Am I intellectually omniverous or just lacking focus....

Graduate School Law School
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<p>… and how will this look in the grad school admissions process?</p>

<p>I’m officially a classics major (greco-roman language and culture), but I guess I have pretty diverse interests, too, because I’m planning to add a philosophy major as well, hoping to focus on social and political philosophy and maybe ethics or philosophy of religion as well. I also really love history, especially American history, and want to study late 19th-20th century diplomatic and political history. I’m flirting with the idea of triple majoring (I can do it in six years), but is this a good idea? There a just a bunch of random classes------ mostly in history and poli. sci.----- that I have been wanting to take for a long time but will probably never get around to. Is this bad, wanting to take every other class listed in the course catalouge? I’ve got to graduate eventually, and of course money is always an issue. Somebody has to pay for this lifestyle of mine.</p>

<p>I started out as a poli. sci. major but got into classics because I was looking for something more esoteric and I liked one of the classics professors, but I find myself sometimes wanting to get back into political theory, maybe even working in public policy someday. My question is this----- do I need to limit my areas of study more than I have been? I only took one course directly related to my original major (classics) this past semester, and that was Ancient Greek. The rest of my schedule was filled with philosophy, poli. sci., and fine arts credits. I’m worried about a couple of things:</p>

<li><p>That I won’t learn as much if I keep flitting back and forth between classics, philosophy, and history, than if I concentrated on one or two at the most. Greek requires a lot of time to study, and I definitely didn’t put the effort into this past semester that I should have. That’s probably why I got a B in an elementary-level class. I’m taking ‘real’ Greek next semester (reading Plato and the New Testament), so I’ve got to do something drastic, either step up the studying or cut back on the classes, or both.</p></li>
<li><p>Somewhat related— I won’t have a solid base of knowledge to get into grad school. I won’t know enough Latin or Greek to do classics or it’s related subjects, nor will I know enough history or philosophy because I had to take time out of the readings for those classes to do study Greek for hours on end (it always takes me forever to do Greek translations!)</p></li>
<li><p>That my GPA will suffer because I try to be a jack of all trades. I <em>could</em> have concentrated on Classics and only taken 15 hours, but then I would feel like I was cheating myself out of knowledge. The end result is that I don’t learn as much and I get two B’s this past semester. Lose-lose situation, apparently.</p></li>
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<p>If I could design my own curriculum, it would be like the Classics-PPE concentration offered at Oxbridge. I wanted a poli. sci. degree that offered more theoretical and historical material, but I also DO want to study Latin and Greek. It looks like I’ve been subconsciously trying to create my own major here at nondescript State U. and it hasn’t been going as well as I hoped. What have I done?</p>

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<p>Wow. It seems like you're the best person to answer this question. I don't see a problem in double or triple majoring if that's what you REALLY want. Have you considered a major and two minors? Or maybe just one minor? As anyone else will tell you, admissions don't necessarily care what you major in and you shouldn't care anyway! You should do what you like. Just do your best in what you choose to major in.</p>

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<p>First, concentrate on your breath as you slowly exhale deeply, then slowly inhale deeply. Do this a few times - maybe for a few minutes - until you feel a calmness permeating your being.</p>

<p>Now, back to your questions: you have made the wonderful discovery that vast areas of human activity, and the various academic disciplines that have arisen to consider those endeavors, are deeply fascinating to you.</p>

<p>You have also figured out that four years isn't a lot of time to immerse yourself in them. You'll just be scratching the surface, whatever classes you decide to take.</p>

<p>The good news is that you have a lifetime to pursue these interests. You don't have to take a class in a subject to develop your interest in it. All you need is the desire and time to read, a quiet room, and a library card in a town big enough to have a good collection. Even that last requirement is not as important as it used to be, thanks to the Internet.</p>

<p>Eventually, you'll discover that even a lifetime isn't a lot of time to immerse yourself in everything that fascinates you. Ah, well. Even so, if you sample broadly from the various systems for understanding the world, and draw deeply from a few of them, and your health holds out, someday you'll look back at the end of a long life, satisfied that you became one of the more accomplished people you were capable of becoming when you were making choices like those you face now.</p>

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<p>sage advice, Greybeard. Fitting name..... thank you.</p>

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<p>I understand your situation perfectly. My freshmen and most of my sophomore year was spent wracking my brain with what major defines or reflects my interests. To tell you the truth, the only cure I can see is to take courses and let your interests develop. To a large extent in my opinion, this happens arbitrarily. I took foreign language, philosophy, classics, physics, and so forth and I could not piece together any "course" of study from any website or counselor that I was comfortable with. Eventually, though, trust me when I say that you will take one or two courses that will lead you in a certain direction until you find yourself with a major, or find yourself writing a thesis, or working in a lab. In a sense it is arbitrary because your interests can be channeled in so many ways, but let the arbitrariness of events flow over you because there is no shame in having a bent or specific perspective as long as you are careful, honest, and judicious about it. Good luck!</p>