missing academics with BM

SimpleLife
Sat, 26 Feb 2011 16:42:33 +0000

^Ditto.

@SpiritManager: Good memory! You’re right. My son wanted to pursue a double degree. He did not change his mind – yet. But he probably will, he’s been saying recently. This is primarily for one reason: he has found so many different subjects that he wants to explore, that he’s thinking of just dabbling in all the areas he likes instead of cramming in all the required courses for a single, second degree.

For instance, history is probably his second biggest interest, next to music. He has been taking 17-18 hours per semester for his first two years, so he could feasibly work in more history courses during the next two years and over the summers. But he’s learned that he also loves languages, and human rights, and what his school calls “wellness.” Now he wants to take 3 courses of each of 3 different languages! That’s 36 credit hours! It has come down to a choice – dabble a little in all the different things he likes, or concentrate in one area (classics, medieval history, history in general?) and get a second degree in that one area. The dabbling has become much more appealing to him – and I’m inclined to agree. There’s really only one time in our lives that most of us have the luxury to do that – in college. So, he will probably continue to take just as many credit hours as he would with a double degree (he plans on taking 2 summer school courses each year as well), but he thinks it will just be a mixed bag of various things he loves. I’m sometimes envious! What fun.

This does somewhat tie into your post, khatlestad. I really don’t think your son will be bored or run out of things to do – particularly if he chooses a school that has a wide variety of course offerings and/or a good core curriculum. If he’s thinking things are too easy for him, he can always add more!