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> What if you take all of the courses which interest you, and that just happens to be enough for both a math and CS degree? That's great! This means, of course

> What if you take all of the courses which interest you, and that just happens to be enough for both a math and CS degree? That's great! This means, of course, that the maximum utility schedule happened to lie in the subset of schedules satisfying both constraints, and you so there is no utility loss. The double-major in this case is just an added bonus of doing what you wanted to do, and I'm happy for people lucky enough to find themselves in that situation. From my time in college, though, I remember a number of people who were reasoning along the lines of "Well, I'm just three boring classes away from a double major... might as well pick it up I guess." For people in that situation, where they don't really want to take the extra three required classes, I'm arguing that the double major isn't worth the utility loss. > Degree requirements exist because the degree committee (and accreditation organization) believe they have have a better sense of overall utility than most students. Indeed, and good point: If you don't have a good sense of your utility function, then the decision to double major is roughly equivalent to using the implied utility function of the degree committee to help estimate your own utility. However in this case, I'd argue that you would probably get better results from asking a trusted professor or mentor for advice on classes to take, since the person you ask for advice would know you better than the degree committee.

dalke 13y ago
You do like to argue that others are wrong. That rapidly gets old when that's your first objection to anyone's criticism, as it has been in this posting. It looks like you now agree that there are acceptable reasons for some people to get a double major. Your original argument says that a "[d]ouble majoring in college is a very suboptimal strategy". Have you changed your mind? You have observed that people do get double and even triple majors. Thus, if people make rational decisions - your basic premise requires that people maximize utility - then either your conclusion that people are making the wrong decision must be incorrect, or you are privy to information that students don't have. You have not demonstrated any evidence that you have extra information. To the contrary, you've received information from people who have stated things like "[i]t has given me more choice". Your response has been to challenge the judgement of those people, when the appropriate response would be to question your own premises. Otherwise, all you can conclude is that to those people "slightly improved credentials" is worth "three boring classes." FWIW, I had no "trusted professor or mentor." In any case, what's to say that hypothetical mentor wouldn't have suggested a triple major anyway?

dalke 13y ago

You do like to argue that others are wrong. That rapidly gets old when that's your first objection to anyone's criticism, as it has been in this posting. It looks like you now agree that there are acceptable reasons for some people to get a double major. Your original argument says that a "[d]ouble majoring in college is a very suboptimal strategy". Have you changed your mind? You have observed that people do get double and even triple majors. Thus, if people make rational decisions - your basic premise requires that people maximize utility - then either your conclusion that people are making the wrong decision must be incorrect, or you are privy to information that students don't have. You have not demonstrated any evidence that you have extra information. To the contrary, you've received information from people who have stated things like "[i]t has given me more choice". Your response has been to challenge the judgement of those people, when the appropriate response would be to question your own premises. Otherwise, all you can conclude is that to those people "slightly improved credentials" is worth "three boring classes." FWIW, I had no "trusted professor or mentor." In any case, what's to say that hypothetical mentor wouldn't have suggested a triple major anyway?