Are you changing fields or did you go to a shit college?

Most double majors end up taking summer courses. I want to finish up in four years, and I intend to double major, so it's what makes sense.

@goldy that was generally the case at my school as well. I lucked into good elementary school teachers, which led to testing out of a few years of middle-school math. I'm very much a STEM person and I think that a second year of calculus may have helped a little, but the playing field levels itself pretty quickly.

"Most double majors end up taking summer courses."

Evidence? I feel like that's not true.

bo

What do you want to double major in?

Well, many engineering degrees now take 5 years because of coop requirements.

Which is, quite frankly, a load of horse shit.

Are you saying I'm wrong or that the idea of cooping is a load of horseshit?

I know some schools do it, but I don't know how prevelant it is. I find the practice appalling, though. Engineering should take 5 years, but there should be 4.5 years of course content spread over 5. Summer internships are plenty of experience if done right.

OK, most of my knowledge is UC related and it is very much mandatory at UC and they tout it as one of the reasons they are a top notch engineering school.

http://ceas.uc.edu/current_students/Coop.html

abge - I'm graduating with two bachelors, and went to a fairly good school. I spent a year abroad going to an even better school, but didn't take math courses there.

But of course, your half a decade of engineering experience means you know more than a school that has been teaching engineer since before your grandparents were born.

@gold

Well, I don't really know anything about you or your program, but you must understand how it seems odd that 2 BS degrees aren't enough for you to start right into grad school.

@Draug

Well, I was reading your link and preparing to give my reasons for why I feel the way I do, but you clearly aren't interested, so I won't waste my time.

I need Linear Algebra, Real Analysis, at least two more statistics courses, Calc III - ideally. None of those were degree requirements for undergrad Econ. My other degree is Finance, which really only uses stuff as far as Calc II.

No matter where I go, I'm going to need summer courses plus a "math boot camp" before I start.

Abge, Draug's assholery aside, I'd be interested in your opinions on the matter.

Abge - I was just poking fun at you. You can give your reasons. But, and I'll readily admit it, I don't care. I'm not studying engineering and have reached a level in my profession where degrees no longer mean shit. It's a proven track record of 30+ years and utilizing current technologies and techniques that my employers and clients care about.

Draug, why has your opinion on the importance of a degree changed since you tried to go back to school?

I said at my level. When I was going back to school, it was for management and it was paid for by my employer. But I'm quit happy making what I do now without having to get a management degree and doing what I love (designing and developing software). It is important to those starting out or changing fields (like I was considering, God knows why I wanted to be a manager). It isn't important to me with 30+ years experience in the field I love and am very good at.

@gold

What are you going to grad school for? Also, I'm shocked that Economics didn't require Linear Algebra.

@ghug

Sure. Engineering is a highly employable field. So, you have to ask if the coop is worth the year's lost salary. IMHO, the answer is clearly no. The starting salary for an engineer is around $60k. At best, you're making $20k during your coop, which means you've lost $40k. A 4 year degree with 2 solid summer internships will put you at a slight experience disadvantage, but will put you 1 full year ahead of students with a year coop.

Going for Economics.

And, it did and it didn't. The mathematical economics course I'm in now requires some knowledge of linear algebra (yay to teaching yourself!) but the course itself isn't required. Most people do take it, but I just haven't had time.

Well that truly is fascinating. I've never heard of an undergrad degree not preparing someone for grad school.

Yeah, the professors in the department have been wanting to increase the graduation requirements for years now.

lol, our econ programs at LSU don't even require calc I, just business calc

granted, if you're going to grad school then you're presumably talking to the department heads and advisers who are definitely telling you to take calc I, calc II, diff. eq. and linear algebra, but if you didn't know any better then... yeaaaah

My econ program never required calc either, although I took the business equivalent of linear algebra. We touched on the calculus behind different economic functions a few times and I understand the math behind the curves, but my program was more stats oriented than calculus.

all the econ programs where i go require you do calc and linear algebra, as well as a lot of stats. there are ways to cut down how much you do, especially if you have another major, but at least one course covering calc and linear algebra, and a stats module for anyone with a major in it... it's funny because in the department we get some people that struggled with the basics of that, and dropped as much math as they could, and then you had people that besides basic macro and micro modules only did mathematical econ, metrics and stats.