Is double majoring overrated?

Whether their reasons are to please parents, impress graduate schools and prospective employers, or to explore interests in several academic fields, the percentage of students who have graduated with double majors in recent years has risen. But professors and the administration view this increase as a potentially negative indicator of the student body's academic muscle.

The mark of a successful academic career as an undergraduate is not the accumulation of majors and minors, according to Tufts faculty and administration.

"Students consider the process of majoring as a checking off of boxes, a r?©sum?©-building activity, but that strategy does not allow college students to take advantage of college," Dean of the Colleges Charles Inouye said. "The notion [should be] to discover your mission and become an effective person."

The problem in the way that undergraduates approach majors, Inouye said. Students "...don't understand the importance of doing something really well because we don't raise the question early enough of what really is [a student's] intellectual passion and what [a student is] going to do about it," he said.

The administration's statistics indicate that in the past three years, the University has graduated more and more seniors with double majors and fewer students who have completed senior theses.

In 2000, 25.5 percent of the graduating class double majored. In 2001, the number was 29.7 percent, and last year 31.7 percent of seniors completed double majors. While 7.3 percent of seniors completed senior thesis in 2000, the number dropped to 6.7 percent last May.

Inouye sees this trend as bad because completing a double major instead of a senior thesis can be a poor decision, according to Inouye, as it precludes students from taking advantage of the option of working closely with faculty.

One reason double-majoring is on the rise is that some popular academic programs require students to take many classes in other fields. Tufts is well-known for its International Relations program, and student who major in IR find that the discipline's requirements almost encourage a double major in Economics or a foreign language.

According to Assistant Director of the International Relations program John Jenke, the past ten years have seen an approximately ten percent increase in the number of IR students who double-major. Currently, 41 percent of IR majors are double majors. When the sophomore class as a whole completes declaring its majors, though, Jenke expects that number to jump to nearly 50 percent.

Students often think that a double major will strengthen their academic record, but Jenke disagrees. Double-majoring "is an utterly meaningless gesture that grad schools and employers don't care about," Jenke claims. "If it's not going to add any value to your education, I don't encourage it at all."

Other professors say that double majoring should only be done if for the right reasons. That "right reason," according to Political Science chair James Glaser said, is that a student "can't get enough of the subjects." He contends that a double major or minor is not a credential for a resume, as "the credential is the Tufts degree and GPA and the recommendations from [a students'] professors."

Double majoring can actually work against students when they go to apply for jobs, according to Economics Department Chair Gib Metcalf. Multiples majors may "raise a flag" to perspective employers "that the student has not gone into anything into depth and has not developed a deep interest," he said.

Employers, according to Metcalf, seek people who are able to develop and work on a project and commit themselves to it. "They look for evidence of serious interest."

But some majors, such as Community Health and Environmental Studies, require that students complete double majors. Other than in these cases, though, Biology Department Chair Harry Bernheim suggests that it may be more worthwhile for students to be eclectic in their choice of courses. "This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to pursue a cafeteria assortment of interests," Bernheim said.

But not all professors are skeptical of double majoring, like Math Department Chair Christoph Borgers. He is "not sure that students double major only for career oriented reasons." In general, mathematics majors who double major choose economics or computer science as their second major, although last year one student triple majored in physics, mathematics and politicals. Other previous combinations include mathematics and music and mathematics and geology.

"We like students to double major," Borgers said.