Attempting a Triple or Quadruple Major: Real Stories

[JoeTrumpet]

Great points, Choppy. I'm reminded of someone (possibly on these forums) mentioning one of the strongest math students at MIT not getting an internship while other less-qualified (but definitely still qualified) student(s) got the internship because of their ability to interview well and communicate more effectively. Don't underestimate the skills you learn outside of the classroom: that's where you'll be spending most of your life, after all (unless you go into academia ).

@ bomba: From what I've seen of schools (and I'm only a rising freshman in college), quarter-system schools typically recommend 3-4 courses per quarter while semester schools seem to recommend 4-5. A lot of schools use "credit hours" and suggest ~15 credit hours per semester (it's usually 120 credit hours to graduate). Most classes are 3 or 4 credits, especially 3, so most semesters are about 5 courses for those on a 4-year no-summer-courses-or-APs track. At my school (semester system) it's expected to take 4 courses most semesters, 5 courses a couple of semesters, and 3 courses each semester during the senior year to focus on the senior thesis (at least 31 courses to graduate).

 

[Crosson]

I did physics, math, and philosophy.

A degree is supposed to say that you have somewhat specialist knowledge in a subject, but if you take many subjects then your knowledge will surely be diluted. I find this especially strange if one plans on graduate studies: there is way too much, say, physics to learn during a degree anyway, so why try and learn more than one subject?

I didn't have this problem, reading my textbooks was so easy that I would have been bored with anything less.

 

[tmc]

This is silly. There's no such thing as a "better" dream. Just the one you prefer to follow. Plenty of people will gladly think you're a fool for idling away for academic wages on some obscure bit of knowledge that, as happens to the great majority of "leading experts," will be later proven to be an ill-founded dead end.

Moral superiority is such an odd trait for so many people in science to share.

You really should reread my post...