This week, I talked to Nate (freshman, English, French, and music), a student at Andrews who has chosen not one, not two, but three majors to dedicate his undergrad years to. Read on to learn more about his experience with juggling his various areas of study and his future plans to put all his majors to use.
What's your name? And what are your majors?
Nate Miller (freshman), and I major in English, French, and music.
What made you decide to do three majors instead of the usual one?
Well, I knew that English and music were areas that I wanted to focus on. But I had the opportunity to take a French culture and cuisine class the year before I came here, and I learned that if you study abroad for a year, you more or less get a major in the language of the country that you study in. For me, it was an opportunity that was just too good to refuse.
Is it difficult balancing the coursework with so many majors?
I don’t think it’s too bad. I think my hardest class so far has been Western Heritage, which is a required Honors class. I still really enjoyed it, though.
Do you think that all your majors complement each other, and do you find commonalities across the disciplines?
Since all my majors are in the humanities, it feels more like a liberal arts degree, and I like that. When I was choosing my areas of study, I wanted a little bit of everything with my majors. It's like, as Professor Corredera says in the original British pronunciation of the word, a buffet.
All right, what is your favorite thing about each major?
I do love my professors, even if the classes get hard at times. I would say the professors across the board are all great. And of course, I just love the subjects, that’s why I had to do all of it.
Is there anything specific to each major that you particularly enjoy?
No. They’re just all cool, and I like them.
What are you planning to do with your three degrees?
You know, just live life.
Are you looking for a job that incorporates all three areas of study?
Does that job even exist? Well, maybe like a choir director because you have to think about the lyrics and kind of the rhythm of the song musically and poetically. So I think I could if I wanted to work in a capacity with choirs and songwriting, but I'm never going to write songs. For me, doing choir recreationally is the most realistic combination of my majors, it would have to be choir recreationally in France to put every single degree to use.
If you could add a fourth major what would it be?
Business. No, actually I would really like biology.
Would you recommend others to do three majors?
Well, in short, I’d recommend it to anyone who loves Andrews and wants to spend as much time as possible on campus taking classes. Personally, I’ve convinced myself that grad school is where the real fun begins, haha.
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