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Double major, science and liberal arts?
Hello, I'm currently a Psychology major in my sophomore year. I'll be a junior this coming spring and will turn 21. As I've learned more about different fields and career paths, I'm starting to consider doing a double major in Computer Science, with Psychology or Philosophy, which both greatly interest me. The reason is that I've realized how much more opportunity I'd gain by having a science/technical degree. I'd like to double major to still get a good old classical liberal arts education as well. I could start the Comp. Sci. classes next semester and get rolling, and it would take me a good while to finish. I might be 23 or 24. In some ways that bothers me, as I feel like I should be trying to get through and graduate quickly. But I don't want to cut myself short. I really love science equally. ( And I don't really want to do counseling or anything like that.) I have a scholarship, and could come out owing very little. I know "it is up to me", but is it objectively worth it?
Public Comments
- Your instincts are good. Certainly, take all the liberal arts courses you can take: they're the sort of thing that colleges are really good at. As for computer science, you can learn either a lot of it or less of it, and benefit from whatever you take. If you can possibly take a course in electronic logic, you'll find that it compliments the stuff you learn in philosophy quite nicely. But make sure that you take computer science courses that are "impractical": There is no sense in spending your time learning a computer language (or worse, some godforsaken graphics protocol) in a class when you can do roughly the same thing on your own--and the languages are constantly changing anyway. What you need to learn is stuff like operating systems, algorithms, numerical methods, and the concepts that are universal to all information technology. There are math concepts in all of these: you're not--repeat not--studying to become a web designer or computer operator. You can do that on your own, later, if you wish. Take your time graduating if you have the chance. Nobody will criticize you for it (nobody you'd care about, at least) and the extra time spent in education when you're young is the absolutely best investment you could make at this stage. Note: it sounds like you may find yourself in graduate school sometime. Go, if you can. It's the next step in your education, and quite often it's free.
