Re: Dual majors?
 

I believe my school (Syracuse University, http://www.syr.edu) offers such an option. Pretty much they'll let you major in anything you want as long as you pay for all of the credits... and unfortunately, the engineering core usually has way different requirements than any business core.

I am currently a dual major between Computer Science (Eng. and Comp. Sci. college) and History (Arts & Sci.) - but I believe that you can cross between as many as you want if you talk to people in the appropriate dean's offices.

Re: Dual majors?
 

Not entirely true: If you manage your time well (e.g. do homework between classes, don't procrastinate papers) and you make friends in your classes you can spend tons of time with friends and have a lot of fun with two majors. I'm currently taking an extended major and a minor (1.5+.5=2ish?), and I'm loving college so far.

Don't tripple major though. That's insane. One of my friends is tripple majoring in Comm, Journalism, and Electronic Media. She took 24 hours this semester and will be doing the same each semester until she graduates. Doesn't sound fun, does it?

Anyway, I can tell you that Northern Arizona University doesn't have much of a connection between the engineering school and business school. ASU however has everything, so if you like the heat, you're welcome to come out to our oven.

Re: Dual majors?
 

Yes, I suppose it would be in my best interest if I did not overload my schedule with two majors - especially because I want to continue FIRST through mentorship :rolleyes: .

I appreciate all of the first-hand college accounts - it's great to have a heads-up on how crammed college can get. Also, knowing which programs do offer dual majors helps as well.

I guess I wanted to dual major in these two fields just because I have such an affinity to both manage and work as an aerospace design engineer. I do not think I could live without one or the other - so I'm glad to hear that I can accomplish both my goals by getting a major in engineering and an MBA.

Re: Dual majors?
 

Like I said, the "toughness" of double or triple majoring depends on what you did during high school. Me, my high school schedule was "insane," so my college one won't have to be (oddly enough, compared with my senior year, a triple major should be a breeze!). Haven taken 9 AP tests plus dual enrollment, I'll be starting out in Diff EQ, advanced comp. sci. classes, adv. spanish classes, etc. I can get by with only the typical 15-18 credit hours of an engineering schedule. Maybe one summer session just to take care of time conflicts. Overall, it's just a matter of time management and going in with the right amount of credits, and pretty much anything is possible. Of course, it helps that comp. sci. and math go hand in hand and that spanish is a light major compared to some others.

Re: Dual majors?
 

As a heads up, which I think every college student on these boards will echo... but no matter how fantastic your high school was... it's nothing compared to college. Period.

Hard work and good time management skills are great assets, but they're not going to make it so you won't have to work hard, or even work significantly less. I myself came into college with nearly 32 credits... thinking things wouldn't be so bad.

The AP classes in high school just replace the easy, introductory classes in college where a lot of help is provided for freshman. What makes college what it is, is the projects that require 80 hours of group work, not the 4 hours of calc homework you do each week. I too took Diff Eq as a freshman, and it was a big reality check for me. Instead of getting the whole college environment gradually set in, you're set up in classes with a lot of non-freshman who know a lot of the tricks of the trade, and you're behind the eight ball sometimes... be ready, and good luck!

Matt

Re: Dual majors?
 

Yeah, high school by no means is a measure of college. Add in the whole new trying to figure things out your freshman year and throwing yourself into an intensive schedule and your putting yourself in a not great place. Coming back from winter break my floor lost around 10 guys and most were in engineering curriculum (like the math and science). That is how I got my own room.

Re: Dual majors?
 

I transferred in about half that number of APs, and overloaded my schedule the first three years in University. I'd have to say my highschool prepared me extremely well, and I'm probably the exception in saying my 4 years of university were less difficult than my 4 years of highschool, but that isn't to say I disagree with what you're saying.

Especially the last paragraph in "getting the whole college environment gradually set in" as opposed to baptism by fire and being left behind.

If you're an overachiever, like most FIRST students are, there is a fair amount of potential to get burned by this. Believe it or not, my solution was to join a fraternity. I had no intention of doing so initially, but I scoped out greek life, and found the fraternity that worked the hardest, and got the best grades... and they also happend to be the fraternity that partied the hardest too, so it was a match made in heaven =).

As a Freshman, I was in mostly sophmore classes, as a sophomore, I was in junior and senior level classes. I always had upperclassmen fraternity brothers in all my classes to help me along the way - it was great because I don't think I could've even MET upperclassmen students while living in the dorms, let alone become good enough friends that I could depend on them and vice-versa.

Being the lone freshmen in a sophmore class SUCKS, especially when everyone knows each other already, and you get stuck with the dregs in the form of a craptacular lab-partner. But, I was never stuck with a weak lab partner, or with terrible group members since a fraternity brother was always there. Nor were there any classes or professors that a fraternity brother hadn't already seen before. There were no surprises... ever :p .

It seems a little backwards, but the fraternity really made it possible to be an academic over-achiever at my university. It's like having the deck stacked in your favour of being guaranteed the smartest lab partners and groups, no matter how far ahead in the field you are. Find yourself in a 200, 300 or 400 level class as a freshmen? No problem... I guess just as long as you pick the right fraternity =).