Should I Double Major??

What do you think?

Background

So I will take the LSAT (again) and apply to law schools in October then be ready to graduate in December. However, there’s a chance that I will only be accepted to my ’safety net’/plan B law schools… when I get to that bridge– March or so– maybe I’ll be ok with that and decide to go to a smaller law school in Texas. Until last night that was about my plan- I’m going to law school no matter what. But what if I can do better than that? Or at least what if I could already be working on Plan B while waiting to see how Plan A pans out? I spent an hour last night talking to my parents about my options. Here’s the scenario we came up with:

What if I stay in school and double major?

Options

I could take a class or two toward it in the fall along with the classes I’m taking to wrap up my current major in Clinical and Developmental Psychology and minor in Business Management, and instead of graduating in December continue my undergrad while I wait. I will hear back from the schools in March, April, May and in the mean time be plowing away at my new major. Come late spring I could either accept entrance into a law school that I really want to go to and drop my second major to apply for graduation in August, or I could decline the offers and stay in school for 2009 to get another degree. Not only could I up my overall GPA (barely though), but I could double major with a minor, and have a higher GPA in my second major. I would also spend my extra year or two in school seeing if I can up my LSAT score if I wanted, and starting January I will get a job working as a paralegal in a law firm, or a law clerk at a courthouse or something, and perhaps get another letter of recommendation.

Major

What would I major in you ask? Well I would want something both relevant to my interest and life goals as well as one that can secure me a job post-graduation in the off chance I decide I don’t want to continue on to law school at that point (like my BS in psychology that by itself is about as worthless as a high school diploma). Scrolling through the list of undergraduate majors (something I haven’t done in 3 years), the ones that interest me have to do with literature, reading and writing, logical reasoning…

Saint Francis of Assisi said, “When you work with your hands, you are a laborer. When you work with your hands and your head, you are a craftsman. If you work with your hands, your head, your heart and your soul, you are an artist.”

I have always admired the ability that some writers have to spin the yarn, to create a vivid story. When I admire the ability to ‘express oneself’ I’m not talking about some abstract artsy poetry (although that’s all fine and well). I mean the ability to write clearly and concisely. In college they teach you the basics: write an intro paragraph, a concise thesis and then in body paragraphs you state your points and give examples and support for your points, then wrap it up nicely with a conclusion. For some reason I find this simple template comforting, perhaps in the same way some are drawn to the cold mechanical logic of math. To be logical and explain something difficult like thoughts or emotions in such a way that the reader is drawn in is a gift. Surely you have read a book that you simply could not put down. You would begin reading and before you knew it you were 30 pages ahead. You’d hear a sound and ’snap out of it’, look around and realize for the past few minutes you were sucked in by great writing. The kind of writing where you can identify with what is happening. It’s so… human, so universal, and yet you feel uniquely affected by it. I like seeing people’s reaction to famous books. The books that EVERYONE loves because it’s so well written. To apply that to the courtroom- a trial lawyer who can take a bunch of random facts, stories, documents, etc. and sift through them to find the wheat from the tares; one that can then create a coherent storyline to share with jurors and can connect with them… I think that’s a skill I would love to have. I have a book by Stephen King, it’s call On Writing in which he explains his craft. I’ll have to write a review on it sometime. By the way, “The Craft” is a fantastic nickname. I would love to be known as “that great writer” or something. Anyways, enough of vain pride.

What major? Something under the umbrella of English. I haven’t fully explored the ins and outs of the different majors yet. I’ll be looking at how long they take to complete, what skills the major will teach me, how useful is the major as a stand alone degree (Psychology would score a one on that scale), etc. So with not much homework there is one major that I find alluring:

BA Communications: Print Journalism Emphasis

In bold are the parts I’m particularly interested in.

The Discipline

Journalism is a mass media process that provides factual [that can be argued] and relevant information for democratic decision making, community building, and public deliberation. Students will acquire skills in effective interviewing, analytical thinking, and lucid writing and storytelling. To develop a wide understanding of the world and the processes that make society work, students are encouraged to earn more than 60 percent of their credits in other departments. Students will become familiar with methods of writing that target mass audiences and help citizens work through community problems and issues. With contemporary journalists working for newspapers, magazines, and new media, students will be offered courses in media law and ethics, journalistic research methods, feature writing, in-depth reporting, publication design, new media, media processes, and public opinion. Print journalism students may choose either a traditional news-editorial track or qualify for a news design and new media track.

Career Opportunities

In the exciting field of journalism, traditionally there has been the allure of working in a profession that has its finger on the changing pulse of society. Whether serving as reporters on television, radio, cable, online, daily newspapers, the community press, or in the magazine field, journalists find themselves rubbing shoulders with important people and recording important events.

A career in journalism implies not only skill with words, but the ability to make sound judgments and to ferret out facts. In addition to the obvious careers as reporters and editors, students often find their journalism skills in demand in a variety of other areas.

Many find the challenge of recording the drama of real life both satisfying and enlightening. Because of television, journalism has changed in recent years, but even though there has been a decline in the number of daily newspapers, an explosion of special interest magazines and online publishing has opened up jobs for writers and editors. These changes call for greater skill in writing to be able to visualize the world in an interesting way. Overall, one of journalism’s great satisfactions has been the sense that one can make a difference in the world and bring about changes for the better.

Anyways, I’d love to hear your thoughts (especially if you actually know me).

P.s. For the record I very much enjoyed my studies in psychology. I wanted to study psychology not only to become a psychologist/therapist, but to learn about human nature, emotion, affect, and behavior. I find it fascinating and believe it has taught me a lot.