What is a Joint Major?

You may have interests and strengths in two fields of study and you don't want to ignore either. Consider a joint major. A joint major combines courses from two disciplines in such a way that the student doesn't take a complete major in either discipline, but takes enough courses (around 10 or 11) to qualify for a major. On the downside, you do not take as many courses in either discipline to be as well educated in that discipline as a graduate who focuses on a single discipline. For instance, a student with appropriate talents and a willingness to work hard might be interested in both accounting and computer information systems. A college or university might offer a joint major in accounting and information systems in which the courses are evenly split between the two disciplines. The student might then find later employment in the consulting unit of an accounting firm. Other examples of joint majors might be in finance and economics, biology and engineering. The latter is an example of a joint major that could involve coursework from a variety of disciplines. Policies guiding the completion of joint majors vary with each college and university.

Want More Information? Look at major descriptions prepared by university academic advisement staffs.