Students making major strides
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
9/19/2007
They are super accomplished, super ambitious and proving to be super students.
After climbing to the top of their high-school classes, more students at Ohio State University are pursuing double, triple and even quadruple majors.
“These are smart, well-prepared kids who, faced with an uncertain job market, are hedging their bets by getting a diverse education,” said Linda Harlow, associate provost and director of the University Honors & Scholars Center.
Of the 5,120 OSU graduates last spring, more than 11 percent had two or more majors, compared with 6 percent a decade ago.
For the past few years, the most-popular majors have been biology, psychology and political science.
Many super achievers start with a single major but quickly learn that one isn’t enough to satisfy their intellectual curiosity.
“I want to do something significant in life,” said Jessica Hanzlik, 21, of Pickerington. “You don’t just go to college to get a job but to better develop your life and learning skills.”
She is one of about 52,000 OSU students and more than 23,000 students at Columbus State Community College who will start fall quarter today. Hanzlik started as a math major but discovered physics was where her professional passion lay. She also enjoyed learning languages and had taken French all through high school.
Instead of agonizing over choosing one subject, she decided to pursue them all, by majoring in physics and French and minoring in math. And because she started work on a thesis about why there are more female scientists in France than the United States, Hanzlik is considering adding a minor in women’s studies.
Other students declare multiple majors from the beginning and keep adding as they go along.
“I’ve always wanted to get a Ph.D. and be a professor,” said Julie Starzynski, 21, of Strongsville near Cleveland. “I chose my majors in preparation.”
She is majoring in English, history and German and minoring in Russian. Arriving at Ohio State with 95 college credits from Advanced Placement exams and courses she took in high school helped Starzynski more than dabble in the studies that interested her.
“It’s being broad but having depth — essentially becoming a master of many things,” she said.
Critics warn that multiple majors don’t necessarily improve job prospects. And some college counselors worry that overstretched students don’t have time for the extracurricular activities and community service that are important for a well-rounded education.
But Ohio State officials said go-getters with multiple majors often are as driven in their other interests as they are with academics.
“They are looking for skills and want real experiences, so they will do undergraduate research, study abroad, try internships and co-ops (paid jobs during the school year) or volunteer,” said Mabel Freeman, assistant vice president for undergraduate admission.
At Columbus State Community College, students can combine programs to create specialized majors.
But greater numbers are going after back-to-back associate degrees –”receiving the benefits of four years of college but walking away with two diplomas,” said Suzanne May, Columbus State’s spokeswoman.
Columbus State’s top programs are nursing, business management and accounting, and its top classes are English, pre-algebra and psychology.
The school also has seen an increase in the number of students from four-year colleges who have enrolled in one or more classes at Columbus State. So far, 851 four-year students, mostly from Ohio State, have signed up for fall classes at the community college.
Some do it to save money; others, because the classes they want or are required to take are filled at their college. And many simply prefer to take classes in difficult subjects at Columbus State because of its small classes.
Conversely, Columbus State has seen the number of students who go on to a four-year institution, such as Ohio State, rise to between 1,500 and 2,000 a year, said Jack Cooley, who recently became dean of arts and sciences at Columbus State after 35 years at OSU.
“We have students — good students — who can’t afford a four-year school come here to save money so they can move on to OSU for their final two years,” he said. “And we help give confidence to students who never thought they had what it took to get a four-year degree go on and get their bachelor’s.”
