Impero

I'm quite a busybody and I expect to at least double major (worst case scenario, a minor), that is, on top of at least one, most likely two or even 3 instruments. How much do the graduation requirements (I don't mind fine arts, humanities and math/science- I do not want to take anymore social studies classes, for instance) interfere with taking on many concentrated courses of study?

wombatsoup

What are you thinking of double majoring in specifically? That would help people answer your questions. I'm not usually one to give unsolicited advice, but I really hope you have a couple potential interests areas or combinations in mind and a specific reason for wanting to major in them both rather than just taking a lot of classes in one and majoring in the other. Double-majoring just to have a double major in two to-be-determined fields just seems silly and restrictive to me--then again I don't understand double-majoring in general (no offense, it's personal taste).

You should probably take a look at the requirements yourself and see how they fit with your specific majors. Keep in mind that you can obviously fulfill distributions through your major(s). Unfortunately one of those distributions is at least two courses in the social sciences, and you didn't mention language but there is a requirement to have four semesters of proficiency in a foreign language which could be a pain if your high school's language education wasn't good and you can't test out of some of it. That's about all I can tell you without knowing what you want to study.

Impero

Well, I wanted to double major in Classics and Astronomy (or in Macalester's case, Physics with astronomy focus) because I happen to like both and I think a quantitative skill would be good for me. I have no problem with any of the requirements since Classics has a Greek component which more than covers language, and the other components of classics would also satisfy humanities. Fine arts wouldn't be a problem as I plan to play in an ensemble and take private lessons, nor would math and science. I plan to start on them early even without declaring a major, starting Greek perhaps in the first year. I'm just worried that with Study Abroad, social sciences and the Internationalism requirement I won't be able to graduate on time.

wombatsoup

Ah, cool stuff, that's a really interesting combination. I don't think you'll have an issue with study abroad, especially since I assume that it would be easy to fulfill classics requirements abroad. The rest of the requirements--social science, internationalism, and US multiculturalism--are only four courses max, and if you take an internationally focused social science class and another focused on multiculturalism that could be cut down to two (I think). You really shouldn't have an issue graduating on time, though that is something to talk to academic advisers about.