The Dual Degree Dilemma

The best part of being a double major is its function as the ultimate Trump Card in the subtle game of Who Has The Most Work To Do? that we all play on a daily basis. Hanging out with engineers complaining about the 370 project they just started and is due Sunday? Mention the 12 hours a week you spend in rehearsals for non-class related projects. Musicians complaining about having to write a three page paper for Musicology? Politely excuse yourself to go study for the Semiconductor Device Fundamentals midterm next week.

The worst part of being a double major? That moment after you have first met someone and they ask you, “What are you majoring in?” You reply, and at first the look of surprise on their face makes you feel great about your choice and the sacrifices you make to handle the required course load. But then, the criticism starts. From both musicians and engineers I have been told that because I am a double major there is no way I can be successful in either career. From peers who claim that I do not care about music because I “have no desire to be the conductor of a small town church choir located somewhere in the Bible Belt”, to faculty advisers who would not help me choose the best technical electives until I had “dropped my other major and was serious about engineering”, there are few people who genuinely believe that my choice to double major was a good and valid decision.

Earlier today, a professor told me “Double majors are for the undecided” upon overhearing my conversation with another student, and this is one of the first critiques I actually agree with. I am undecided. Though I am a junior, I do not know what I want to do when I graduate. Do I want to work? If so, do I work as a musician or as an engineer? Do I want to go to grad school? If so, do I pursue a Masters in Music, Engineering, Business or Law; all of which I have seriously considered within the past month? Even within Electrical Engineering: do I want to focus on Digital Signal Processing or Power?

So yes, I am undecided, but I do not think that is a bad thing. In a world as volatile as ours, who is to say what any of us will be doing in 10 years? My indecisive choice to not choose means that I would be happy in either field. By pursuing higher education in both, I am affording myself a larger scope of opportunities later in life rather than limiting myself when I have demonstrated that I am perfectly capable of managing both majors.

It was Albert Einstein who said “If at first the idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it” and yes, a double major in Vocal Performance and Electrical Engineering is unconventional at best, and an absurd waste of time at worst. But, until the day comes when my performance in one field is negatively impacted by my involvement in the other, I do not see the folly in my refusal to choose, rather, hope for others to recognize its merit.