I wanted to be a neurosurgeon, I have the ability to be one, but I don't think I'd be fully happy...
So, being a Senior next year I really need to start thinking about what I want to do...
So far my whole High School career has been centered mainly around science classes, followed by languages...I may want to go into languages too...
Now, just recently I'm thinking about the business field also (I took two business classes and I am SICK at business stuff...and being pretty good at math helps too)...
So, I want to be a surgeon, a businessman and language person...
Can I have like a triple major in college (I don't want to go to a community college or take a year off to decide what I truly want to do)...and does it matter that I study to go into the business field in college w/o having any business classes really?
And how do you do double/triple majors anyways?
THANKS! You can carry a double-major and some sort of minor (also called a "concentration").
The problem you have with your three choices is that the surgeon part REALLY doesn't fit...there's science and then there's business, and there's really no way to carry a full class load for both of those at the same time.
If it were up to me (in this situation), I'd carry a major in Business Sciences with a concentration in language arts. Does finance matter at all?
Cause with all this majoring, you're gonna spend like yeeaaars in university.
And being divided between three different things is hard on yourself. I suggest not majoring in business at all and focusing on becoming a surgeon. And if it's too hard, (cause it's hard), you can always switch out before you actually major in it.
As for languages, it could be a stretch going from a surgeon to something like, government translator. I would minor in languages. it isn't that hard to do a double major. if you enjoy the subjects.
But doing a triple major is going to be noticeably harder - and may take an extra year of college to get all the required courses.
You can be a business man without majoring in it. and you can take business classes if you want to, later, almost anywhere you live. You can have a double major
or Major in one thing and minor in another.
If you want to be a surgeon, you will have to get accepted into med school, and if you're in med school you will not be able to have a double major, or even a minor, it's very demanding.
Plus, you need to take MCATs, science classes in college, it's very difficult. My fiance is in his 2nd year of med school & it's hard for us to find time to see eachother so you definatly will not be able to have 2 majors at once Yes, it is definitely possible but it will be a LOT of work. A double major by itself would be difficult and a triple major would be almost impossible.
A Bachelors degree requires about 120 hours total, of which at least 45 or so will be general ed requirements.
A single major generally requires about 36 hours of courses in that area (between 9 and 12 courses directly related to the major).
However, a MINOR only requires about 18 hours of courses in the area of study (about 5 or 6 courses). You might want to consider that instead. You'll kill yourself with a double major if one of them is a medical degree. I've never heard of anyone attempting a triple major. At least not any that have survived. I would go with being a surgeon with a minor in a foreign language. You're looking at at least 8 years of college. Or go with a business degree and foreign language double 4 year major and decide at that point if graduate school is something you're interested in. Good luck to you....you sound really motivated and optimistic. I envy you! uhh good luck. I have a spanish degree and I tried a dual major in college (spanish and marketing) and it was tough. I dropped marketing. and now I have a degree that is virtually worthless.
it's hard to be a dual major but yes, it can be done. and I'd recommend avoiding my mistake of sticking only to languages. find something more marketable!
good luck! What you want to do is start in one field and take all of your electives in the other two then go to your advisor and tell him/her you want to add another major(s) this way you only have to get accepted into one college (i.e. business, science, arts and sciences) at a particular university Yes you can double major at all schools.
Triple...it isn't worth it, just go to graduate school afterwards. Yes, Double-major only though. u just have to take the classes required, so meaning you would spend longer in college. Double-majors are common, triple-majors are possible, but not many people do them. However, they are for sure possible, I know several people going for triple-majors at my university.
However, it's generally not suggested and is extremely difficult to double- or triple-major in unrelated fields. Business and science would be two that one generally should not try to do together, at least, not if you want to graduate in four years. The reason being, is that each program will have required classes to obtain the degree, but will absolutely require the same classes.
Double-majors within business are common, since several majors may share many of the same required courses. However, these courses would not be shared by the music school, making a double-major difficult.
When you get ready for college, register for classes in several areas your first two semesters. Use that to decide what my interest you the most. You don't have to decide now exactly what you want to do, nor do you absolutely have to before sophomore or junior year of college. Explore the different areas that your school has to offer, that will help to guide your decision.
Also, make use of the advising staff at your high school and university to map out your college career. You can certainly double or triple major. I was a triple major with a minor and it certainly was not useless. I was able to get into the graduate school I wanted with a strong social science background and fluent in another language. It did take me 5 years to complete my undergrad, but I know plenty of people with ONE major that it takes them than long, so I don't feel badly about it.
Now, with your interests, I would say it's pretty impossible purely for the fact that being a surgeon will swallow up your life. I have a friend that is in his residency now and in the entire time I have known him (since he was a freshman), he has been concentrating on getting into med school, graduating from med school, and now being a doctor to pass his boards and whatnot. You won't have time for anything "business", but you certainly can be a lnaguage person, especially if it's Spanish or an Asian language (high demand for bilingual doctors). On top of that, to be a SURGEON, you not only have 4 years undergrad, 4 years med, 4 years internship, but then 4 more years of training for being a surgeon. You will also have to decide which KIND of surgeon, which is 2-4 MORE years of training.
If you heart and mind are not in the medical field, then go for business. You certainly do NOT have to major in business to go into business. You can major in anything and maybe minor in business.
When you go to college, they don't necessarily expect you to have any background in any field, which is why there are intro class and why good universities and colleges make you take a bunch of different general requirements, which are generally different intro classes in different fields, to see what you are interested in before you get too far into the major.
My advice, don't rush it. Go to college and take the general requirements. Get some maturity and perspective. Don't stress about something you really can't do until you have the general requirements out of the way anyway.
Good luck! Double majors are easy. Just less electives for you to take, meaning you only fulfill your requirements. Tripple majors? Colleges won't let you do that. In the sense, they'll only let you take a certain amount of credits a semester. So there's noway you can get 3 majors in 4 years =p (if you're on scholarship and they only pay for first four years you need to take this into deep consideration)
However, you can come out with 3 degrees. It will just take longer than the normal 4 year plan. But, it seems like a waste of time with your interests because:
Science Degree -->Neurosurgeon and Business/Language degrees aim at different goals and require different studies. To persue all 3 is really innapropriate if you're convinced that medical school is for you!
For instance, you can, with a dual business/language degree apply to medical school. Believe it! Just, when you take the MCAT, you will have a lot of biology and chemistry to catch up on. People usually major in biology/chemistry because it prepares them for the MCAT (It's a very difficult test!) But it's doable! Many Philosophy/English/Anthropology majors take the MCAT and become doctors. And nothing in high school biology/chemistry will prepare you for the MCAT. So take that into consideration.
GL! I know someone who triple majored but it took them 6 years to graduate. It could be done and all you have to do is to file the correct paperwork by probably sophomore or junior year depending on when your university require you to declare a major. You just have to contact the counselors for each department that you want to major in and they'll tell you what to do and what your school's policy is regarding double/triple majors.
However, as many other people already said. You don't have to triple major if you want to take classes in a subject you enjoy. Usually, a minor in language will have more than enough classes to satisfy your interest. It usually requires about 2 to 3 years of that language plus 2 or 3 literature classes of that language, 2 or 3 other classes about the culture and maybe 1 or 2 class in the department but have nothing to do with your language. A major will include many more classes and trust me, there will be a few that you'll have absolutely no interest in. As for business, about the majority of businessmen have MBA degrees. That's the only way you can be one. MBA is 2 years of graduate school and it does not require a bachelor degree in anything business or economic related. For undergrad you should just take a few business classes you are very interested in. If you get an MBA after you become a neurosurgeon, you'll probably be able to rise very high in your career and become management at a hospital.
oh, just a word of advice, many MANY people change majors in college and completely change what they want to do in life so take a few classes for each subjects first and see if you still want to triple major. It is easiest to do a double major in similar subjects because the basic requirements overlap (biology geology, biology chemistry, etc.). You are looking at three fairly diverse subjects, so there will be only modest multiple coverage from core courses. This means either that you will have to take heavier than normal loads, more time, and/or really cut the depth of each major to the absolute minimum acceptable, which really isn't all that fun because the really interesting stuff appears at the upper levels.
I suppose it is feasible to have a triple major. I am sure the university will take your money if you want to try. The question is whether there will be a real benefit to doing so. It will limit your ability to wander off path in the few free slots that appear in the normal course schedule. Up to you to do what you feel is what you want, of course. A triple major is kind of pushing it....
I would suggest you double major for science and business and have a minor in a language. I don't know what your degree requirements are, but chances are you already have a language requirement to fulfill so I really don't see the need for a minor. Many schools don't even allow triple majors; it's generally 2 major and a minor or 1 major and 2 minors are allowed.
If you can't decide what you want, you could take some time off. But it doesn't sound to me like you really LOVE any of those options. It's as if you consider them merely because you are capable of doing them. But what do you love to do that'll make you happy?
Also, consider that you can always study what you want now, get your bachelor's degree and then go to grad school and you can get a master's in something else there. You could also declare your major as General Studies for the first 2 or 3 years, take a variety of courses in the fields you're interested in, and then decide your major after you've had some exposure and you're certain. It's possible to double major, but if it's even allowed, the school will charge you a lot of extra money for three majors.
However, it's a TON of work! Science majors are a LOT of work by themselves (without another major or minor). If that's really what you want to do, stick with that.
As for business and language, I don't think they take quite as much work as science majors. Here's my advice: pick one (you have a few semesters to decide) and take classes that interest you in the other fields. You have to take general ed classes anyway, so you can take some stuff you enjoy like those other subjects. |
