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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]A very unimpressive student at my college was a triple major.  The three majors were nearly identical in requirements.  The idea that he triple majored made him into a walking joke.[/quote]

But there are plenty who are not like that.

I double majored.  CS (from Eng School)/Engineering  and Music Performance.  Long before it was popular.  I had nearly 6 years of courses to cram into 5 (and I took more music courses than required, so really took 6.5 years of classes in 5).  And this was way before AP was popular (I had two AP courses offered at my HS)  There was no overlap.  There were others who did CAS and Music (that was more popular as only 5 years of courses so "easier" to complete).

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Can you walk me through the logic on this?  I am not paying for an extra year or two of college for my kid to double major where the majors aren't complementary.  I get majoring in say Economics and French and then working for the IMF (I don't even know if the IMF wants someone like this...but I assume it helps).

Was this because you wanted to be a professional musician, but needed practical skills so you could support yourself with a day job while you pursue music?

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I grew up LMC/poor.  I had goals of becoming a professional musician and had the skills to support that.  For example: I was in the top 3-4 players for my instrument every quarter at Northwestern (of the 5 years), including my freshman year.  I spent my last 3 years competing for the top spot (I was always 1 or 2) with another cohort.  That cohort is now an assistant "instrument X" in one of the top 10 orchestras in the US (and has been for 20+years).

However, I was smart enough to know I needed a backup plan.  I was also top of my class, graduated NU with a 3.9+ (despite all of the overloading each quarter in engineering/CS).  So I was a top STEM student with a drive to succeed.   My parents told me "whatever you major in, you are on your own once you finish college.  We highly encourage you to spend the 5th year and get a double degree so you can easily support yourself with something you love if music doesn't work out"

I got internships in STEM after 2nd year which led to an amazing full time job offer on graduation, with grad school fully funded.  So I went the STEM route because having grown up poor, I wanted to enjoy life and not struggle to pay the bills.  I followed music as a passion on the side, taught private lessons, played in local group and subbed in paid positions until I had kids.  Also taught music some once kids were in school.

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