Is Three majors a good idea?

renaissancedad
Sun, 16 Aug 2015 13:42:20 +0000

@billscho, why is it a bad idea to “waste” time and money to do a multiple major? Many students at some schools do multiple majors. Duke’s admission website advertises that 83% of students do more than just a single major, and lists permitted combinations of up to 3 programs (majors, minors and certificates):

http://admissions.duke.edu/education/majors

Dartmouth, Stanford, UChicago and Penn are among other schools with options in these areas (plus the co-terminal/submatriculation option at Stanford and Penn):

http://dartmouth.smartcatalogiq.com/en/2014/orc/Regulations/Undergraduate-Study/Working-Rules-and-Regulations/Election-of-a-Major/Multiple-Major

https://undergrad.stanford.edu/academic-planning/majors-minors/double-majors-and-secondary-majors

https://college.uchicago.edu/academics/declaring-majors

https://www.college.upenn.edu/prospective/unique-academic-options

Three majors is an extreme case, and I’m not sure that it makes sense for very many people. Minors and certificates may make more sense. My son may be one case where combining 3 subject focuses in some combination makes sense: he wants to be an adventurer/explorer who studies the environment/geography and who uses film and media technology to educate people and influence public policy. So he’s equally divided between environmental/earth science, visual/media studies, and public policy.

I don’t think this kind of thing is an option for most people, but for some people it can work. I don’t think it necessarily entails adding on time or costing more money, and I don’t think that graduating early to go to grad school is a particularly good idea for most people, as the benefit of 4 undergraduate years goes well beyond the time needed to complete a major. I certainly don’t think that doing a double major plus a masters’ in 4 years at Stanford was a waste of either time and money for me, and it didn’t prevent me from later doing 2 graduate degrees.