Why You Should Double Major

My first reaction is why not?  It’s an awesome idea with very few if any drawbacks, so let’s break it down.  When you double major you focus on two subjects in college, instead of just one.  The subject you major in college is the subject you get your degree in.  So if you are an English major, you get an English degree.  If you double major in English and Political Science, you graduate with two degrees!

Often if you are clever, you can arrange to graduate in four years with a double major, if you take courses that can count for both majors.  You may have to spend one or two extra semesters or quarters at school, but the payoffs of having two diplomas can really make it worth it, so maybe don’t be in such a hurry to get out of school.
There are many benefits to double majoring.  Let’s discuss:

You get to study two cool subjects
You can spend time learning a whole lot about two topics that interest you.  College is one of the very few times in your life when you can really focus on being a student and learning for the sake of learning.  Why not learn about two topics that really intrigue you?

You are twice as marketable for jobs
Often you can also “sell” your other degree to a potential employer since they’d be getting two brains for the price of one. This makes you a more attractive candidate since you are qualified to do two entire jobs or to look at problems and opportunities through two very different lenses. Super helpful!

Your application for grad school will look stronger
This is just true.  Grad school admissions committees are looking to create strong and diverse classes or people with lots of varied background experience.  This makes class discussions and group projects richer and better.  The fact that you are educated in two diverse areas will really appeal to a grad school

You have more job options available to you
In the job market, you can apply for a much broader range of possible jobs, since you will technically be qualified to work in more than one area.  You can also try one area and then migrate if it’s not for you.  Two degrees open up a lot more career paths for you.

You can make connections between very different subjects
One of the main benefits of studying two majors is that it really helps you to be creative and see connections across the two subjects.  To put it in academic parlance: the two subjects really inform one another. This is very helpful because you can apply facts from one discipline to the other and really generate creative new ideas.  Everyone loves that!

Now that you’ve considered double-majoring, which you will surely not regret, it’s probably good for you to know that some really nutty (or awesome?) people also triple major…  Just saying.