Reply to Why Triple Major?

Forum Index » College and University Discussion

Reply to "Why Triple Major?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Someone on the Northwestern thread said it was easy to triple major there.

My question is why? Do employers now want/w pect this? Or are students driving this for done reason.

To me, triple majoring seems so limiting to me. Doesn’t all that focused effort remove the opportunity to try/explore new areas or to learn just for the sake of learning?

FWIW, loved my major in college. And it served me well after I graduated. But I can say the same about most of the electives I took - across many different areas. They helped expose me to the wide world of ideas, and engaged my mind and curiosity, too. I still refer to many of those classes now, 25 years later, though I ne er officially used them “professionally.” [/quote]

I can only speak to my banking employer...but we don't care much about the number of majors (as long as you have one).  Internships and other non-academic aspects are far more important.

If your majors consume so much of your time that you aren't networking with your peers or alums, then don't pursue multiple majors.[/quote]This is an extremely narrow view. This isn’t just about heading into banking. [/quote]
I don't know any career where they are looking for students with triple majors, seeing as it's a pretty unpopular thing to do, even if you have the coursework for one.[/quote]No one is looking for it. That’s why the candidate who has obtained a triple major shines extra brightly. If they have a winning personality and outstanding grades and internship, then, of course, they look better than the average Joe with only 1 major. [/quote]
Do you think people with Double majors look better than people with single majors on a job application, because I can give you a resounding No to that question. They don't. This has so little to do with a job.[/quote]

I mean— it depends. I have the IR/Russian double major kid from several pages ago. IR is her first major as it should be— a broad grounding in what she wants to do. But wow does having a Russian major raise her value.  The interviews and interest she is getting would not be there for straight IR.   There is a desperate need for security clearable Russian speakers right now.

OTOH, if she had a double in IR and history or politics, I might agree but a blanket “doesn’t matter”— maybe to your office in your field. But sometime the second major really adds value. Now a third?  Her two majors are going to take all she has. Any third major would just be cross counting classes she was using for the other two, and maybe getting 1-2 more in summer school. [/quote]

Once more...they want Russian speakers but could care less if you majored in it.  A relative speaks Korean has top-secret security clearance and is in high demand...but didn't major in Korean in college.  
[/quote]

If you aren’t a native Russian speaker (and those who are can have security clearance issues because of relatives in Russia) how do you get Russian language and cultural fluency without majoring in it? Even with a major, getting close to fluent is still very hard in 4 years. My kid is in her second summer of full time language immersion and will still spend a semester abroad to get anything approaching fluent and will take well over the minimum number of classes for the major to get there. It’s not like many high schools offer Russian to give you a head start either.

Sure, if you can manage to be a native speaker and lucky enough not to have ties to Russia that prevent security clearance, you don’t need the major. But, that’s very few kids. The rest need a major, or enough classes to get a major.  Which is why Russian is designated a critical language and the government is throwing money at pipeline programs, as they did with Arabic.

Native Korean speakers are not nearly as rare or as hard to security clear in the US as Russian ones.

So I will edit to say— Russian is value added for IR unless you already speak it fluently and are security clearable. 
[/quote]
You move somewhere that speaks the language for a few months. That's how you gain fluency and cultural knowledge, not just an idea of language instruction. Undergraduate language education is very insufficient in creating quality speakers. It's a dying set of majors, because they don't teach you the necessary skills, especially for a few particularly important languages (Arabic, Chinese, Farsi). If you're applying for jobs, you will be stomped by people who are native/fluent, because why in the world would they hire someone with the qualifications of a BA in Russian for critical government jobs, are you kidding?[/quote]

No, you don’t sit in a classroom in the US for 4 years and get language fluency. But, it’s a way to start.

A few things:

First,  unlike South Korea, Russia isn’t an ally. The opposite. It’s hard to security clear native speakers, especially if they have relatives in Russia. In fact, I have a friend from Russia whose father is still alive and they meet in a third country every summer. Her child is fluent, was born in the US and was told they were not clearable while the grandfather was alive. Sad, but it is what it is. I mean— Yeah! Grandpas dead, now I can get the job I want? Not goodThere is a huge shortage of security clearable speakers of some languages.  She’s getting enormous interest for the Russian major from various governmental entities.

Second, yes. Fluency is hard. First summer of college, DD did 9 weeks of summer school at a critical languages flagship program with a kick you out if you speak English except in an emergency pledge. Not perfect, but a start. Definately jumpstarted the oral/aural part.  Has spent all this summer in a country where I kinda wish she wasn’t because of anti-Russian demonstrations (while she speaks Russian in a Russian home stay situation, take Russian classes, and volunteers in the Russian community— I’ll be glad when she home safely). And will be back overseas in another Russian language homestay in a different country taking next spring semester. And still won’t be fluent. So, plans to apply for CLS next summer and spend the year after college graduation in… wait for it… A COUNTRY WHERE SHE CAN DO MORE RUSSIAN IMMERSION (would love a Fulbright research grant, but her and 1000 other kids so, we’ll see.  Goals are good. So is having a plan B). And then wants Georgetown SFS MARES (again, aim high, but have a plan B), where she would continue the Russian and do her thesis in Russian. After which she hopes to have an MA in IR with Russian and something approaching fluency.

Third, her way is the only way to get there. But, if your goal is Russian policy for the government and you aren’t a native speaker, you can shrug and walk away or you can dig start somewhere.  And my kid isn’t the shrug and walk away type. And Russian 1 is as good a place as any.  She also does things like live in her colleges Russia House, listen to Russian podcasts and watch (bad, she tells me) Russian movies, and volunteers with Ukrainian refugees (telling me she can pick through Ukrainian based on her Russian. I guess they are close).

The major has value.  The amount of value it has directly correlates to the above and beyond you do.  And, in all seriousness, if she’s missing something she can do to get there, please post and let me know. Pretty sure she’d add it to the list. She really wants this. And is freakishly good in languages. [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics