When I started college, I knew I wanted to study Environmental Analysis, I was passionate about it and knew I wanted to work in an environmental field in the future. Being who I am, I knew that once I had decided to major in EA, I would go through with it and there would be no question about it.
In my first semester of college, I was unable to take an EA course and decided to complete some of my general education requirements; I took my Core I class, a history class called Colonial Latin America, an Italian class called Italian Cinema, and another class that I ended up dropping. It was an easy semester, and I think I was still easing into college life which is why I was not doing as much as I knew I could. But at the end of the semester, I realized how much I missed Italian, taking classes, speaking it, and learning more about the culture, so I decided I was likely going to minor in it. Once I set my mind on something I do it, so as soon as I decided I went into the Scripps majors’ catalog to see the Italian minor requirements when I stumbled across the major Foreign Languages.
When I saw this major, I got really excited because It allowed me to continue learning languages and get a degree that showed it. The next semester I started taking Portuguese and had decided to major in both Environmental Analysis (Policy & Society track) and Foreign Languages (Spanish, Italian & Portuguese). When I told my friends that I was finally set on what I was going to do they thought I was crazy and had no idea how I was going to get all my requirements done and still graduate on time. A year later, I can say I am somewhat ahead of schedule for my majors. The main reason I chose to do both majors instead of one was because I am passionate about both areas and do not think I must sacrifice one for the other.
I think there is a misconception that having two majors is going to make your college experience much harder than having only one major or one major and a minor. In high school I was not the most academically inclined student, I enjoyed my extracurricular activities, clubs, sports so it was no surprise I would want to be involved in campus life in college. I am very involved on campus, I’m a member of various clubs, I have a job on campus, I’m part of SAS (Scripps’ student body government), I have an internship position and I also have a social life -during COVID times much of it is online, but still exists.
Since my second semester of college, I have usually taken more than four classes, some full credit some half, and still had a life outside of the classroom as well as been able to check off my requirements on time. If you are wondering whether you will still be able to enjoy college AND be a double/dual major because you are passionate about two different areas, you can do it, I am living proof. My two majors are very different from each other and rarely do my classes count for both majors, in fact till now only one has, but I also know people whose majors are much more related to each other meaning it is easier to get them both done. Overall, you should know that you are capable of doing anything you want, especially if that includes being a double/dual major and I am glad I can do that at Scripps because of the support I have received from my major advisors, my friends, and even my bosses.