Comments on: No more triple majors, please: College kids should cut course loads

By: Jeremy

Jeremy — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 17:28:54 +0000

I am a triple-major in philosophy, history and political science, and find your reasoning to be completely fallacious, unwarranted, and void of reason all together. You make broad generalizations about the motivations of individuals who triple-major, and your intolerance towards majoring in extra fields of study shows, if anything your “timidity and lack of intellectual curiosity”, the supposed message against the triple-majors.

An extra major is an extra opportunity. When I’m done with undergraduate school, I will have the option of studying law or going to grad. school as a means to get a PhD (in any of the fields I enjoy, for that matter)and become a professor. But I suppose I’m timid and lack intellectual curiosity, eh?

I have studied Schopenhauer, (the world as will and representation, Wisdom of Life, etc) and to compare the message of Schopenhauer to what you are saying is hilarious. Perhaps YOU should read Schopenhauer instead of skim to the letter S in the dictionary and pick out three things that you felt would be intellectually poignant? (science, Shakespeare, Schopenhauer)

By: Anna

Anna — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 04:07:01 +0000

And get your damn facts straight about Carly Fiorna. Like Trevor said, she was a double major herself. So much for supporting your point.

By: Anna

Anna — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 04:04:33 +0000

In college, you learn for learning’s sake, sure–but you’re also PAYING for the degree, essentially. In many disciplines, there are a multitude of other, less expensive ways to get the education and training necessary than enrolling in an undergraduate program. Going to a less prestigious college, for instance, doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll have less fewer resources and a lower quality of education, but the difference in tuition prices can be phenomenal. Is it for learning’s sake when you put down tens of thousands of extra dollars to go to a good-name school with a strong alumni association? Some students may find it sensible to make the most of their time there–they’re on a time line and a budget. A lot of students struggle enormously to pay tuition fees–why major in one discipline if they’re torn between two or three? Or, in some cases, a student’s career goals may benefit from certification in different majors.

More importantly, being an undergraduate college student, for many people, is about discovering your interests and shaping your view of the world. Not all college students know exactly what they want to do at 18, 19, 20, 21, but they want to get the most out of the time they spend there by making an educated prediction of what would be most beneficial to them. If someone wants to explore many entirely dissimilar fields and are ambitious enough to be invested in them all, who the hell are you to say they lack CURIOSITY, of all things you could accuse them of? If someone is going to invest the extra work, who are you to say they’re timid? Why do you give a damn, anyway–did you not have the capacity to complete a triple major? I don’t see what the motivation or benefit of this article would be, for anyone.

You are one overpaid sucker.

By: Harumph

Harumph — Wed, 21 May 2008 12:58:32 +0000

I don’t agree at all. My majors overlapped and I was interested in all the courses I took. In fact, I only realized I was a triple major after looking at an application at school which told me I qualified for three majors if I took two specific classes. Sure, I could have taken something cooler than those two classes, but I’m still doing that. What if we’re not just interested in one major. Get a life?! Anti-intellectualism at its worst.

By: Joseph

Joseph — Sat, 10 May 2008 16:00:24 +0000

I am not quite sure how you can say that a triple major is not a good idea if it what you want to do. I am triple majoring (in 4 years) in Math/Econ/Statistics, and I feel as though my degrees complement each other very well and provide more tha adequate preparation to go into the business world. Certainly moreso than a humanities degree, which is an area I find more enjoyable to learn about. Is there really a high demand in the business for someone who knows about the Roman Empire? I highly doubt it. Furthermore, my majors will allow me to take some grad classes in Econ, which would be undoable without a fair amount of quantitative skills. It also seems as though you are missing the point that someone who triple majors is quite motivated and able to see difficult challenges through. Instead you are saying those that do extraordinary things are really no different in the eyes of a possible employer than those who do ordinary things. I also have participated in research in all three areas so that kind of ruins the intellectually curious argument. Undergrad work is not really “deep,” the truly curious would explore graduate work not a handful of undergrad classes.

By: John

John — Thu, 01 May 2008 21:31:28 +0000

triple majors perhaps obsessive, however from a good school (as in top 100 universities), double majors with minors or even triple majors get the big jobs in business. Even more double / triple major with good extra circulars blow any single major out of the water.

your argument like stated above is weak at best, and you were probably one of the kids who was undecided until their junior year, spending all your parents money because you could not decide what you wanted in live. so leave these ambitious kids alone and stick to your day job

By: Sarah

Sarah — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 20:27:11 +0000

Jaysen, I’m doing some research with a professor who taught at Otago for a couple of years and has a research project that’s half there, half here. I’m very interested in possibly going over there for a summer (your winter) to work on it. Here’s my email, I’d love to get in touch with someone who lives and goes to school there. If you ever see this comment, that is.

Thanks!
Sarah

cranberrytuna (at) hotmail (dot) com

By: Jaysen

Jaysen — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 10:02:45 +0000

All I can say is wow. New Zealand’s Universities sure operate a lot differently to colleges, it seems. Im currently in my third year of a Linguistics and Philosophy double major, and I was looking to get advice on taking a triple major. They are seriously almost unheard of here in New Zealand. I have only a few ideas as to why.

Firstly, I hear you can take multiple majors in a field and have them crosscredit eachother. This is not possible, at least at my University (Otago). As it stands, my double major requires a heck of a lot of extra work to gain, and adding a third major is just going to be an insane amount of work.

Secondly, although related, some people have suggested reducing majors to minors and have them crosscredit eachother. Again, this isnt possible here. It’s actually quite stupid, really. It is not actually possible in a single undergrad degree to take Linguistics as a major, and TESOL as a minor, due to this “no crosscreditting of papers across majors and/or minors” rule. Its a real shame, and quite possibly a flawed system in some people’s eyes, but my main reason for ranting about this is to say that at least here, a triple major is considered prestigious. Theres simply no question about it. Taking three majors is a hell of a lot of work, and graduates of triple majors (of which I know of -very- few) are absolutely praised for their hard work.

I see some people talk of taking Quadruple majors. Wow, kudos to you all :) Thats an insane amount of effort you are putting into that degree, and I hope it takes you where you deserve to go - far. :)

Anyway, just giving you an idea of my views on people who triple major. Im very very tempted to take up Japanese as a major, shift my linguistics major to a language and linguistics major, and keep my philosophy major. Its going to be tough; but itll be worth it :)

/rant :)

By: Johnson

Johnson — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 21:33:46 +0000

I can see Penelope’s arguments being valid in some cases - such as business degrees - but many of the science fields require that you have quite a bit of knowledge of other science disciplines. Someone who just says, “I’m going to be a biology major, take a bunch of blow off courses, and mainly focus on one major so i can impress employers” is often going to have a harder in that field than someone who majors in business and wants to get out into the field.

Take biology for example - this field often requires that the individual has some knowledge of physics, chemistry, etc. Most science students aspire to going into research and medicine, which requires a vast knowledge of science related topics. I feel for the most part, your whole post mainly pertains to those going into the business field - I mean, references to management problems, etc - while there is significant oversight for scientific ventures, most people going in those fields NEED a lot of education. Last thing anyone wants is someone working on a cure for aids or cancer who just got 1 degree and took a bunch of blow off courses.

Creativity is important, but I feel for certain fields, you need a base that your creativity can spring from. I mean, how many people have heard of the person who only had a high school education and started some successful business? I’m sure there are plenty of stories out there - but on the other side of the coin, how many people have heard of the person who just took blow off courses and focused on getting out of school and trying to impress employers, within the science field - going into research and becoming doctors? Would you want this kind of doctor operating on you?

By: Matt

Matt — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 06:42:13 +0000

sociology, economics and psychology at the university of delaware. i’m doing that because i have an incredible interest in all three of them. plus, there is certainly a few overlaps here and there. socioeconomics is one of my career options, among many other fields. people attempt more than one major to have as many options as possible. life is about options. think about that next time before you write another article that makes little sense.