So you have two loves (for me they are science and English) or maybe you’re hoping to expand you prospects of finding a job post graduation. Whatever your reasoning is, you’ve chosen to double major. You are aware that you will be in college a lot longer, be spending more money, and that it will be a long, terrible, stressful struggle. In the end it will be worth it, but right now your caffeinated brain can’t think of why you decided to put yourself through this. So here are 10 struggles of being a double major (as time passes I’m sure I’ll discover more).
1. 18 credit hours every single semester (plus summer classes). There is no other way.
I’m sure all those campus events are fun. Too bad you never have time to go to them because taking the maximum credit hours and working pretty much eliminates any amount of free time whatsoever. Unless it involves free food and you can bring your textbook along you won’t be there.
2. So much reading.
You’re pretty sure you will be blind by the time you graduate with the amount of reading assignment you are forced to do every week. On the plus side, your vocabulary can dumbfound any and every one of your classmates.
3. People look at you with a mixture of awe and pity when you tell them you’ve decided to double major.
You dread those Christmas parties and family reunions when people ask over and over what you plan to do with your double major and ask you if double majoring is hard.
4. You see selfies of your friends on vacations and die a little on the inside.
Spring break? More like study break. You would have liked to go to Europe with your bestie on summer vacation but you have summer classes five days a week for 7 hours a day.
5. Trying to balance grades, your physical health, a social life, family, and work is beyond impossible.
Pick 2. Only two and devote all of your time to those two.
6. You’re constantly reevaluating yourself and your life.
What if you never graduate? What if you still can’t find a job? Will you survive? What if you can’t pass organic chemistry? What if the world ends before you graduate?
7. You don’t even try to look cute for class anymore.
Looking cute is for people who have time, money, and a life. You have none so you figure why bother. You don’t even have nice clothes because your idea of a night out is the DQ or Taco John’s drive-thru. You’d much rather get 4 hours of sleep instead of two. Looking like something the cat dragged in is not a problem because you are thankful for the extra sleep that would have been spent otherwise on your hair and makeup (currently the only makeup you wear is to cover up the lack of sleep induced circles under your eyes).
8. When you find another double major student you two immediately bond.
Finally you have someone you can complain about the struggles to who will actually understand and empathize!
9. When someone texts you “what’s up” the answer is always the same.
You are either studying, doing homework, getting coffee, or crying. Often all of the above.
10. Speaking of coffee….
Coffee is your lifeblood. You are past the point of sweet frappes and Starbucks. You prefer your coffee to be strong, black, and in large quantities throughout the day and night. On especially stressful days you can often be found snacking on plain espresso beans.
You may complain relentlessly about being a double major and it is most definitely not for the weak. But you have found two areas that you are passionate enough about to major instead of merely minor in. You are a strong, diligent, and intelligent individual with an unquenchable thirst for knowledge. You enjoy college, the classes, and the process of filling your cranium with thick textbooks of new material. Regardless whether it is the morphology of the crayfish or the Pythagorean theorem, (whichever excites you more) you can be proud of your accomplishments. You have succeeded at your life goals and have surpassed your fellow students. Congratulations you overachiever you.
