How do I convince my school to allow me to double major? I am currently a second-semester freshman. For the last several years of my life, I've been pondering over what to choose as my major. My last two years of high school, I took university math courses, and fell in love with math. I didn't just fall in love, I gained a deep interest in it. Working on math problems is one of the greatest joys in my life. I seriously considered choosing math as my career and was perfectly happy with doing so except for one thing: I want something more tangible as my career. Computer Science is also fascinating and interesting to me, as well as Computer Engineering. I decided on Computer Engineering, but I will not be satisfied if I cannot double major in math.

This semester was the first semester in 3 years that I did not take a math class, and as a result, there is significantly less joy in my life. I miss taking math classes. I just declared my major as Computer Engineering and am now working on gaining permission to petition for a double major (this is the procedure for the university that I'm at). The problem is the university that I'm at. It is a pretty good university, but it frowns upon double majoring. This university seems to want the students to come in, and go out. Almost like manufacturing graduates from the incoming students, in four years time. Even worse, the Electrical/Computer Engineering department especially doesn't like double majoring, unless it's in language (which majors are practically designed for double majoring). This department has not allowed a non-language double major in more than 6 years.

Even with all this, I'm not accepting no as an answer. I'm already halfway to a math major, and I'm going to continue to take math classes. Having read The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch, I'm taking inspiration from him that this is just a wall for me, to stop me if I'm not determined enough.

How can I convince my university to allow me to double major?
You can convince your university to allow you to double major by showing then a plan for the courses that you will be taking in the next semesters, so they can see that you have already thought about the future, and that you're not one more lost and undecided person. Also, as you said that you love Math, I would like to ask if you had good grades on those Math courses that you took. If yes, try to get help from professors, as they can make the path for the double major approval easier for you since they usually have more influence than a second semester student.

Since you said that your university sees itself as a box (the student comes from high school, enters the box and four years later leaves with the degree), you must try to find a way to show them reasonably that your plans are feasible. More than that, your logical arguments and plans for the future must be well designed and articulated. Furthermore, as I said before, try to get help from professors that know you and your joy for learning Mathematics.

As a double major student that recently gave up to other people's dreams and now is following his dream of studying Math and Physics, I wish you all the luck with your plans!