Triple Majors Aren’t Unicorns
I once heard triple majors at Rochester referred to as unicorns because they are so rare. As a triple major, I don’t think we’re all that mythical. We’re more like a narwhal – definitely real, but you don’t see them everyday.
When I tell people that I have three majors, I get a lot of eyebrow raises followed by some questions; the first being: “In what?”
English: Language, Media, and Communications; Psychology; and Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies. It’s a mouthful.
The next is: “Why?”
I never planned on having three majors or even thought it was a possibility. I knew I wanted to be an English major the summer going into my first year, but it wasn’t until after I took Writing 105 (the one mandatory class in the Rochester Curriculum) in Transnational Feminism, that I discovered my love for Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s studies. Many of the GSWS courses that I was interested in were cross listed as Psychology courses. I was planning on minoring in Psychology, but when I went to my Psych 101 professor’s office hours, she convinced me to major. So, that’s how I came to have three majors!
The other question is: “How?”
Having three majors is not the easiest, but it helps that the courses here combine so many disciplines – especially in the humanities. It’s one of the things I love most about the university. Everyone has such multifaceted interests, and there is space inside the classroom to explore those intersections through cross listings. For example, I took a class called Guilt as a GSWS course, but it was also a Film and Media Studies course as well as a Religion class. This not only allowed me to interact with course material that was interdisciplinary, but the class itself was made up of people from different academic backgrounds, which made it so engaging. I was able to use the cross listings to take courses that counted toward my majors like On the Move which was a gender studies film course about documentary as a medium. The intersection of all three majors helped me figure out that my intellectual curiosity was in gender representation in the media – specifically film and television. But these cross-disciplinary courses aren’t just within the humanities. I took Psychology of Gender, which combined Psychology and Gender Studies to look at social behaviors. There are even courses like Material Matters where art students get to collaborate with biomedical engineering majors to work collaboratively.
Being a triple major is definitely not impossible. It just takes some organizing to make sure you’re staying on top of the requirements of each major and the Rochester Curriculum. I’ve had an ongoing (and color coded) 4-year plan since the fall semester of my first year, which has helped me make sure I’m checking all the boxes and staying on track. A lot has changed since I first made it, but as I’m approaching my last semester of college, I’m so thankful to have had this unique experience. I learned a lot about academic interests, but also about myself as a person. There were times that I was overwhelmed by coursework and life in general, but knowing I had a whole support system of friends and professors was such a comfort. Not to mention all the departments on campus put in place to help students succeed; from your academic advisor, the Center for Excellence in Teaching And Learning and First-Year Fellow (an upperclassman who lives on your hall as an academic resource) just to name a few. And of course, we can’t forget the solidarity of our fellow narwhals. They might be uncommon, but they are very real, willing to share their experiences, and lend a helping hand, or horn.