<p>Many of my friends seem to be double concentrating, but what's the point of it? I would never double concentrate because it would take away one of the prime reasons why I wanted to go to college: the freedom to take any class I want at any given time. Having the next few years already pre-determined by major requirements is not my idea of an enjoyable education. </p>
<p>Many of the people in my university are headed to graduate or professional schools, so it's not as if their careers will entirely depend on which specific BA degree they obtained in their undergraduate careers. </p>
<p>So why not pick one major, then use the rest of your required credits taking classes that YOU choose, not the curriculum?</p>
<p>Some people have interests in more than one field that they double major. Also, some like the challenge of having a difficult schedule while others double major since it will benefit them when they find that first job. It really depends on what you want to do when you graduate from college and what interests you.</p>
<p>The reasons you give for not wanting to double major are perfectly reasonable...for you. Universities and majors have different requirements, so it doesn't make much since to generalize. </p>
<p>I had originally settled on just one major but ended up adding a second major. Considering that most of my fun electives were in that department anyway, why not? Incidentally, I am/was able to choose all of my courses except for one or two prerequisite courses for each major. No "pre-determined" courses here.</p>
<p>My son has to double major. He has no choice, it is a requirement of the major he selected to pick a second major. It is a bit much I think to force a student to double major. I agree that a major and minor are enough.</p>
<p>I think it can also totally depend on the college. At mine, so many people double major that it's almost the norm. And it also depends on the majors and how credit intensive they are and other requirements that they might have. The occasional triple major however are the least common. But it's still perfectly doable and graduate in 4 years, especially if you have incoming credits.</p>
<p>I'm triple majoring and double minoring. And why the hell not? I accidentally got a politics major and a history minor just by taking courses that I enjoy. There aren't really courses outside of my majors and minors that I am interested in, and each one complements the others (majors: IR, Latin American studies and politics; minors: history and Spanish). My school's gen ed requirements are fulfilled within my majors (I only had to go outside of my majors for one, and if I had wanted to, I could have gotten my creative arts otherwise) and the curriculum is open enough that it's not as if I'm limited at all.</p>
<p>At my school, everyone has 2 majors and at least 1 minor. It's really weird not to. Triple majors are common as well.</p>
<p>My D tried to double major but found many courses she needed for both were offered at the same time. Her advisor tried to convince her it could be done and then realized it was impossible. So now she's a single major with a minor and possibly a concentration. Her life is a little less stressful now.</p>
<p>I know someone who is triple majoring.... but still doing less work than many of the engineering majors I know. So it really depends on what majors you're doing.</p>
<p>And most people who double major DO have an interest in both subjects. In most cases, the curriculum and students interests probably do coincide.</p>
<p>i did want to double major at one point, but that was only to fall back on another major in case i can't get employed with the other one. but life is no fun if it's safe.</p>
<p>I'm planning to double-major in journalism and northern studies at UAF, or journalism and American studies at UI. For journalism degrees, a minor is required anyway, so it's really not <em>that</em> big of a leap from an 18-credit northern studies minor to the 36-credit major.</p>
<p>A journalism degree itself gives me only the skills to report. Having the broad-based interdisciplinary coursework in the northern/American studies program will give me a solid understanding of what it is I'll be reporting on, and build a foundation for graduate study.</p>
<p>Within my first major (International Relations), I can already take pretty much whatever classes I like (after some core requirements in poli sci, econ, and history), because the subject matter is very broad. We need to take a certain amount of credits from one specialization, but there are so many classes on each list that it's not limiting in the least (the subjects on the lists include poli, econ, philosophy, anthropology, sociology, area studies, human geography, etc). The possible specializations are Security/Diplomacy Studies, Development and Economics, and Area Studies (which in itself has other specializations). We also need language credits. I don't see IR as limiting me to one field, which is actually why I chose it in the first place. </p>
<p>I'm double majoring in Economics to give my degree more focus and to help me prep for grad or law school (both of which want to see a certain amount of academic rigour in a degree). IR is my primary field of interest, but I also enjoy studying econ and I think it adds a lot to my understanding of IR. Also, my grades in my economics and math classes thus far are actually some of my highest ones - so it actually helps my GPA to take more of those classes.</p>
<p>I do think that triple majoring would be a bit much though... I don't think that is even possible at my school with upper level credit requirements and such. You can, however, take an "interdisciplinary studies" degree - in which you pick three fields of interest and kind of design your own degree. It's kind of frowned upon to do that though - it's like "general studies" or something. I do know one girl taking it who is "majoring" in feminist human geography of all things. Strange.</p>
<p>Each person's situation is different. Some people go into college with so many prereq's completed, a double major is easy. Some majors overlap so much (physics and math, for instance) that a double major is simple to do. Some people have widely divergent interests, so a double major lets them follow both paths without having to choose only one.</p>
<p>It must depend on the majors, because I find myself complaining far less about required classes with my double major than my friends with single majors do. I really enjoy my subjects, so it's kind of a non-issue.</p>
<p>I understand your point, but in my situation with my two completely unrelated fields, it would be difficult to get the classes I want and the experience I want without majoring in both, so it opens up more doors than it closes.</p>
<p>I think some people assume that if you are in any kind of "general studies", you are unfocused. This is of course not always the case, but it's not really something that lends itself easily to grad school prep, etc. unless you plan it out very carefully.</p>
<p>Hummm. I've been looking into it because I want to get a good cultural background before grad school. I want so be a school counselor though and from what I've heard you can get into the program with very little background. Mine was a music major.</p>
<p>At Northwestern its pretty much the norm to double major, I know a few people with triple majors and a minor. It depends on the school's system. At NU the standard rate of class enrollment has you graduating with 48 courses, and most majors are only 12-15, making it very easy to fulfill the requirements of multiple majors.</p>