2008 Woodie Awards
Dueling with majors
Kelsey Shannon
Issue date: 1/15/03 Section: Commentary
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I am pursuing a double major in government and economics (it's true, you can check my tagline) and a minor in English. I just don't have the damnedest idea why. And I do not think many other people do, either.
Here's the thing. It is very easy to finish a double major, or a major and two minors or half a dozen majors and a bottle of peach schnapps, so long as you start early and keep your eyes on the very dubious prize. In the College, most majors require only ten classes. With roughly another ten classes for the school's core requirement, a student pursuing a double major only needs to complete 30 classes, give or take. With the right Advanced Placement credits, this number can drop by two, three, four or even more. A student with a good idea of what he or she wants to major in by sophomore year will have no problems meeting these minimum requirements.
So we all can do it. But just because we can does not mean we should. There are very few good reasons to have a double major (the less restrictive minors are, perhaps, more defensible). Even the noblest motivations for double majoring -- a wish to combine particular fields in a search for true enlightenment -- fail when put to a logical test. The only good reason is a somewhat cynical one, an attempt to balance an academic major such as English with a job-producing major like accounting. Of course, at Georgetown as at most other institutions, one's opportunities to do this are severely limited by the inability of liberal arts majors to cross-major in the business school.
Anyone with no other goal than to expand his or education would be foolish to go for a second major. A major's requirements are necessarily limiting -- not only in numbers, but also in particulars. In no major does a student have complete discretion in choosing each one of his or her classes in a department. Certain classes or types of classes are required in every major. No one is equally interested in or educated by every one of these classes. Certain courses inevitable appeal more to different people.
Here's the thing. It is very easy to finish a double major, or a major and two minors or half a dozen majors and a bottle of peach schnapps, so long as you start early and keep your eyes on the very dubious prize. In the College, most majors require only ten classes. With roughly another ten classes for the school's core requirement, a student pursuing a double major only needs to complete 30 classes, give or take. With the right Advanced Placement credits, this number can drop by two, three, four or even more. A student with a good idea of what he or she wants to major in by sophomore year will have no problems meeting these minimum requirements.
So we all can do it. But just because we can does not mean we should. There are very few good reasons to have a double major (the less restrictive minors are, perhaps, more defensible). Even the noblest motivations for double majoring -- a wish to combine particular fields in a search for true enlightenment -- fail when put to a logical test. The only good reason is a somewhat cynical one, an attempt to balance an academic major such as English with a job-producing major like accounting. Of course, at Georgetown as at most other institutions, one's opportunities to do this are severely limited by the inability of liberal arts majors to cross-major in the business school.
Anyone with no other goal than to expand his or education would be foolish to go for a second major. A major's requirements are necessarily limiting -- not only in numbers, but also in particulars. In no major does a student have complete discretion in choosing each one of his or her classes in a department. Certain classes or types of classes are required in every major. No one is equally interested in or educated by every one of these classes. Certain courses inevitable appeal more to different people.