Grantmom Posted November 18, 2017 Share Posted November 18, 2017 Can you double major in physics and engineering? Even if it took you an extra semester or two, is this possible? At some schools, they are in different colleges, and you have to apply to one or the other. At others, you just apply to the school. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caroline Posted November 18, 2017 Share Posted November 18, 2017 Yes, you can at both my alma maters. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grantmom Posted November 18, 2017 Author Share Posted November 18, 2017 That's good to hear. Thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JanetC Posted November 18, 2017 Share Posted November 18, 2017 It will depend somewhat on the school. There is also an "engineering physics" major in some cases. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8filltheheart Posted November 18, 2017 Share Posted November 18, 2017 Ds knows several EEs who doubled in physics. There is quite a bit of overlap. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PinkTulip Posted November 19, 2017 Share Posted November 19, 2017 My son is planning on doing this. As someone stated above, a handful of schools have an interdepartmental engineering physics major. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shawthorne44 Posted November 19, 2017 Share Posted November 19, 2017 I would ask at both departments before starting. I did Physics at a big engineering school. Some of the Physics professors had an inferiority complex about the Engineering Department. Also, students that couldn't quite handle Physics would move to Engineering, and the Physics professors didn't like that. A friend of mine experienced reprisals for taking some classes in the Engineering department instead. As in the two Physics classes he was taking every test was scored 10-20 lower than another friend of ours whose papers weren't as good. Friend was close to finishing his Masters so he just graduated and didn't look back. I'd offer to PM you the school, but it was long enough ago that there are only a few of the same professors and the culture has changed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted November 19, 2017 Share Posted November 19, 2017 Yes. Quite a few of our physics majors do. Electrical or nuclear are popular choices, civil not so much.have your student talk to advisers in both departments. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JanetC Posted November 20, 2017 Share Posted November 20, 2017 Also think about how it affects gen-eds: At my state flagship, the School of Arts&Sciences (so physics) requires foreign language, while the College of Engineering does not. So in addition to STEM classes for a double major, you'd also have to take a language if you weren't excused from the requirement by your high school preparation. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RootAnn Posted November 20, 2017 Share Posted November 20, 2017 Also think about how it affects gen-eds: At my state flagship, the School of Arts&Sciences (so physics) requires foreign language, while the College of Engineering does not. So in addition to STEM classes for a double major, you'd also have to take a language if you weren't excused from the requirement by your high school preparation. :iagree: At my alma mater, I remember the engineering department being really stuffy about double majors with the school of Arts & Sciences. The ChemEs seemed to be able to double major, but not the MechEs or the EEs. (Actually, I did know one female MechE who was going to attempt to double major in MechE and Dance (or Drama?). I don't know if she actually got admitted into the MechE department. (You had to complete about two years of prereqs before applying to officially get into the major.) My DH says he specifically remembers that Electrical Engineers were not allowed to get minor in math (because it was so easy to do). He doesn't remember if they were allowed to double major in math & EE. Best advice is to check with each school. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkT Posted November 20, 2017 Share Posted November 20, 2017 Also think about how it affects gen-eds: At my state flagship, the School of Arts&Sciences (so physics) requires foreign language, while the College of Engineering does not. So in addition to STEM classes for a double major, you'd also have to take a language if you weren't excused from the requirement by your high school preparation. Not all BS Physics programs require foreign language - in fact I think that is a recent trend - I don't remember the Physics majors back in my day being required to take foreign language. IMHO BS should not require foreign language that should be for BA Physics programs. [unfortunately one of my son's top choices requires foreign language for the BS Physics program (he does not like learning foreign languages). In that case I am trying to get him to consider Engineering instead with a possible Physics Minor] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shawthorne44 Posted November 21, 2017 Share Posted November 21, 2017 Not all BS Physics programs require foreign language - in fact I think that is a recent trend - I don't remember the Physics majors back in my day being required to take foreign language. IMHO BS should not require foreign language that should be for BA Physics programs. [unfortunately one of my son's top choices requires foreign language for the BS Physics program (he does not like learning foreign languages). In that case I am trying to get him to consider Engineering instead with a possible Physics Minor] Translation is a good way to get the annoying language requirements out of the way. Says I, the Language dunce with Physics and Engineering degrees. In translation, there are all these wonderful rules and charts to use. And the class never laughs at your pronunciation. Also, summer is a good time to get them out of the way. The professors know that there is only so much translating that a person can do in a day. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkT Posted November 21, 2017 Share Posted November 21, 2017 It will depend somewhat on the school. There is also an "engineering physics" major in some cases. https://physics.stanford.edu/undergraduate-program/bs-engineering-physics has a list of other colleges as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted November 21, 2017 Share Posted November 21, 2017 (edited) [unfortunately one of my son's top choices requires foreign language for the BS Physics program (he does not like learning foreign languages). In that case I am trying to get him to consider Engineering instead with a possible Physics Minor]He might be able to get that requirement checked with an AP exam credit. For U of Arizona, e.g. AP German, AP French, AP Spanish score of 3 and above “Satisfies foreign language requirement for all students†AP Chinese requires a score of 5. http://catalog.arizona.edu/policy/advanced-placement-ap-program ASU doesn’t explicitly says it but looks similar for AP French, German, Spanish and Chinese in terms of credit by exam. A score of 3 in AP French, German, Spanish gives the same amount of credit as a score of 5 for AP Chinese https://catalog.asu.edu/credit_exam#AP ETA: https://physics.stanford.edu/undergraduate-program/bs-engineering-physics has a list of other colleges as well. UBC’s program might be a good fit for my younger boy who is more social. http://www.engphys.ubc.ca/prospective-students/extracurricular-activities/ Edited November 21, 2017 by Arcadia 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkT Posted November 21, 2017 Share Posted November 21, 2017 He might be able to get that requirement checked with an AP exam credit. He is not even close to AP or CLEP level at this time for Spanish. But thanks for the suggestion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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