In just over 20 years, the percentage of double majors increased by 75 percent. In the class of 1980, almost 18 percent of graduates were double majors. In the class of 2003, the number rose to almost 24 percent of the graduates.
The class of 1993 had 155 double majors, the greatest number of double majors in the past 20 years at the College. In the following years there was a slight decline in the number of double majors.
However, starting with the class of 2000, the number of double majors began to rise again. There also has been an increase in the number of triple majors. In the class of 2003 there were three triple majors; the year before there was only one.
According to Dean of Students Ben Lieber, the dramatic increase in the number of students who are double majors might be attributable to fewer available jobs for college graduates because of the recent poor economic situation. "The rise is probably due to students' wanting to be able to write two majors on their resumes. In the 60s and 70s the job competition was looser and more students were going straight to graduate school. That is not so anymore," he said.
Lieber added that he tends to discourage students from double majoring. He advises students to do so only if they want to take every class that the major requires. "It is more important for students to take classes that interest them and to build relationships with their teachers," he said.
Professor of Political Science Pavel Machala, chair of the political science department, also suspects that improving employment opportunities may be the cause of the rise in double majors. "I think [students] think that [double majoring] is good for their record. They think it makes them more marketable," he said.
Machala is worried about the change in students that he has noticed. "As an advisor, [I have found that] students are more structured, more focused, less playful," he said. "They are counting how many semesters they have left to squeeze their major courses into. It is less fun to advise because students primarily concentrate on fulfilling their requirements."
Professor of Law, Jurisprudence and Social Thought Austin Sarat, chair of the LJST department, suspects that the rise in the percentage of double majors is the result of students' desire for recognition. "I think that [the increase] results from external pressure to credentialize. That pressure is continuous with the experience students have learned almost from birth and that is to get things, to get recognized, to get achievements," he said. "With a place like Amherst, in which everyone comes very highly credentialized, double majors allow for a little bit of market differential."
Professor of English Karen Sanchez-Eppler, chair of the English department, offers other possible reasons that more students have chosen to pursue a double major. She believes it may be due to the open curriculum. "I think often students want more structure and double majoring is one way to achieve that," she said. "Also in the true spirit of the liberal arts many of our students have diverse talents and double majoring is a good way of honing and demonstrating those various strengths."
Sanchez-Eppler doubts that students double major purely to increase their appeal to employers. "There may be more cynical reasons as well in terms of resume building, but I don't actually think that in most cases this makes much difference to graduate schools or employers, so I would be surprised to find it a major motivation for our students," she said.
Indeed, students have a variety of reasons for why they chose to pursue a double major or to simply stick with one. "I didn't want to spread myself too thin," said Kathy Liu '06, an economics major. John Lian '06 approached his decision differently. "I have more than enough time, so I figured, why not do a second major?"
Other students do not even consider major requirements when compiling course schedules. "I have chosen classes according to my interests, not with any specific major goals in mind," said Zachary Sugarman '05. "My interests have brought me to an economics major. In order to double major, I would have had to commit about two-thirds of my courses to two departments. I didn't want to be that constricted in my course selection. I have taken five political science courses and would have liked to minor in that department but that option is not available."