Juliet,
I realize you haven’t heard anyone say “don’t graduate summa cum laude”. However, believe it or not, I’ve heard it a great deal from people who graduated with near 2.0 GPAs. The only thing I can figure is that, at best, it is a form of rationalization from them (i.e. high GPA = academic that is detached from reality, so I don’t want a high GPA anyway). Or, at worst, an attempt to sabotage others who likely will be their (superior) competition in the marketplace. In any case, neither of us are going to make the case for this with our anecdotal arguments. All I can say is, I have personally heard people with low GPAs try to disparage people with GPAs. Take it for what it is, I suppose.
I don’t know how accurate it is to say that double (or even triple) majoring limits the variety of courses that one can take. Even in a triple major situation, you should have (at most universities) an abundant range of courses to choose from. Most degree plans, even outside of lower level free electives, will contain requirements such as “Choose 3 upper level POLS courses.” “Choose 4 upper level COSC courses” etc. True, these are still choices within the major fields of study, and maybe you may have to forgo that Painting in the Dark Ages class you were interested in, but I would argue it would be of little consequence.
You say in this regard that students should focus on acquiring knowledge that “appeals to them”. I think a lot of millennials were given that advice and now are finding themselves seriously burned once they hit the real world. To be blunt, employers are not interested in workers who have knowledge that appeals to them (the worker). They are interested in workers who can bring value to the table. The sad practical truth is, we live in a capitalist system. That means these kids are going to have to sell their labor to survive. Someone who double majored in computer science and political science has a much better chance of doing that than someone who majored only in political science (or, to a lesser extent, only computer science).
I am 33, and what dumbfounds me the most is that so many in my generation (and especially those millennials just 10 years behind me) have absolutely no idea what awaits them in the working world. They have no comprehension that our society is still a meritocracy (to a large extent) and that they are competing with others in the marketplace. (I don’t mean to sound like some crazy capitalist, but it is what it is.) As a grad student, I have run into soon to be graduating undergraduate seniors with a sole major in fields such as criminal justice and sociology. Not only are they going to be at a serious disadvantage with only one of those majors behind them, but from my discussions with them, they don’t even have a competent grasp of the one major that they have. To make matters worse, these majors think they are going to land their first job out of college as a sociology or CJ major at 80k+. At the same time, I encounter a myriad of F1 (foreign students) from Asia majoring in the most rigorous of the STEM fields. Our kids are simply going to be crushed with the “study what appeals to you” advice. Again, more anecdotes, but this is just what I have seen.
Yes, study what appeals to you, but IMO, you absolutely must double major to be competitive after graduation - and at least one of those majors needs to be in a STEM or business field. I would go so far to say that anyone in college with only one major today is playing with fire… not fire, explosives. You simply cannot compete with that narrow of an education anymore. And no, “I majored in CJ and graduated with a near 2.0 GPA. Now I’m going to fix that by going to law school, or getting a masters in CJ!” is not going to fix the problem. I have encountered far too many people in that exact situation (weak major & terribly low GPA) and “law school” was their backup plan.
Obviously, I am not saying that a graduate education is not worthwhile. (Of course it is.) However, there is still massively abundant opportunity out there for people with a well rounded undergraduate education and a high GPA. And when I say “well rounded”, I mean double (or yes, even triple) major in diverse fields; not this “I randomly chose some courses out of CHEM, ARTS, SOCI, ENGL that sounded interesting to me.”
A lot of people do not look at our economy from the viewpoint of sectors and industries. (As well as the realization that the performance of those sectors and industries is often cyclical) The way I look at it, a major is basically a “key” to enter a sector. i.e. a computers science/IT/MIS degree allows the holder access to the technology industry. A psychology/sociology/social work/etc degree allows the holder access to the human services sector. This is why if you double major, it is extremely important that your majors be in totally different fields. A double major in sociology and political science, for example, is a key to essentially the same door. A double major in political science and accounting are keys to two entirely different doors.
Sadly, I think there are a lot of people out there who do not realize this. They think that you access different sectors of our economy with higher levels of degrees, and I still have no idea why this is. I have encountered people working in government who hold a political science degree tell me that they hate government and want to get into the technology sector, so they are going for a masters in political science. They do not realize that, if they want into the technology sector, they would have a much better chance returning to undergrad and getting a second B.S. in a technology field (or even an AAS in a technology field). [Actually, I think part of it is arrogance. They know they cannot be admitted into a computer science masters program with an undergrad in poli sci, yet think they are too good to return to undergrad for computer science, so they elect to go to grad school in the same field as their undergrad major and expect something to change]
So, to the OP, if it was up to me, I would say do undergrad right the first time. Personally, I would rather have the “key” to different economic sectors than be locked into one, especially if that sector is in a downturn, or you find you hate it. There are a lot of people (way too many IMO) in the working world who absolutely hate the industry that they work in, but lack the qualifications to leave, and their life situation does not permit acquiring the skills needed to leave. Don’t end up like them.