Author: Elizabeth Cutler
Is double the major double the fun—or at least, double the education, career benefits and prestige? Student newspapers and educational publications have already entered the double major discourse.
In 2004, The Yale Herald (www.yaleherald.com)reported that, surprisingly, fewer than 15 percent of Yale undergraduates pursue a double major. This statistic bore a stark contrast to the double major “culture” of the Ivy League university, which one student quoted in the article referred to as a need to “one-up Yale” by completing two majors.
The university newspaper at Berkeley (www.dailycal.org) discussed double majors in 2005, describing a noticeable rise in declared double majors over the past few years. Showing both perspectives on the issue, the article cited concern among university administrators for students missing out on a “broad liberal arts education” but also quoted one advisor who said that “as long as [the students’] reasons are true, then great.”
What is the double major scene like at Oxy? Sixty-seven students are currently declared in two majors. Twenty-four members of the Class of 2007 completed two majors, and this number has fluctuated over the past few years: 38 double majors graduated in 2006, 36 in 2005, 42 in 2004 and 21 in 2003. This comes out to an average of 34 double majors graduating per year—less than 10 percent of the typical graduating class.
Combinations of majors are also diverse and run the gamut from what Dean of the College Eric Frank called, “contiguous double majors”—two majors in clearly related fields, such as art history and ECLS—to a non-contiguous double major, such as combining a science with a social science. Almost no combination of majors has more than a couple students pursuing it at the same time; combinations of DWA/Spanish and DWA/French are currently the only double majors with more than two students.
A number of reasons motivate students to consider pursuing two majors. Desiring to stand out when applying for graduate school and/or jobs is a key motivating factor, as well as being able to complete a “fun” major and a “practical” major, having the opportunity to do comprehensive projects in two distinct fields and considering a double major to be a path to a more enriching academic experience.
The idea that a double major is more advantageous in the job market seems to be both the most popular among undergrads and the most concerning for administrators and career advisors. “There should be no double majoring for résumé building [because] in the long run, it does not matter,” Frank said. He further elaborated on this point, noting that a liberal arts college like Occidental seeks to give its students “the ability to be a secure intellectual leader,” and this goal is not changed whether a student pursues one major or two.
Furthermore, Frank added, graduate schools and potential employers can still see a student’s transcript to see everything that he/she took while at Oxy—there is no need to quantify courses taken in the forms of majors and minors simply to demonstrate to others that those courses were completed.
Associate Dean of Curriculum Mickey McDonald underscored this point, saying that in pursuing a double major, “students [can] put themselves in boxes” and limit their course options because they are constrained by twice the number of requirements. McDonald advises that students start out by taking the courses that interest them so that they “keep doors open.” This way, students could conceivably choose to double major when it comes time to declare (typically by the end of sophomore year), but are in no way limited to one particular department.
This path is similar to the trajectory that Riley Steiner (senior) followed as a biology and DWA double major.
“I started out double-tracking it,” she said, referring to how she arrived at Oxy with interest in both departments and simply took several biology and DWA courses. At first she considered choosing one to be her major and the other to be her minor. However, by the end of her first year, she had decided that both were equally important to her to pursue.
Steiner is extremely interested in public health, particularly epidemiology and HIV/AIDS research, and plans to earn her PhD in public health with an emphasis on biology. By completing the biology major, Steiner also has medical school as an option. Pursuing biology and DWA allows her to take classes and complete comps projects that are both relevant to her interests and long-term goals.
In addition, as Pre-Health Advisor Gwen Hill said, “applicants benefit from (and in some cases are required to have) medically/clinically related experience, research, and volunteer experience.”
Steiner’s experiences outside the classroom fit the bill as well as relate to both of her academic fields; she has interned for City of Hope, AIDS Project Los Angeles and spent the most recent summer doing research at Leiden University in the Netherlands.
Steiner had previously thought that studying abroad would not be possible with her academic plans, but that too turned out to be a feasible goal. She spent the Spring 2007 semester in South Africa with SIT and earned credits that contributed to both of her majors.
Although she regrets sometimes feeling stretched across two departments, which can sometimes make the department-student connection feel weaker than it would with one major, Steiner is quick to acknowledge the importance of departmental and faculty support in her plans.
“It’s been really great in that I get support from two departments,” she said.
In terms of feeling boxed in by the requirements imposed by two departments, Steiner did say that “sometimes I wish I just didn’t have to take a class because it’s required.”
In spite of her double-departmental obligations, however, Steiner was able to branch out and take a course in the urban and environmental policy department that related to her public health interests. In this way, she said, the interdisciplinary focus of Oxy was truly achieved.
A 2003 article by Alice Gomstyn in The Chronicle for Higher Education (www.chronicle.com) analyzed the spike in double majors across the country and the differing opinions on their pluses and minuses after college.
Gomstyn talked with a business consultant who recalled that, while reviewing résumés for her own business, she decided not to even look at those from applicants with three majors. She reasoned that “somebody who is so focused on details and schoolwork and collecting majors is not going to be a big-picture thinker.”
This resonated with theater major Virginia Miller (senior), who initially planned to pursue a second major in ECLS before deciding to minor in it instead. Originally thinking she needed a “fallback academic degree,” Miller realized that she wanted to take more Theater classes than could fit into a schedule if she also majored in ECLS.
Although she will ultimately have taken far more courses than the ECLS minor requires, Miller is content with her decision because she can focus her energy on one comprehensive project instead of dividing her time between two.
Sometimes, however, the opposite can happen, as was the case with chemistry and biology major Mike Heffner (senior). Heffner, also the Hall Coordinator for Newcomb, Chilcott and Erdman Halls, came to Oxy knowing that he eventually wanted to apply to medical school. Other than core requirements, Heffner primarily filled his schedule with classes from the biology, chemistry and physics departments.
During his sophomore year, a double major in chemistry and biology was deemed unfeasible due to the need to take 32 “quality units” (courses above the basic intro classes) in each department. So Heffner decided to major in chemistry and minor in biology.
Requirements for the biology major changed over the summer of 2007, however, and suddenly Heffner had the opportunity to re
visit his earlier idea of double majoring. He met with biology and chemistry professors at the beginning of the year and by the second week of school, his class schedule was set.
Looking back at that whirlwind of activity and paperwork, “it just worked out perfectly,” Heffner said. Like Steiner, he is grateful that the faculty were “so supportive and accommodating” to make the double major happen.
Even though Heffner acknowledges that having to complete comps for two departments means that he “always has that extra thing to do,” he is pleased at the flexibility that majoring in chemistry and biology gives him. He is now interested in entering the biotechnology field before applying to medical school and looks forward to the professional flexibility that the double major gives him.
Director of the Career Development Center and Pre-Law Advisor Valerie Savior urges students to truly consider their motivation for pursuing a double major. “Employers are less concerned about the major itself—especially those who recruit from a liberal arts institution—than they are interested in students’ accomplishments,” she said.
“To this end, my greatest advice for students who are determined to double major is that they should only do so if spreading their interests across the curricula does not negatively impact their capacity to perform very well in both majors.”
As the Pre-Law Advisor, Savior explained that law school, a popular interest among undergrads, does not require any specific major (i.e. there is no truly “pre-law” major). Law schools, she said, mainly want to see that students have taken courses that require a lot of essay writing. It is also helpful to take logic classes if they are available, which they are at Oxy.
In general, however, Savior reiterated the perspectives of Frank and McDonald.
“There is much to be said about how one grows and develops greater knowledge from studying one thing deeply and seriously,” Savior said. “By plumbing an area of interest to the best of their intellectual abilities in consort with faculty engagement, students will not only be prepared to be future scholars, but will have developed confidence, skills and abilities that will make them attractive to employers as well.”
Frank urged students to pursue “deep and stimulating intellectual growth in one major,” rather than pushing themselves into a second major at the risk of losing that intellectual depth.
That said, in her 2003 article, Gomstyn cited a professor saying that he enjoys having double major students in their classes because of the breadth of knowledge and insight they bring to each discipline. Another called double major students “savvy consumers of education.”
Regardless of the benefit and drawbacks to pursuing a double major, another aspect of the issue merits attention—how do students achieve two majors?
At Yale, the international studies department experienced dramatic restructuring shortly before the aforementioned article was published in 2004. This resulted in greater challenges to students pursuing one of the institution’s most popular additional majors. Yale also does not offer minors.
At Oxy, 216 students are declared in at least one minor. Fourteen of these students have two minors.
The over-arching theme that was expressed by Oxy administrators and students alike was that it is important to take classes in multiple departments of interest so that students keep as many options open for as long as possible before narrowing their focuses. They should also be aware that courses which go above fundamental courses do not count for more than one major.
For example, DWA and economics have common interests. The DWA major requires Economics 101, 102 and 311 (international economics). An economics major or minor, however, does not require 311. Subsequently, while 101 and 102 would count for a DWA major and economics major or minor, 311 would only count for DWA.
“It’s how you put those experiences together,” Frank said about the different combinations of majors that students have chosen to pursue. Many students do pursue combinations of contiguous majors, like a social science and a world language, but students like Steiner can put anything together that they are passionate about. Frank recalled one student who completed a double major in art and physics, two ostensibly unrelated subjects, and is now a successful architect.
Jeremy Abe (’07) graduated with a double major in biochemistry and theater. What drew him to both majors? “[I] always knew I would be a science major because I loved the sciences in high school and I took a few theater classes because they interested me,” Abe said. “I loved the theater classes so much that by spring semester sophomore year, I was dedicated to completing both majors.”
Although he emphasized the extra stress that inevitably accompanies two comps projects (“my life was not my own,” he said), Abe is happy with his decision because “my biochemistry and theater majors developed different sides of my brain, which I think will apply to whatever endeavors I pursue.” He is currently working as a stage manager, production manager and scenic painter for a theater while he applies to medical schools.
Ryan Bowen (senior) has thought about how his passions will translate into his own goals for the future. He is currently taking the comps class for Spanish literary and cultural studies and will complete his comps project for religious studies, with an emphasis in CTSJ, in the spring.
After college, he plans to pursue work that combines his passions for spirituality and social justice. Geographically, he is hoping that this work will take him to Latin America. (He studied abroad in the Dominican Republic last spring.)
Bowen’s academic interests have remained constant since he started at Oxy. Because he knew he wanted to double major, he took his science and math requirements at a community college over the summer. “The earlier you figure it out, the better,” he said.
He also cites the overall academic atmosphere of Oxy as being conducive to pursuing more than one academic field. “So many students here have an interdisciplinary focus,” he said. It just “springs from people’s interests.”
Completing two comprehensive exams, however, is “all the more stressful,” he said.
In general, students and faculty emphasized making any and all academic decisions based on true interest, not trying to strategize for the job market or equating a double major with a doubled level of prestige.
Although some double majors admitted that they do enjoy “bragging rights,” Steiner summarized a common statement among double majors.
“We’re taking the same number of classes [as a single major],” she said. “It’s just how you structure it.”
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