Hacker News Reader

At my college (Whitman College) you can get a degree in Mathematics-Physics. That is the "combined major". It is about as difficult as either a degree in mathematics or a degree in physics, the requirements are a mix of both.

The alternative is a "double major". That is where you meet the requirements of both the math major and the physics major. This is harder than just meeting the requirements of either one individually. Your degree is listed as a "B.A. in Mathematics and Physics" for the double major as opposed to a "B.A. in Mathematics-Physics" for the combined major.

I worked hard for my "and" instead of a "-", dammit.

At my uni (UIUC), there's some technical issues with double majors. I had originally wanted to double major in cs and math, but that's not allowed, because cs is in the engineering college and math is in the liberal arts and sciences college. Since my college grants my degree, neither the engineering college nor the liberal arts college can grant me a degree with the two majors cs and math. I'd need to get two degrees: one from the engineering college and the other from the liberal arts college.

Although UIUC does offer a single "Math and CS" major through the liberal arts college to address this potential issue.

Are you able to use classes from one college to satisfy the requirements of the other college? For example, if you meet all the liberal arts requirements in one college I expect that they will count towards the other degree right? The fact that you cannot call it a double major is merely a technicality is it not (Although in my mind it is still a double major)? What does it matter if they are not issued by the same college? I still don't see the difference. At the end of the day you have two degrees.

Well, it is a bit of technicality I guess, but you're not getting two degrees with a double major. You're getting one degree with two majors (at least as far as I understand it). Getting a dual degree is actually getting two separate degrees. And there's a bunch of bureaucratic stuff you need to push through to get approved for a dual degree here (more than there would be for double majoring with two majors within one college).

As far as I know the requirements would count towards both degrees, though.

When I was going to UIUC, there were 3 Computer Science programs offered: 1. Computer Science 2. Computer Science and mathematics 3. Computer Science and Statistics

The first was through the engineering department, and the last two were through the liberal arts department.

The combined programs were basically the entire sequence of non-elective CS courses required for a CS degree and the non-elective math or stats courses. My friends that got degrees in those basically took 20-30 hours more math courses. I got a straight CS degree, so those hours were filled with about 15 hours of CS electives and the remaining 15 were with the engineering school's "application sequence" requirement which was a series of electives in another discipline.

I believe double majors do not functionally require as much due to a greater chance of being able to double-count a class. Also, a double major typically means you get one diploma that lists your two majors. A double degree means that you get two physically separate diplomas. This may matter to someone.

Of course, I may be compeletely wrong with respect to the OP's university.

I have a double degree, B.S. Economics and B.S. Computer Science, however, my school did not mind me double counting classes, I just had to meet all of the requirements of both majors and accumulate 150 credits. Whereas a single degree would be just 120 credits. I could have received a double major, which is 120 credits (or more) and fulfilling all of the requirements of both majors. Since the CS program required 120 credits (with no wiggle room for classes that didn't fit the curriculum) adding on economics put me above 150 credits just to fullfil all of the requirements.

(OP here! This is turning into an interesting discussion.)

The requirement for double majors is to complete both majors; only two courses are allowed to count twice, and only if the undergraduate chair of the department agrees.

Once you complete a double major, you can get a double degree (two diplomas) by reaching 150 credits instead of the 120 required for a single or double major.

Seems pretty fair since many colleges offer a one year Masters degree once you reach 150 credits (yes, I did take some graduate courses on my journey.)

My double degree required completing 150 credits, rather than 120 credits for a single degree with double major (the equivalent of an addition year of courses). I can't recall at this point if there were any additional course requirements, but I don't think there were.

(OP here) Same here! Why don't you list your degrees as B.S. in Physics and B.S. in Mathematics on LinkedIn?

Were you issued two diplomas, like me? Even if the college only issues a single diploma for everybody, you're allowed to list both separately if your college officially recognizes that you completed a double degree.

Once I realized I could reach 150 credits to qualify for a double degree, I talked to the registrar, who told me they print a single one that looks exactly like the one for double majors unless the degrees are different types (B.S. and B.A.), but you were allowed to list them as separate on your resume (and could pay $30 to get a second copy). This glitch was fixed in time for my graduation, however, and I got two diplomas.

They still had a glitch where you had to choose one major to walk with for graduation, even for a double degree. Some students including myself solved this problem by getting in line for each of the majors.

Yikes, for my "dual degree" program in Arts and Engineering, I had to do 240 credits (a typical science/arts degree is 120, the requirements for my engineering degree were 160 credits, but there was some overlap, e.g. electives)