Considering staying an extra year for a double major, advice?

[babu]

Hi everyone,

 

I'm currently a third year MechE student considering staying a fifth year for a CS degree. I am interested in robotics research, and while I have learned a lot of programming on my own, I think the CS degree will help me have a more formal background. Also, I am hoping to start working on a research project in the fall that I will be able to work on for at least a year before applying to grad school. I've saved up so I wouldn't have to work, meaning I could put more hours into research/projects/clubs.

 

While I have worked on research projects previously, they have all been in the very early stages so I haven't had a chance to publish/present at a conference. I took this semester for an internship (Big name plus my mentor expects me to publish a paper by the end), so I am no longer working on those two projects. Would staying an extra year for a second major + more research experience be a significant benefit in grad school applications?

 

For some more background, I am currently at a Big State U ranked around 50th for engineering in US depending where you look for the two programs I am interested. I expect to maintain a 3.9+ GPA either way, and from the practice GREs I think I will be able to get high 90 percentile on quant, low 90 on verbal. My only real concern is that the lack of a long term research project will prevent me from getting in top ranked schools like CMU.

 

While I can't imagine it would hurt my application, paying for another year of school (no scholarship past four years) and starting to work a year later has a big financial impact so I just want to make sure the decision makes sense.

 

Thanks for any suggestions!

[tarrman]

So I was actually in the same boat you were; I was double majoring in EE and physics, and I had the opportunity to graduate in 4 years and pick one or stay an extra year to get both. I chose the latter, but this last year has kind of really sucked. All of my classes feel like a waste of time and I don't really feel like I'm learning anything. I've had enough training from my previous 4 years to be able to learn on my own, and having to complete lengthy hw's and attend classes has been really annoying.

 

Conversely, this extra year gave me the previous year/summer to complete a little bit of research (not much, but some) and do an internship at Lincoln Lab. It also helped me realize what my interests were. I originally had planned on a physics Ph.D., but I switched to EE at the very last minute. I can't say that universities have been particularly impressed by double major, mostly because the only thing I've gained from the physics degree is a better mathematical background, which is crucial to the field I'm going into.

 

I think if you really like CS and it's very relevant to the research field you're going into, then go for it, but it might be better to just take some classes in the topic you're interested in (AdComms are more impressed by this). The extra year to do research is definitely the biggest benefit. Being able to publish even just one paper will get you a great recommendation and will make you look very good. I think my decision to take an extra year was heavily influenced by the prospect of doing more research.

 

But don't think you can't get into top schools with just short-term projects that don't end in results. I know it can be intimidating to see all the rejects from top schools who say they've published 10+ journal articles (I'm very skeptical of these people.) It isn't easy to publish and it isn't easy to get significant results, especially as an undergrad, and it takes a considerable amount of work and time. I think 1 conference publication + 1 journal article is pretty impressive. I haven't been able to publish anything, mostly due to numerous issues I've run into throughout the course of my research projects, but my mentors have all been pretty impressed with the work I've done, which I think has helped me a lot. This, along with a 3.9+ GPA from top 5 university in EE has helped me get into Princeton and UT, both with a lot of funding, and I was barely waitlisted at UMich.

[Inyo]

On the flip side of this, I spent only three years in undergrad. After graduating I did research full time for six months, but the research wasn't in my immediate field. I've been out for four years, now, with 3.5 of those spent teaching full time.

 

It's been clear that my deviations from the typical path have hurt me in applying to physics programs but helped with education programs. I think the "how long do I spend in undergrad" is a highly discipline specific question IF you intend to pursue graduate study. I strongly encourage you to seak out the advice of professors in both departments to see what they have to say.

[babu]

So I was actually in the same boat you were; I was double majoring in EE and physics, and I had the opportunity to graduate in 4 years and pick one or stay an extra year to get both. I chose the latter, but this last year has kind of really sucked. All of my classes feel like a waste of time and I don't really feel like I'm learning anything. I've had enough training from my previous 4 years to be able to learn on my own, and having to complete lengthy hw's and attend classes has been really annoying.

 

Conversely, this extra year gave me the previous year/summer to complete a little bit of research (not much, but some) and do an internship at Lincoln Lab. It also helped me realize what my interests were. I originally had planned on a physics Ph.D., but I switched to EE at the very last minute. I can't say that universities have been particularly impressed by double major, mostly because the only thing I've gained from the physics degree is a better mathematical background, which is crucial to the field I'm going into.

 

I think if you really like CS and it's very relevant to the research field you're going into, then go for it, but it might be better to just take some classes in the topic you're interested in (AdComms are more impressed by this). The extra year to do research is definitely the biggest benefit. Being able to publish even just one paper will get you a great recommendation and will make you look very good. I think my decision to take an extra year was heavily influenced by the prospect of doing more research.

 

But don't think you can't get into top schools with just short-term projects that don't end in results. I know it can be intimidating to see all the rejects from top schools who say they've published 10+ journal articles (I'm very skeptical of these people.) It isn't easy to publish and it isn't easy to get significant results, especially as an undergrad, and it takes a considerable amount of work and time. I think 1 conference publication + 1 journal article is pretty impressive. I haven't been able to publish anything, mostly due to numerous issues I've run into throughout the course of my research projects, but my mentors have all been pretty impressed with the work I've done, which I think has helped me a lot. This, along with a 3.9+ GPA from top 5 university in EE has helped me get into Princeton and UT, both with a lot of funding, and I was barely waitlisted at UMich.

 

Thanks for the reply, I'm feeling more confident in staying the extra year now. I understand what you're saying about being tired of classes in the fifth year, but for me the fifth year would be a pretty light class load, so it shouldn't be too much of a grind. Something I hadn't considered too much either was having the chance to refine my interests, which I think will be a big benefit. I have worked on projects in composite materials, design, and computer vision, and liked them all. Having the time to narrow down what I would like to research will not only help my application but help me get more out of grad school. Good luck at your future school!

 

 

On the flip side of this, I spent only three years in undergrad. After graduating I did research full time for six months, but the research wasn't in my immediate field. I've been out for four years, now, with 3.5 of those spent teaching full time.

 

It's been clear that my deviations from the typical path have hurt me in applying to physics programs but helped with education programs. I think the "how long do I spend in undergrad" is a highly discipline specific question IF you intend to pursue graduate study. I strongly encourage you to seak out the advice of professors in both departments to see what they have to say.

 

heh, I actually came in to my program trying to finish in three years, but due to course scheduling I had to stay for at least four years with a very light load. I started taking CS classes to fill out my schedule, and now I like it enough that I am considering staying even longer. Thanks for the advice, I will definitely talk to some professors before making any final decisions.

Edited March 4, 2013 by babu