Ask HN: Double Major CS/Math or Single CS Major?

I would argue that social skills are more important than a double major. Consider doing a year abroad? Good luck, some of the people you meet will become lifelong friends.

My first thought was to recommend the double major because I believe that a stronger math background opens a lot of doors, specially in the software industry. Now, considering your last statement and the fact that you also have a minor in economics I'd say you're better off saving those 50K and extra year. Getting involve in open source projects it's a much better strategy to differentiate yourself that getting a minor/major, at least in the software industry.

Good luck!

I'll share something with you that I've only recently come to understand: Unless you're really interested in both subjects then double majors aren't worth the time and sweat you put into them. The fact is that the double major MIGHT give you a slight advantage when it comes to getting an interview, but after you have a year or two of experience under your belt your double major won't matter much at all. Software companies want people who can get things done, not people who can take more technical courses than any human should.

I was considering a double major in Applied Math and Computer Science but I've recently decided to go a similar, but different route. Instead of taking all of the Applied Math courses that I don't foresee myself using, like Partial Differential Equations and Numerical Methods for Differential Equations, I will be picking up a few math courses that I actually WANT to take, like Probability Theory and Stochastic Processes.

Take courses you want to take. Take courses that will help you in the long run. If you don't get a double major, then so what? Just go build something awesome and you'll get a job no problem.

Not having a math degree will impact you later if you want to get into grad school in math/financial math. If you are pretty sure you are going into software, ditch the math degree.

I faced the opposite decision... a double major in math and CS or just the math major, and decided to do only the math major. It was the best decision of my college career. But I still took the upper level CS courses that interested me! So drop the math major, but learn Galois theory (or whatever) anyway.

That said, I don't recommend graduating in three unless for economic reasons you have to. If you can, take the fourth -- study abroad is awesome, as others suggested -- it is also a great chance to take advanced courses in other disciplines. I took an upper-level philosophy course, it was hard and I learned a ton.

Math is probably the hardest thing you can study. You should do it if you can do so without hurting your grades. It will broaden your intellectual horizons.

As a practical skill, however, math ain't all that much. Learning how to write and communicate well and how to make people like you (i.e. social skills) are far more important in just about any industry (software included).

A large part of our industry is self-taught. You don't need a specific degree to get a good job - or even a degree at all. Some bigger companies are a bit more formal (e.g. Google, Microsoft) and prefer hiring graduates, but even they look at merit before academic background. There are some jobs that benefit from academic experience, e.g. being a quant on Wall Street, but math or physics is a lot more useful for that than CS. If want to work in a field like that (or want to keep your options open) I'd recommend doing the double major or alternatively just major in math, while polishing your CS skills by working on open source software and maybe a few CS courses.

Getting a job out of college or differentiating yourself shouldn't be the prime motivator for this decision (if considered at all). Whichever way you graduate, you will be fine. It isn't like you're trying to decide between majoring in pottery class at a community college and going to med school. Future employers will be a lot more impressed by the depth of your understanding of your field than how many classes you took and the extra curricular activities are even more important (e.g. open source, internships, personal projects).

I'd suggest a Comp. Sci. and Statistics combination.

If you have excellent academic credentials math or computer science you can get a good job out of college - having a double major might give you a slight edge in some settings if you have excellent credentials in both - but good credentials in both is not as good as excellent credentials in one or the other.

I will add that other than for personal interest a minor in the dismal science probably won't make your resume stand pop out of the stack in the way in which a minor in something like art, english or philosophy will - those are the one's which make people think, "at least the interview might be interesting."

Finally, the stronger your math skills the more options your education will provide over the course of a technical career.

Good luck.