preqs…i complete them by the end of my sophomore year and then i can declare the major? so i just have to make sure i take those classes along with the preqs for art and then that’s what i do before i declare the double major? what’s the difference then if someone is already “declared”?
maybe i’m confusing myself and maybe these are dumb questions but you guys are actually helping me a lot so thanks</p>
<p>They will let you sign onto a double (or even triple) major program with no questions asked as long as you show to them that you can take all the required courses and still graduate within 9 semesters. There are also certain GPA requirements (I think it’s 3.0 for simul, not sure for double). My experience of getting a simultaneous L&S/COE degree program approved consisted mainly of filling out a bunch of paperwork. COE did caution me that if I hadn’t made “normal progress” (taking somewhere around 15 units per semester during my entire time here), I would not be granted the 9th semester, but this wasn’t the case so they approved my application. The limit for simultanous/double majors in L&S is 136 post-secondary college units or 9 semesters.</p>
<p>If you are in L&S, you won’t be declaring your major until the second semester of sophomore year. The “undeclared” vs. “major-within-L&S” status is really meaningless: every underclassman in L&S is technically “undeclared”. The major you put on your college application is only an indication of preference and can easily be changed. When it comes time to declare your major, you will circle two majors instead of two and submit that form to two different departments.</p>
<p>During your first two years you will be taking the necessary prereqs needed to declare your major. (Check the general catalog for the requirements: <a href=“http://www.berkeley.edu/catalog[/url]”>About - University of California, Berkeley) If you are in L&S, then which set of prereqs you would like to fulfill is really up to you. Being “undeclared” just means you don’t know what you are majoring in and will explore before deciding. Some majors (e.g. economics) are impacted and require certain GPAs, but most are not and take anyone who declares. It helps to plan some courses out using an excel spreadsheet early on. </p>
<p>The vast majority of L&S majors seem to have only 8 or so required upper division courses, so people spend the rest of the time taking whatever they want to…if you double major, you will most likely fill the balance with the courses required for your other major. So, yes, double majoring will give you less flexibility in choosing your classes, but it’s not a bad thing to do if you like both subjects and want to gain a foundation in two different subjects.</p>
<p>thank you s1185!! </p>
<p>that realllllly helped. I didn’t know that the difference between undeclared and declared was minimal…</p>
<p>My mom really thinks I need a foundation in like everything instead of focusing majorly in two subjects but I don’t really care all that much…but if I were to take the preqs from math and art or any two for that matter does anyone know about how much flexibility I’d have to take anything else? And then for upper division are those solely classes on your majors or is there any flexiblity once u get to those courses? thanks again!</p>
<p>That would require -you- to look at the required courses for both math and art, and plan the courses out semester by semester.</p>
<p>Assuming you will be taking 4 courses per semester for 8 semesters = 32 courses. So 32 courses - (# of math courses required + # of art courses required) = # of “anything else” you can take.</p>