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6B Wednesday, March 23, 2011 The Statement
MULTIPLE MAJORS
Ambitious students juggle several concentrations on
By Stephen Ostrowski interdisciplinary academic paths
Wednesday, 0 3B
news in review
Five of the most talked-about stories of the week, ranked in ascending order of actual importance
AT&T bought T-Mobile for about
$39 billion on Sunday. The cash-
and-stock deal will make AT&T
the biggest telephone company
in the United States. The deal will
give AT&T about 129 million more
customers.
To some, it might be ironic that LSA junior Xiaoxi-
ao Liu calls himself a "risk-averse person."
After all, the Beijing native in pursuing a triple
concentration in actuarial mathematics, econom-
ably don't think Ihave a life with three majors," Liu joked.
The Stage Economist
ics and statistics. According to data obtained from the office Many University students take advantage of Multiple
of Student Academic Affairs, of the 16,162 LSA students reg- Dependent Degree Programs, which allow them to pursue
istered for the winter 2011 semester, only 65 students are tri- cross-college degrees.
ple concentrators - less than 1 percent of the LSA students, Music, Theatre & Dance and LSA junior Emily Berman is
and considerably less than the 1,922 double concentrators one of 168 School of Music, Theatre & Dance students pur-
currently registered with LSA. suing a degree in LSA. Berman came to the University as a
By the numbers, Liu is in sparse company. However, mul- prospective chemistry major, but switched to the theatre
tiple concentration and dual-degree University students program after successfully auditioning for the department
reap the benefits and withstand the difficulties inevitable to during the winter semester of her freshman year.
intense immersion in separate academic disciplines. Berman, a performance BFA with a concentration in act-
ing, said the small size of the Music, Theatre & Dance School
The Triple Threat - its population stands at about 1,050 students - has pro-
vided her with a more intimate interaction with advisors
Liu transferred to the University after his freshman year and eased the cross-college path.
at Michigan State University. Having already set his sights "The advisor in the music school said I should probably
on concentrations in actuarial mathematics and economics, chose the music school as the home school because they're
Liu decided to secure a statistics major in an effort to add to really good about taking care of dual-degree students, and
his intellectual skill set. I found that to be the case instantly," Berman said. "It's a
"I realized I actually need some more like statistical anal- smaller school. It's easier to get on a first name basis with
ysis skill and like some knowledge about it," Liu said. "So I the registrar."
just decided to major in stats as well." As a sophomore, Berman decided to concentrate in eco-
Liu attests that course overlapping between the three nomics. The smaller credit requirement of that degree, com-
departments help reduce the difficulty of pared to requirements of a theatre concentration,
his course load, which requires makes both degrees obtainable.
an average of 16 or 17 credits Despite their apparent incongru-
a semester in addition to ence, Berman ascribes an over-
spring classes. "Until one thing is the only thing arching similarity between
Nonetheless, Liu you can possibly see yourself doing, theatre and economics.
admits to periods of you want to do as much as you humanly "In both cases, it's the
duress and he laments
the limited opportunity can because all of that feeds into
- to take classes outside of experiences and life."
his concentration areas. --Emily Berman'
"If I drop one major, it means
like heaven to me because I can take
psychology classes or I can take some other class I real-
ly enjoy doing," Liu said. "But it happens to me a lot. But I
mean, you need to be strong over yourself. It looks bad if you
like, on transcripts say you've declared and then undeclared
it."
Given that his schedule affords little room to repeat a
class - because some courses are not offered on a yearly
basis - there is high pressure to earn satisfactory grades.
Despite its difficulties however, his triple concentration
offers Liu numerous advantages. In particular, Liu believes
it will result in numerous employment or educational
options after graduation.
It also lends him a broad base of knowledge that he can
leverage in interview settings. Liu, an aspiring actuarial
analyst, notes with a good-humored caveat that prospective
employers seem to appreciate his ability to efficiently man-
age three concentrations.
"They are all pretty impressed about it, but I don't know if
it really helps me to do anything good because ... they prob-
fact that it's a study of human beings, and the little decisions
they make, andahow the decisions they make effect all the
human beings around them and their decisions," Berman
said. "It's about network effects between people and deci-
sion making."
While Berman appreciates the variety afforded by a quan-
titative degree and a qualitative degree, and has learned to
better manage the workload of the respective disciplines,
she professes that dual-school status can be turbulent at
times.
"They're just such different mindsets that sometimes
I have trouble switching right away from coming out of a
theatre class where we're delving into these really intense
scenes, and then sitting down and doing econ or stats can be
kind of tricky," Berman said.
Though potentially restrained in the extent to which she
can explore both disciplines, Berman does not believe that
she is limiting her educational or intellectual growth.
."Until one thing is the only thing you can possibly see
yourself doing, you want to do as much as you humanly can
because all of that feeds into experiences and life," Berman
said.
The Violist as Educator
Another student transcending a single degree from the
Music, Theatre, & Dance School is freshman Dan Brown, a
viola performance major who plans to apply to the Univer-
sity's two-year School of Education program at the end of
his sophomore year. If admitted, Brown will concentrate in
French, complemented by a German minor.
According to Brown, the trend of disappearing symphony
jobs prompted him to reevaluate his career options and con-
sider the School of Education. If joining a symphony should
prove unattainable, he plans to teach French.
"I always knew that music was competitive," Brown said.
"I was fine with that. I'm happy with a competitive edge, and
I'll go for that. But if symphonies are literally disappearing,
there are no jobs available, it doesn't matter how good I am."
Though his heavy course load demands that he also take
classes during the spring semester, Brown said consulting
School of Education advisors has thus far been helpful in
planning his forthcoming semesters.
Potentially problematic for Brown is the scheduling con-
flict between his education courses and, perthe requirements
of his music scholarships, the necessary orchestra class he
must take each semester. He also will not be able totake many
music electives, which he calls his "biggest sacrifice."
But despite any surfacing logistical friction, Brown is con-
fident in his ability to split time between both schools.
"Growing up in high school, you have the public school
and then you have music," Brown said. "When you get here,
it's really no different."
Business and Engineering
college of Engineering and Ross School of Business senior
Zubair Ahsan is part of the very select community of Univer-
Evidence of radioactivity was
found in spinach and milk in farms
90 miles away from Japanese
nuclear plants on Sunday. This is
a result of the damaged reactors
that were destroyed in the tsunami
that hit Japan March 11.
Four journalists from The New Egyptians voted to change Eygpt's
York Times were released from constitution on Sunday. The voters
Libyan rebels into the custody of approved a referendum that would
Turkish diplomats on Sunday after limit the president to serving two
being detained for six days. They four-year terms and make it easier
were captured in the eastern town for candidates to participate in the
of Ajdabiya. election process.
JAMUU V
President Barack Obama
announced that the U.S. and
Europe will target Muammar el-
Qaddafi's air defense systems by
firing numerous Tomahawk mis-
siles. An attack of this scale has
not occurred since the Iraq War.
-- ------
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 971A
quotes of the week from the archives
"This is a government blockage, carefully designed Teutmt~eia adventure
to look like the problem is with Gmail."
GOOGLE in a statement on Sunday commenting that China is blocking
their e-mail program from the Chinese public.
"The way I can explain it is that the bullet grazed
me in my right hand... I heard blow, blow, blow and 4
I just looked at my hand."
WYCLEF JEAN to The Associated Press following his release from a
hospital after getting shot in Haiti.
ILLUSTRATION BY JAKE FROM
W henever you're feeling inactive, don't compare yourself to superstar
te r ulescyclist and Michigan alum Xiaoyu Shi. Published on Sept 25, 2007, Shi
was featured in The Michigan Daily for having a ambitious summer
goal - biking across America, by himself, starting in Oregon. He embarked on the
No. 324: No. 325: No. 326: endeavor because he felt academics were taking precedent over physical activity
It's not a good The two week- Sometimes reading during his sophomore year.
His journey started on May 16. He rode his bike for a total of 71 days across
idea to get excited long celebration of for pleasure is more a terrain of 4,500 miles. Shi decided he needed a charity to fund his adventure.
for spring yet. St. Patrick is now important than When the article was written in September, he had compiled a little less than two
Save yourself the over. Find another studying for your grand. At one point in his biking extravaganza, he temporarily lost hearing in his
ear. He later found out that his hearing loss was caused by a BB pellet. After biking
disappointment. excuse to drink. exam. across the United States, Shi ended his journey in Yorktown, Va. on July 25.
by the numbers
COURTESY OF THE NEW YORK TIMES
Millions of voters who approved of the Millions of Egyptian voters who voted Percent of elligible voters who voted,
new Egyptian constitution on Sunday. against the amendments to the constitution. breaking turnout records from recent
elections.