I am currently taking a double degree in Computer Science and Business Administration. I received a lot of messages from my friends and juniors asking if my combination is any good. So hopefully this post will help you a bit.

Table of Content

Preface

This is solely based on my opinion and my experiences. Also, this post assumes that you are already doing Computer Science. So it’s not about whether or not you should take a double degree in Computer Science and Business Administration, but rather whether you should take a second degree (Business Administration) on top of Computer Science.

Introduction

I have heard quite a bit of misunderstanding and myths surrounding a double degree, so I will try my best to clear any misconceptions.

Myth 1: Double degree = double workload

Normal degree workload = 160 MC = 4 years
CS (Honours) and BBA (Honours) = around 198 MC = 5 years
CS (Honours) and BBA = around 178 MC = 4.5 years
Note that you can reduce your graduation time if you take on higher workload each sem.

Myth 2: Double degree = higher workload

Depends. You can have the same workload (20 MC a sem) and graduate later.
But I am overloading like most people (around 24 - 28 MC a sem) to squeeze 4.5 years into 4 years.
Since I am taking 20% - 40% more MCs a sem, does that mean I have 20% - 40% more workload?
Not necessarily, since business modules are generally less time sinking. For reference, in year 2 sem 2 I took 7 modules - 3 CS, 3 BBA, 1 GE. I still spend around 85% of my time doing CS. This is not far off from someone taking only a CS degree. It is normal for you to spend > 10 hours per CS mod per week (including problem sets, tutorials, lectures, labs etc.) while business mods generally take around 3 hours a week during non-peak period (might be a bit more during presentation/ project submission weeks). One caveat is that I have only taken the core business mods for now. Since I intend to specialize in finance, the future modules might be more vigorous and hence more time sinking.
At least for the core mods now, I would think that my workload is only 10-20% higher every semester.

Myth 3: Double degree makes me more employable

Not necessarily true. I would even argue the opposite. Unless you are aiming for roles like Product Manager, having a second degree in BBA will not give you an advantage in technical roles like Software Engineering. For me, it is just one line in my resume under Education:

- Bachelor of Computing (Honours) in Computer Science
- Bachelor of Business Administration

And having that additional line will not give you any advantage.

On the other hand, I argue that it will disadvantage you if you don’t play your cards properly, and here’s why:

  1. You are less specialized in CS. For CS students, it is common for people to use their unrestricted electives (UE) to take on another focus area. You only need one focus area for the degree requirement, but most people have around two. As a DDP student, you only have the bandwidth to take on one focus area. Apart from focus areas, many students also spend their UEs on adjacent technical modules like CP2106 Orbital, Engineering modules, or modules like CS3216/7. As a DDP student, you don’t have any UE as they are allocated to non-technical business modules. This means that techical wise, all else remains equal, you are less advantageous compared to your CS peers who choose to use their UE on technical modules.
  2. You have less time to improve your employability. As much as we might not like it, projects, leetcode and internships are essential in CS. This means that if your workload is 20% higher every sem, you have 20% less time for all of those above. Furthermore, your GPA in CS could be affected since you do not have UEs to “pad” it.

Myth 4: Double degree is useful for entrepreneurship

I think I am guilty for this as well. When someone asked me why I choose to do a second degree in BBA, I would say that I am interested in entrepreneurship on top of tech. However, there is not much correlation between a BBA degree and entrepreneurship. Perhaps there are modules that indirectly gives you a bit more exposure in that area, but for the most part, it does not help at all.

If you are interested in entrepreneurship, join relevant CCAs, join events organized by N-House, NUS Hackers, NES etc.

Myth 5: Having a double degree gives you soft skills

To be very honest, I think that the stereotype that business people “can speak well” and CS people are “socially awkward nerds who can’t speak” is very outdated. I am currently 2 years in but I do not notice much difference between the oratory ability of CS and BBA students. This might be an outlier but I notice that my classmates from CS2101 (a communication mod in CS) have better presentation skills on average than my BBA peers. However, my observation might be difference in year 4, if nurture does indeed play a huge role. I will update this section when the time comes but for now, I doubt the forced class participation and the once-a-sem presentation is going to help much in developing soft skills, much more than what CS already offers in CS2101 and ES2660. From a quantitative perspective, BBA only has around 4 more core mods than CS that require presentation. I highly doubt 4 presentations is likely to make a dent in one’s ability to speak.

Myth 6: Double degree has no benefit

There are certain side benefits that having a DDP can give.

  1. It gives you one additional card to sell yourself. I have seen many people use the “I am a double degree student in X and Y, so I am interested in Z” card. For example, my NOC programme has a disproportionate number of CS and BBA DDP students, and I think this stem from the bias of the program manager. During my interview, she was rather impressed by my DDP, saying something along the lines of “you can provide value for the start-up in both the technical side and the business side”. Personally I haven’t used this card much, but I do see the intangible side benefits that it can bring for first impressions.
  2. It increases your network. For example, I get to participate in both the Computing and Business orientation camps, and I get to meet really fun and nice people from both camps, some of which I am still friends with. Beyond that, I still mainly mingle with CS people but I do think that if you put in more effort than me, it could open up many doors.
  3. I might have been a bit too harsh in myth 5 in claiming that BBA does not give you soft skill. One thing about soft skill is that they are… soft. Which means that it is difficult to quantify the results. For all I know, I might have improved a lot, and gained intangible skills that will not be noticed until years down the line. I would say that BBA is useful for soft skill to the extent where PW in JC for soft skill. You might feel that you benefitted from it, or not.
  4. You are more resources. First, you will be in the mailing list of both CS and BBA, so you get updates about opportunities, talks etc. from both sides. You have access to the career guidance department of both schools. Your card can access the biz lounge. You can two welfare packs. I am not sure whether this is a BBA specific thing but I had access to VMock, an AI resume grader with 10 free grading attempts. There are probably many other more resources that I am not aware of. Having said that, I find that I did not capitalize much on these alternative resources as I mainly stick with the CS school. Your gains might differ if you choose to capitalize on them more.

Myth 7: More is always better

Is a double degree in CS (honours) and BBA (honours) better than a double degree in CS (honours) and BBA?
My answer would be no. I initially enrolled in the former, but I soon realize the downsides of DDP as stated in myth 3. Having an additional honours just means spending more time on your second degree with limited advantage. Is it worth going through half a year more doing FYP (which would incur a lot of opportunity cost) for one additonal word in your resume?

- Bachelor of Computing (Honours) in Computer Science
- Bachelor of Business Administration (Honours)

Maybe not for me since I have decided to focus on the SWE track.

Myth 8: Having a double degree gives you access to jobs in both industries

I think this narrative has been floating around for a while and there are some truth in it, though I think its advantage has been overstated.
Firstly, I think if you are aiming to break into competitive industries (eg. Software Engineering, Investment Banking), you would have known that degrees don’t get you jobs, experiences do.
And a natural implication is that anyone who is in a DDP would be forced to “specialize” very early on. After all, you only have around 3-4 summers before you graduate. In order for you to have “access to both industries” upon graduation, you would have to split your limited resources (summer) among two baskets (eg. having 1 SWE internship and 2 IB internship). This means that when you are applying for internships/jobs, you are also less competitive compared to your single degree peers who specializes in that one industry with 3 summers worth of relevant experiences. Many end up choosing a side anyways. This is consistent with my observation of those around me in a DDP as well, where you can pretty much tell which side they lean - eg. 3 SWE internships + hackathons with 0 BBA related internships, or 0 SWE internship with 3 IB internships and case competitions. Me personally, I am also filling up my experience bucket is only SWE related experiences. With 0 relevant experience in the other industry, it would be extremely difficult for you to break into the industry. If I do decide to apply for finance/ business related internship/ jobs now, I would have a hard time competing with those with a degree and relevant experiences. So by the time you graduate, you more or less only have access to one of the industries.

Myth 9: Having a double degree gives you less opportunities than a single degree

Even though I mentioned in myth 3 that you have no UE to spend on adjacent modules, that does not mean that you cannot take them. You can still take them, it just won’t be counted towards your graduation requirement.
Personally, I have taken CP2106 Orbital (Independent Software Engineering Project) which most CS students will take in their first year summer. Since I have no UE to spare, taking it does not count towards anything, but there are still a lot of benefits that come with taking it. Arguably, it has been a huge selling point for NOC and my subsequent internships.
I’ve also gone for NOC even though it can only count 12 MC (Instead of the usual 20 MC) for the sem.
Furthermore, I also took CS3217, which has a reputation for being very high in workload. Not having any UE to spend, on top of not being to overload due to the high workload, means that I could be behind in terms of graduating requirement, but to me I think the things that I get to learn make it completely worth it.
Also, I intend to have 2 focus areas.
This means that instead of the required 178 MC, I would be graduating with 190 MC. You still have access to all the opportunities that a single degree has, just that you have to be prepared to take a higher workload than you are required. This means that if you are doing a double honours, that could go up to 200+ MC instead of the required 190 MC.

Myth 10: Having a double degree gives you an edge in quant

Nope.
Unless your second degree is Math, or you have 10 years of C++ knowledge, or you are a competitive programmer with olympiad background, or you somehow won the genetic lottery, having a second degree in business administration will not help at all, even if you specialise in Finance.

Should you take a second degree in BBA?

This might sound dissapointing but I do not think that this decision can be reduced to a “take the second degree only if…” statement. My advice is that, ask yourself why you want to take the second degree, and check if anything here challenges any assumptions you might have. Seek more opinions since this post is not reflective of the experience that you might have. If you still cannot decide, there is no harm in taking it first then dropping it after if you change your mind.
If you do end up taking the second degree, do not come in with the mentality that you are somehow better than your peers because you have the second degree become the truth is - you are not. You are less specialised, and hence need to work harder to get on equal footing with your peers, especially if you are going down the technical path.
Good luck!