Majoring

[d&q]

With college season in full swing, I've been thinking a lot about what I want to major in. I was wondering if anyone out there can see the viability of triple majoring. Specifically, I want to major in Mathematics, Economics, and Computer Science. This isn't in reference to any particular college, but do the curricula intersect frequently enough to make this possible? If it's possible I am prepared for the consequences (no social life whatsoever, perpetual studying), but I want to know exactly how long it would take to get the needed credits. While this is partially about a future career, I truly love all three subjects and I don't think I could go with one alone. So basically my question is: does anyone have any experience with triple majoring (or even double majoring) and would wish to share some advice?

Thanks.

[Sidoh]

Do a degree plan.  See how many credits you'd have to take each semester.  Personally, I don't think I'd want to do more than 18-20 a semester.

You'll also have to deal with the consequences of not being able to study each subject in depth, unless you stretch your stay to 5 years or something.  You'll probably only have the time to take the required courses for each.  I'm a double major (CS/Math).  I have a little bit of wiggle room, but I'm still maxed on credits until I graduate.  It doesn't make for a comfortable/excessively fun experience.  I'll definitely have the time to take a few courses above and beyond the curriculum (I'm taking 2 graduate CS courses next semester, and I might take the PhD level followups the following semester), but not as much as I'd like.  I think that's probably more important to consider than the time you'll spend studying.

My recommendation would be to pick one of them, and take classes in all of them.  If you continue to find all of them fun, then add the others on.  I didn't declare a second major until last year, but I'd been taking math classes the whole time.

I think the most useful piece of advice that I gave here is: do a degree plan, and speak with an academic adviser.  They're used to seeing over-ambitious freshman, so take what they say with a grain of salt if you're confident you can do it.

[d&q]

Well, I can see myself extending my study to five years, but that would be really terrible, because college isn't exactly cheap. Whichever I find that I prefer the most I think I'll decide to further pursue graduate classes in, simply because I guess I'm blessed with the ability and the desire to do so. I was looking at various scholarships available during graduate scholarships, and there's one for the CIA that will pay for everything in exchange for employment, as long as you have a B.S. in Mathematics. With that, 5 years would be no issue because It'd be paid for and I'd be employed for graduate school. The issue is that with such a wide scope, I have a lot of vocations open up to me, and I plan on going Trust-esque with the connections thing. So if I find some better job, there will be serious regret.

As far as depth goes, I think that if I feel sacrifices need to be made to fully appreciate a particular major, then I'll do so, but as long as I job security, the time factor is not an issue (as detailed above). My main worry is that my friend, who attends a university now, wanted to try this exact plan but failed to execute it early due to indecision. So if he wanted to get all the credits, he'll have to be at school for six years, which is terrible. I would really want to avoid that. The degree plan sounds great, and I definitely am going to do that. I expect it would vary widely from college to college?

[Sidoh]

http://www.asee.org/fellowships/smart/ is another good one.  I can probably find more if you're interested.

That's cool, I guess.  I'm much more interested by academia than job security.  Job security comes along with having a technical degree anyway.  I don't think I'll have any problem finding a job that lets me live a comfy lifestyle when I'm done with school.

[d&q]

http://www.asee.org/fellowships/smart/ is another good one.  I can probably find more if you're interested.

That's cool, I guess.  I'm much more interested by academia than job security.  Job security comes along with having a technical degree anyway.  I don't think I'll have any problem finding a job that lets me live a comfy lifestyle when I'm done with school.

I meant job security during school. I want to be mostly independent from my parents during graduate school.

[Rule]

I suggest you double major. You don't want to spread yourself too thin.  If you tend to have many interests, you're always going to have to let go and not pursue something you care about.  I'd cut out econ from the equation.  If you do a rigorous math degree, I think you'll be able to get into great econ grad programs, with scholarships (this happened for a friend of mine, and he had taken 1 econ class in undergrad).  The reverse, however, is not true.  There is no way they'd let you do pure math in grad school, after taking an econ degree.  Just my impressions...  you may want to research some of the econ grad programs you are potentially interested in.