Sometimes, I’m asked about my college major, and I usually say physics and computer science. The truth is a little more complicated. I officially had majors in Biochemistry, Biophysics, Mathematics, Physics, and Computer and Information Science, and also a Master of Science in Physics. My planning worksheets were a mess:
Bachelor of Arts, majors in Biochemistry, Biophysics, and Physics (apparently I got honors for Biochemistry and Physics? neat)
Bachelor of Applied Science, majors in Computer and Information Science and Mathematics
There wasn’t even enough room for me to have the mathematics major on an official worksheet. The maximum on a single sheet is 3, and the BAS option usually uses a BA sheet for the second major. Only a single BA, BAS, MS, etc. sheet can be made official. It wasn’t easy, but I figured it all out. Looking back on it now, I’m impressed I got the paperwork in order. The only classes not listed are a few which are solely on my MS transcript (you can only double count each class, and not triple count, including between majors and among degrees).
Was it worth it? Absolutely. Maybe?
I’m a better physicist due to the practice I got coding and understanding the rigorous mathematics behind the physics. All the programming languages blend together, and it takes a single day to refresh myself on C++, MATLAB, Julia, Python, R, and all the packages out there. I’m a better biologist because of my broad knowledge of chemistry and physics. I’m a better scientist for understanding all the different approaches to a single problem, informed by intuition for each of these subjects.
The downside is I didn’t have as much research coming into the MD-PhD program. I didn’t have the laser focus on a single subject for which I was an expert. I’m getting there now in my graduate research, especially with machine learning and molecular simulation. But I feel ready to write any kind of paper: theory, computational, experimental, you name it. Just give me a week and I’ll become well-versed in the subject.