Interest in double majoring, or pursuing two degrees at the same time, is growing.
The number of students who have graduated from ASU with two degrees increased from 188 in 2001 to 229 in 2004, a slight increase considering increased enrollment figures, according to information gathered by the ASU Office of Institutional Analysis.
Languages and Literatures Adviser Beth Glessner-Calkins said double degrees and other degree supplements such as minors and certificates allow students to prepare for a more focused career.
Some students pair foreign language degrees, for instance, with business if their goal is to find a field where foreign languages are in demand, Glessner-Calkins said.
"They don't really want to be the accountant," she said. "They want to be the person using their foreign languages in the business arena."
Approximately half of all Spanish majors are seeking additional degrees, she added.
But, she said, foreign languages are not the only degrees that lend themselves to being coupled with others -- nearly any degree is a good candidate.
Political science and economics sophomore Ann Sitte said she chose to couple her majors because she was interested in both areas and saw many common ties between them.
"I just found that they overlapped a lot," she said. "Knowledge in one is really helpful in another."
Sitte said she considered a minor in one of the areas but found she needed to take only a few extra courses to graduate with two degrees.
While a second major will not usually set back a student's graduation date, there are options en lieu of concurrent majors if students have time constraints, Glessner-Calkins said.
These options can include minors, certificates and even additional course work in an interest area.
"Even some enhancements might be identifiable as a minor," she said.
Minors generally provide an overview of the subject instead of the in-depth work a degree requires.
Margaret Acosta, adviser for undergraduate students in the Harrington Department of Bioengineering at the Ira A. Fulton School of Engineering, said students often opt for minors rather than second majors because of very specific course requirements in the major.
"Minors are very popular, like foreign language minors and business," Acosta said.
She said minors help in the career fields many students choose after graduation.
"When students apply to medical school, [universities] definitely look for students who have some sort of background in Spanish," she said.
W. P. Carey School of Business adviser John Reavis said many business students pursue other majors and minors and other students often look to business to supplement their own degree.
Business is one of the most popular minors on campus and is the most popular field used in bachelors of interdisciplinary studies, where students essentially choose two minors and then work at taking core classes to relate the areas to one another, Reavis said.
Nursing senior Laura Stowe is pursuing a certificate in Asian Pacific American studies. She said the certificate was of personal interest because she is Asian Pacific American and because it gives a humanity counterpart to her nursing major.
"[Nursing is] largely scientific," she said. "They don't teach cultural sensitivity and I think that's important."
Reach the reporter at rkost@asu.edu.
