<p>I’m planning on doing electrical engineering, and I went on a college tour at UConn. The guide there was doing a double major, and I asked him why he did it. He said that it doesn’t really add to your tuition and that it’s not that much harder because his 2 majors overlapped.</p>
<p>So, what are the pros and cons of a double major? What can you do with 2 undergrad degrees? If I decide to double up should I pick majors that are closely related?</p>
<p>Was the guide an engineering major? It’s rare for an engineering major to double major in something else as well because of all the required courses. Doing so will typically delay graduation.</p>
<p>I know at the school I’m about to go to a lot of students can double major in whatever they originally were gonna major in (electrical&computer, chemical, mechanical, etc) along with “engineering and public policy” or biomedical. Apparently those overlap with other base engineering majors at the school so you usually have to only take a few extra courses and electives. I imagine things like this are gonna vary from school to school so I’d ask the academic adviser there or look at the school catalog.</p>
<p>Is that school Carnegie Mellon? It’s somewhat different if the school almost “designs” it so you can double major in that. If I remember correctly, they already set up a recommended curriculum so you can be successful if you double major in engineering & public policy. From what I’ve seen, this is the exception rather than the rule.</p>
<p>^mmm, yeah and that’s true. There biomedical is kinda new so you can only double major I think and the engineering and public policy was something people were like “yeah, it’s easy”. But I think there might be other exceptions so the OP might just want to research and ask about it at colleges.</p>
<p>I’m double majoring with mechanical and computer engineering. Primary reason is that I’m interested in both. The other reason is that I feel they really widen future opportunities.</p>
<p>I had to decided if I wanted to do it over getting a masters in mechanical engineering… but dual won out. Does add a significant time to graduation though; masters would have added a year… dual adds almost 1.5-2 years. Not sure which may be better long term in the financial sense.</p>
<p>I do not see much financial benefit in double-majoring. If one gains employment in the areas where the two degrees overlap, then either degree would have been sufficient; if one gains employment in specialized areas of one degree that the other degree does not cover, then the specialized areas of the other degree are largely gone to “waste”. It’s obviously worse for degrees that have little to no overlap. A case could be made for certain degrees, mostly the closely related ones, that benefit each other but there must be a point where one experiences diminishing returns.</p>
<p>I’m more favorable to a major + minor situation where the minor is used to strengthen the major (e.g. a mechanical engineering degree + physics minor). It’s never a bad idea to add knowledge of the general area one will utilize the specialized knowledge gained in undergrad (e.g. an engineer that takes some business classes). In a financial sense, this is more beneficial, I would imagine.</p>
<p>On the other hand, if one is interested in another major for intellectual reasons, then one may knock her/himself out.</p>
<p>I was very surprised at the number of double majors at graduation at Penn State. Usually engineering major and a science or computer major. In sons case an EE and a physics major nicely complimented each other. If he did not go to grad school the EE degree would have improved his salary (and secured him a job) by about $15,000 over the physics degree.</p>
<p>About the only reason you should bother double majoring, if you’re getting one engineering degree already, is because you are truly interested in the material of the second major.</p>
<p>I read a study on double majoring last night. Adding a second engineering degree typically adds over 10% pay increase but it seems to be variable on the individual degrees; some more than 10% and some less. The study it mentioned a typical single masters added 16% over a singles bachelors. Also I don’t remember if these are starting salaries or long term.</p>
<p>Adding a carefully selected degree does seem to increase pay quite a bit though and im guessing that if done well could be comparable to typical masters in respect to salary. </p>
<p>I think the pitfalls that enginox was talking about still apply though. Doing something like adding an aero degree to a petrol degree isnt going to do a whole lot with respect to salary since they don’t add a whole lot that is relevant to each other. Like wise adding two engineering degrees that are close to each-other wont add a lot either because the skill sets are close to same. </p>
<p>The study mentioned that adding a business degree to engineering increases pay (but I dont remember by how much) and that adding a arts/social degree to engineering does typically 0 for pay.</p>
<p>Engineering + Business or just Engineering? If you are going into in engineering I doubt it. If you are going into Business, probably.</p>
<p>Double Major? Do it only if a) you aren’t sure what you want to do when you graduate or a) you like to. Other than that, your first job will determine the rest of your career, and you will learn to acquire the knowledge you need as you go.</p>
<p>I was initially considering an Electrical engineering and a computer sci double major. EE being my main goal and comp sci as reinforcement… But I’m also thinking about the financial benefits.</p>
<p>When employers see a Bachelors are they satisfied or are they like “Ughh not another one.”?
Would a D.M help graduate school?</p>