As a student double majoring in English and psychology with a minor in philosophy, this quarter has been the death of me. My past two years of college had their fair share of hell weeks, but as I reflect on this fall and look ahead, I can feel my soul being sucked out of me. Every week this year will be hell week for me.
Dying inside, I wonder, is double majoring in college really worth it?
Some students choose to double major in related fields, feeling that a complementary major looks better on a resume and gives one an edge on job or graduate school applications.
Then there are people like me who double major in completely different fields, taking care of my daily workout as I run back and forth between North and South Campus. The route of double majoring is tiring to begin with and even more so when your major requirements don’t have any overlap.
Curious to see what others who have completed their unconnected double majors have to say, I interviewed current evolutionary medicine graduate student, Avinash Malaviya, who also completed his bachelor’s degree at UCLA in 2016 in neuroscience and ethnomusicology. He mentioned various struggles that he faced, starting with how juggling and balancing time is a key component to double majoring.
“The most challenging aspect of double majoring in two unrelated areas is when you have class conflicts,” Malaviya said. “It happened fall quarter of my third year: I would have ethnomusicology from 1 to 3 p.m. and neuroscience from 2 to 4 p.m. Every Tuesday and Thursday I had to decide which to skip.”
On top of this, you have to ask yourself what you’re willing to sacrifice. I don’t want to solely be a bookworm, but adding club activities, work and time to spend with friends to two majors’ worth of courses turns me into a walking zombie.
So you leap through all these hurdles – for what? Many people demand to see empirical evidence that this doubled learning will shed some tangible impact on one’s future.
There are benefits – they’re just tricker to see.
Malaviya argues that for him, double majoring in unrelated fields sharpens one’s character and discipline.
“I know that in the future, as a physician, to practice and still make time to perform isn’t something that I would do if I didn’t put myself through the grind in undergrad to see if it’s possible,” he said. “Whether I’m practicing or performing, I need to address my audience. I learned to connect to people on a universal level.”
Tiffany Chow is another UCLA graduate from the class of 2010, who double majored in psychology and political science, and who is currently finishing her postdoctoral degree in cognitive neuroscience at UCLA. Chow spoke highly of the benefit of learning through different lenses while in college.
“You’re exposed to different topics … You can combine and rearrange things … to see different perspectives and new viewpoints on the world,” Chow said.
Professor Gennady Erlikhman went to the University of Pennsylvania for his undergraduate schooling and double majored in cognitive science and philosophy in 2009. He now teaches at UCLA and researches human perception.
In his sensation and perception psychology course, Professor Erlikhman relates scientific material to larger, philosophical questions. This method also helps him realign his own research to its greater purpose.
“It’s helped me in my research to frame my ideas in this broader, more abstract context,” he said. “It’s a guide towards a deeper question; it’s not just collecting little snippets of data, philosophy helps you to form a theory in the bigger picture.”
Erlikhman said times have changed for what the standards of the undergraduate experience should be, but argues that the ability to make judgements and analyses from a holistic approach should not be undervalued.
“I understand that the world has changed and that there’s a need for people to prepare in a more direct or targeted way,” he said. “At the same time, I think an important goal of college is to make educated citizens. That includes things like knowing history, art, philosophy. I want to live in a world where everyone comes out of their college experience as an educated, well-rounded person who we can all have a conversation with.”
I am idealistically in support of well-rounded learning, but I recognize that my beliefs are outdated. The kind of education Erlikhman references is dying out as the world demands for more than just a bachelor’s degree to be competitive after college. Intense specialization and expertise in a field is now preferred rather than an education of breadth.
Despite knowing that, I love my two majors with all my heart. I complain that I’m dying all the time, but there’s a reason I haven’t dropped either of the majors. I value both ways of learning to prepare me for my future careers, but more importantly, to improve me as an individual as a whole.
Maybe I should have gone to a liberal arts school but I didn’t; I am here at UCLA and I’m fortunate enough to be in circumstances that will even allow me to debate whether or not I want to double major. Bearing this in mind, I want to take full advantage of my educational opportunities, even if it means taking on extra classes and having to truly perfect my time management skills.
At the end of the day, while categorizing and specifying helps people to learn and perceive the world, so too do making connections and breaking boundaries. I’m excited to see how I can blend and create meaning out of two such distinct fields.
When people choose unconventional paths, we have to carve out for ourselves what our lives will mean because other people don’t understand why we’ve chosen our path. I would encourage that if one is given the opportunity and has the passion to do so, while training in cross-disciplines comes with a lot of work and stress, if you love it enough, then yes, it will always be worth it.
Hello! I’m also interested in double majoring in two unrelated fields. How soon can you declare a second major and what’s the process for that? What was your credit load for each quarter? Can you complete two unrelated majors within 4 years? Thank you!