somebody's bound to say something stupid to me but i was wondering how people get two majors in 4 years? i don't mean double-majoring in one thing. (ex. biochemistry and something else)

1/8/2008 1:27:00 AM

it depends on just what you're majors are in--something like electrical and computer engineering is really easy, chemistry and sociology would be pretty hard

[Edited on January 8, 2008 at 1:41 AM. Reason : &]

1/8/2008 1:38:51 AM

It's called taking 19+ hours and summer session.

My wife got 2 degrees in 3.5 years.

1/8/2008 2:10:43 AM

damn^ haha. i guess i'll ask my adviser for details, it was just an idea

1/8/2008 2:36:20 AM

Easy to do in 4 or 4.5 years if the fields are similar and you don't mind doing summer classes for 3 or 4 of the summers.

All your electives you will take for your primary major will be used to satisfy things for the second degree.

1/8/2008 2:48:03 AM

I'm getting two degrees in 3 years since I transferred in from community college. I came in with 30 credits. My majors are Psychology and Chemistry and I only declared Chemistry at the end of last spring. It depends how good you are at planning your courses and how similar the majors are. I have some friends in the Psych dept. that are majoring in 4 disciplines and will finish in 4 years.

1/8/2008 8:24:23 AM

Separate Chemical Engineering and English degrees are taking me 5 years, even with about 30 hours of prerequisites coming in.

[Edited on January 8, 2008 at 7:50 PM. Reason : If the majors are really far apart, forget about doing it in four years.]

1/8/2008 7:49:46 PM

I know of someone that got three degrees Zoology, Fisheries and Wildlife and Botany in 5 years. So it is possible but very challenging

1/8/2008 10:40:12 PM

i did chemical engineering and chemistry in 4.5 years. i would have finished in 4 years had my chemE senior design course not conflict with a chemistry course...but thats another story

your general electives will fulfill requirements for both degrees. proper planning is important too (meet with both advisors). having majors that have as many courses as possible overlap helps (like mine). but i also had to take summer courses pretty much every year. one thing to note is that if you go the summer school route you will be limited on doing an internship, which to alot of companies/grad schools is just as important as your degree(s).

[Edited on January 8, 2008 at 11:23 PM. Reason : .]

1/8/2008 11:21:52 PM

Keep in mind that degrees and majors are not the same thing. Some people don't realize this so keep that that in mind when they're telling you how many degrees or majors they're finishing in x amount of time.

You can get either a B.S. or a B.A. The type of degree doesn't necessarily correspond with the content of the major but rather how focused your courses are. So, having a B.A. or B.S. with 2 majors (perhaps what you meant by "double-majoring in one thing") is not the same as having say a B.S. in Comp. Science and a B.A. or B.S. in History.

A double major should involve less hours than a double degree. Accordingly, for a double major you'll typically only receive one diploma. Where as with two degrees you'll receive two diplomas.

Like people have said, if it's a double major and the curriculum for one matches up with the GERs of the other fairly well it can be done with summer classes and a few semesters with heavy loads. More for 2 degrees.

Some of the examples in this thread represent two separate degrees while others are more likely for multiple majors.

And some people are misrepresenting themselves (perhaps just a mental lapse and not intentionally).

Quote :

"I'm getting two degrees in 3 years since I transferred in from community college. I came in with 30 credits."

30hrs is an avg. academic year. assuming those 30hrs are counting toward your programs and not just free electives then you're getting 2 degrees in 4 years of school. Where you went to school and how time was split up between schools doesn't change how long it takes you to earn the credits needed to finish.

1/9/2008 12:56:28 AM

^ I purposely added how many credits I came in with so that folks could see that even if they are transfer students, it can be done in 4 years total. It wasn't a mental lapse, just sharing my personal experience because there are thousands of transfer students out there....

1/9/2008 6:58:49 AM

I took 5 years (b/c i had a great time in college), but I got a degree in Biological Sciences, Business Management (finance concentration), and a Spanish Minor. I also wasted 1.5 years starting off in Biomedical engineering. I took 16-18 hours per semester all 5 years, and studied abroad 1 summer, plus i had 39 hours coming into college.

1/9/2008 1:43:45 PM

^^ I didn't realize you were using "since" to refer to time and not cause. I apologize.

1/9/2008 6:04:58 PM

I'm confused.

I majored in biology and biochemistry. I got 2 pieces of paper in the mail, each saying I'd majored for each. Soooo what does that mean, according to duro#s?

1/10/2008 2:03:48 PM

Quote :

"Separate Chemical Engineering and English degrees are taking me 5 years, even with about 30 hours of prerequisites coming in."

I can't imagine how you do this.....English and Chem E must be killer

1/10/2008 2:06:47 PM

^^ I showed Duro's post to one of my advisors and he was unable to agree with most of what that post said. Because I was confused by it too! Degrees and Majors are synonymous in terms of receiving a degree--defined as: a physical sheet of paper. So in short: I'm getting two B.A's one in Psychology and one in Chemistry which means I have two majors, two degrees, and two sheets of paper. This was the information I most recently received from a faculty member.

[Edited on January 10, 2008 at 2:46 PM. Reason : add]

1/10/2008 2:45:10 PM

Quote :

"...two B.A's one in Psychology and one in Chemistry which means I have two majors, two degrees, and two sheets of paper..."

This is true. I'm not sure whatduro982 is going on about.

1/10/2008 4:07:17 PM

ehh... i've had some advisors who were good and some who didn't know shit about university policy, who to contact about what, etc.. So just because an advisor said it doesn't make me believe it. I wouldn't believe it just because I said it either. I'll see if I can find something more official.

Here is a little about rutgers policy (like 2 down on google search of dual degrees vs double major). My understanding is this is standard. I'll see if I can find something from ncsu.
http://www.engr.rutgers.edu/oaa/declaration.php

http://www.ncsu.edu/uap/hat/current/ch06/07.html

the wording suggests that they are 2 different things. There is a phone number to call to find out the differences.

from: http://www.ncsu.edu/policies/academic_affairs/academic_progress/REG02.05.2.php

Quote :

"5. Students may take more than eight semesters to complete an undergraduate program at NCSU. In some cases this is the result of effective decision-making on the part of the student for such things as: 5.1. participation in cooperative education or study abroad programs, 5.2. a decision to be a part-time student with a reduced course load for reasons of health, necessary outside employment, or parental responsibilities, or 5.3. attempting dual degrees, double majors, or minors."

Interesting that they would be separated with a comma as opposed to say a slash or parenthesis. Which you may expect if they were 2 names for the same thing.

Perhaps I was slightly off in my definitions, or maybe universities handle these differently... I don't know. Maybe at some universities you get 1 diploma for each major, people I know did not get 1 piece of paper for each major, it's just listed on their transcript. But there is definitely a difference between Double Majors and dual degrees.

[Edited on January 10, 2008 at 4:57 PM. Reason : .]

1/10/2008 4:38:04 PM

^ I still don't get what your going on about. As for Rutgers, I don't really care to read/see what they are doing because Rutgers policy isn't NCSU policy and I'm an NCSU student. The link that you provided for NCSU doesn't mention anything about not getting two sheets of paper--- all it really says is that you can choose to major in two disciplines in a somewhat redundant way.

It really boggles me how you can read so deeply into this and make unsubstantiated claims about receiving physical diplomas. You're confusing us! Degrees/majors/dual or whatever the case may be you still receive a physical diploma for each degree earned.

As I said earlier, I confirmed this based on the information provided by one of my advisors. I would not post information from a mis-trusted advisor whom you suspect to be plagued with ignorance of university policy. Rest assured.

1/10/2008 5:51:30 PM

you realize that you can get a combined MS/BS...

[Edited on January 10, 2008 at 8:04 PM. Reason : or MEng]

1/10/2008 8:02:36 PM

Here at NC State? I know other universities offer programs where you earn two degrees upon completions, such as a combined B.S/M.S programs. In fact I have a friend who just finished one at ECU but she still got two physical diplomas

1/10/2008 8:19:30 PM

yeah, my former roommate got a BS and a MEng together in 5 years--although the comment was principally directed at el duro

[Edited on January 10, 2008 at 9:05 PM. Reason : e.g. dual degrees as opposed to a double major]

1/10/2008 9:00:08 PM

dual degrees and double majors are two different things.

dual degrees would mean you are in one program but receive two degrees. like when you earn a BS and an MS at the same time.

double majors are two degrees in different fields - BS in Chemistry and BA in English - heck we have people with 3rd, 4th, and 5th majors.

we also have thing such as joint degrees (meaning a student graduates from two institutions at once) like NCSU and UNC-CH or UNC-G.

if you have questions about your specific situation, feel free to e-mail me

mailto:nicole_wood@ncsu.edu, Assistant Registrar

[Edited on January 10, 2008 at 9:35 PM. Reason : :]

1/10/2008 9:34:24 PM

^ was not there when I first hit reply. This took a minute, i'm not erasing. I will say upfront that what firegrl23 says does not entirely mesh with what I was suggesting. If she is right, and her info. is usually good, then some of what I said is correct and some is incorrect.

Comparing that to what other universities do it may be that NCSU doesn't have what others call a double major but rather call what others refer to as a double degree as a double major.

/edit

Very long, but nobody is making you read it.
^^^

the purpose of the rutgers link, was A)It was relevant, I found it very fast, posted it and continued to search and B) to show that this difference between 2 majors and 2 degrees as reported by anothe university because I couldn't find it on the NCSU site.

At other schools, they specifically state that you will only receive one diploma if you have a double major where as you will receive 2 diplomas for 2 degrees (VT, U of Wash., Mich. St., N. eastern, UNC, etc.). I only looked at about 10 and then I got bored of reading the same thing over and over. Let me know if anyone wants links.

Once again this may vary. I only looked at about 10, which is by no means exhaustive. I just point it out because if several other major universities do this then it's reasonable to think others may as well.

For some reason, NCSU either does not state their policy for this or I can't find it. So far I have only found something saying that you must turn in an "Application for Degree card" (blue card), also referred to as a "Diploma Request card", or "Graduation Card" throughout the NCSU site, for each degree you're receiving.

Diploma does not equal degree or major. So perhaps at NCSU you receive a diploma for each major, but you really only have one degree. I don't know because I can't find NCSU's official policy. And as far as I know a diploma is not really that official so it may be that NCSU does it differently than others or allow each college do it how they want.

Quote :

"It really boggles me how you can read so deeply into this and make unsubstantiated claims about receiving physical diplomas."

The other links I posted suggest that dual degrees and double majors are two different things. On this note, nobody here has shown evidence that 1 diploma (piece of paper) is received for each major as opposed to degree. People have claimed this in reference to themselves and people they know, but I have done the same in regards to it not being true.

In regards to the people claiming they received 1 piece of paper for each major in their double major perhaps they were actually in a 2/double/dual degree program which was referred to as a double major for some reason. Perhaps the naming convention isn't standard among colleges, schools, departments, etc... I don't know. Perhaps NCSU defines double major differently than other universities, if I found something official I'd have a better idea.


My intent wasn't to argue or disagree with people for the sake of doing so. I stated what I thought to be true. People claimed I wasn't correct. I acknowledged I may not be entirely correct and then tried to show that at least some of what I said was true.

No one here has shown something to demonstrate that anything (not even what I'm admitting may be wrong) is incorrect.

I've shown that there is something referred to as a "double major" and something separate which is referred to as a "double or dual degree". It would be odd to mention these separately in the same sentence (which NCSU's site does) if they were not two different things.

aaprior

Quote :

"I would not post information from a mis-trusted advisor whom you suspect to be plagued with ignorance of university policy. Rest assured. "

I don't know you, I have no idea what you would do, claim, post, etc.. Just as you don't know me and I hope you wouldn't make any assumptions about me or take my word because I put it on the internet. I made no assumptions about you, neither that you would do something considered negative nor that you would do something considered good (ex. not posting info. from a mis-trusted advisor/source).

But now that you've assured me, from here on out I'll keep that in mind while reading what you have to say. (I just ask that if I do find an official NCSU source suggesting that you don’t get a diploma for each major but rather each degree that you begin to mistrust your advisor and take it up with him or her).

I also don't know your advisor and never claimed s/he was ignorant. I just said that advisors have been known to be wrong in the past and that I wouldn't take their word as fact without looking into it on my own. What I do know is that there have been advisors who I've listened to, they seemed to know their shit based on previous encounters, but have misinformed me, friends, classmates, etc..
There were times these people admitted they didn't know out of the gate, there were times the person thought they knew and were wrong (honest mistake), and there were probably times they said something without base or on a hunch. There are few people who's word I take on merit, and even then it's only in specific areas which I know them to be very knowledgeable.

This is the only post i've "(gone) on about" anything. My first post was meant to inform the original poster that there is a difference between double majoring and getting 2 degrees and that the amount of work needed for 2 majors compared to 2 degrees differs.

The part about how many pieces of paper one receives was secondary, and even in that post I used the word "typically" to suggest that it may not always be the case that there is 1 piece of paper for each degree as opposed to major. And the original poster didn't ask specifically about NCSU, so I don't care if anyone wasn't interested in what the policy appears to be at most other universities. The original poster may have been.

My second post was apologizing to you for misinterpreting what you had said.

My third post was meant to provide some support for my claim that the 2 are different because I wasn’t certain if people were refuting my claim that a double major and 2 degrees are different or that you only get 1 diploma for each degree and not each major. I’m still not sure which of these people don’t believe. Although, I’ve shown NCSU pages which suggest a double major and 2 degrees are different, so that really shouldn’t be in question at this point.

This, my fourth post, is me REALLY going on about how I'm the only person who has even attempted to support a claim and how your claims are only substantiated by an advisor whom may or may not be correct where as I'm posting links to university websites (including NCSU).

Quote :

"Degrees/majors/dual or whatever the case may be you still receive a physical diploma for each degree earned."

Right, for each degree you get a diploma. I said this in my original post. But what you’re missing is that major does not equal degree. To clarify what I mean. Many universities define a double major as you being in a program and taking all of the courses required for say a B.S. in that major but at the same time taking all of the core courses for a separate major and perhaps other required courses for that major.

Where as a dual degree would be completing the entire program for each major and in turn receiving two B.A.s, two B.S.s or one of each.

Quote :

"n fact I have a friend who just finished one at ECU but she still got two physical diplomas "

2 degrees = 2 diplomas. Each diploma represents one degree. If your profile is right and you earn a B.S. and a B.A. you will get 2 diplomas, one for each degree. I believe even if the B.A. was also a B.S. you would still get 2 diplomas as long as you did the full degree program.

I will continue to search for the official NCSU policy and if I find it I will be glad to share it, no matter how right or wrong I am.

[Edited on January 10, 2008 at 10:18 PM. Reason : firegrl's post]

1/10/2008 10:11:29 PM

^how long did it take to write that?

1/11/2008 4:07:32 PM

haha, inorite--you're giving 392 a run for his money

1/11/2008 8:37:08 PM

^^^Longest post EVER.

1/11/2008 9:14:49 PM

yeah, I got a little carried away. I realized this, but at that point it was either erase all or hit post.

1/11/2008 9:50:21 PM

I had 3 in a 4.5

BLS, SBO, SZO

[Edited on January 12, 2008 at 2:36 PM. Reason : ]

1/12/2008 2:35:37 PM

A lot of majors overlap....ex. EE, and Computer Engineering, ME, AE...etc.

and summer classes are a must.

1/13/2008 12:00:06 AM

^^^^^^ being an Assistant Registrar in the dept of Reg & Rec usually helps my information be a bit more accurate than what is floating around on t-dub.

1/13/2008 9:50:07 AM