Let’s start by addressing the elephant in the room: it’s a lot of work. But don’t get scared away just yet, there are a ton of really awesome things about being a dual major.

I’m a dual Theater Arts and English (with a concentration in creative writing) major. So aside from bulking up my resume to seem more important, there is also the benefit of a lot of cross concepts. What I mean by that is that there are things that I learn in one major that transfer really nicely into the other.

I also have the benefit of having a larger job market open to me. I have two whole fields of study that could lead to jobs, and anywhere that the two meet is totally AMAZING! Currently, I have a job writing theater articles for a theater based blog; this is totally a dream job for me! There are other places where my two majors intersect: writing grants to get funding for a theater, writing plays, and reviewing theater are just some of the cool places where my two majors meet.

Another big plus of being a dual major is that I have two academic advisors. Not every minor lets you meet with an advisor specifically for that field, so you have to track down a professor in that field to get any questions answered about that field. Usually, you cannot waive or change any of your requirements. However, a dual major can have one class count for two requirements or take a slightly different class to fulfill a requirement.

It’s not really that much more work. I’m a little biased here. I have been a dual major since week three  of my freshman year (literally the earliest the registrar would allow me to be a dual major). So I don’t actually have an accurate measure of how many more credit hours I have to take as a dual major, compared to a single major. I know that, for my program, a specific dual major exists for exactly the program I want. This dual major program takes the vital aspects of both my majors and cuts out or overlaps some of the main courses and electives. However, I have rarely been taking more than one extra class in any given semester compared to my friends who are single majors.

Overall, being a dual major is an awesome opportunity. You basically get two degrees for the price of one! (It is typically just one B.A., not two). If you are even considering it, talk to a professor (or someone else in the major you might pick up). I don’t know anyone who has ever regretted doing it, and it really does open a lot of doors for you!