College provides a land of seemingly endless possibilities. The unique course catalog that UCSB offers, with classes such as Dinosaurs, Greek Mythology and Rome: The Game, provide learning opportunities that are difficult to experience outside such a setting. At UC Santa Barbara there are 90 majors and 40 minors offered, covering a variety of topics such as actuarial science and zoology. For some students, their higher education experience can include the exploration of an additional major or minor. 

Although pursuing a double major or minor comes with its many challenges such as the time commitment, potential decrease in academic performance and feelings of burnout, it can broaden one’s range of skill and knowledge. By integrating diverse disciplines like economics and data science or biology and psychology, students gain an interdisciplinary understanding that enhances problem-solving abilities. 

Aron Ma, a 2024 graduate who earned dual degrees in statistics and data science and economics, said that the decision to add statistics and data science as an extra major was about complementing the economics major he had initially started with.

“I think economics was still, I would say, my passion. I find those classes more interesting, and I really like the freedom to explore and learn concepts that are theoretically interesting. Whereas, I feel like data science is more like tangible things that I can actually translate to the workplace,” Ma said.

Fourth-year biochemistry and psychological and brain sciences double major Carina Chen said that the choice of pursuing a double major came down to being able to broaden her potential future career opportunities.

“I think it’s difficult for them to work in conjunction. I think they’re pretty different majors. I like them for very different reasons, which is why I pursued them separately, instead of getting some conjunction major like biopsychology,” Chen said.

During the 2022-23 academic year, UCSB awarded 1,418 minors and 666 double majors, reflecting a growing trend among students aimed at pursuing additional academic paths in their undergraduate studies.

Pursuing a double major or minor can often lead to greater exploration of one’s study or offer an outlet to expand their education. Among the spectrum of double majors pursued at UC Santa Barbara, communication and psychological and brain sciences has been the most popular academic pairing since 2000. In addition, applied psychology has consistently held the spotlight as the most sought-after minor choice among students since 2001.

Since 2000, Communication & Psychology and Sociology & Spanish have been two of the most popular double major combinations.

Since 2001, the Applied Psychology minor has far and away been the most popular minor, seeing almost twice the number of students when compared to the second most popular minor over the same time period, Educational Studies.

Erika Felix, a professor in the Department of Counseling, Clinical, & School Psychology at UCSB, provided a nuanced perspective on the motivations behind students’ choices and the practical implications of pursuing minors or double majors based on her extensive experience advising undergraduates.

“I think a lot of people choose our minor because they have a specific interest in going into the mental health field, and we are composed of the professions that you would get licensed in,” Felix said. 

Furthermore, the applied psychology minor attracts students from a wide variety of backgrounds because of the broadly applicable skills taught in the courses.

“We’re also starting to get more people doing our minor who are in the biological sciences or other things because they might be pre-med and they’re thinking about psychiatry, or they just want this because you’re working with humans and having good bedside manners to make people feel comfortable in stressful situations is good,” Felix said.

Felix addressed students considering minors or double majors, emphasizing the importance of balancing workload and time-to-degree expectations. 

“Managing what your time-to-degree expectations are is important,” she advised. “Education is expensive, and tuition has not gone down.”

Although always popular, the Applied Psychology minor has seen continuously increasing enrollment and graduates over the years.

Ma said that the extra free time that COVID afforded him at the start of his college career allowed him to manage the coursework and expectations associated with completing a double major in the four-year timespan.

“We were just at home, right? Like doing online courses, couldn’t really see anybody, couldn’t really talk to anybody. We didn’t definitely have any plans like travel or anything so I really just hunkered down. I think I took five courses per quarter that year. If I had just done a full time quarter for four years, I would not have been able to finish on time,” Ma said.

Julie Yoo, a 2024 graduate who majored in communication with a minor in applied psychology, shed light on her decision-making process and experiences in her academic career. 

"I wanted to do a data science minor, but I just couldn't take all those units to fit into my schedule, and the classes were not available," Yoo said.

Reflecting on her journey, Yoo advised that thorough preparations were necessary for her academic success.

"You have to plan your classes really well … I almost couldn't graduate with this minor because the classes fill up easily,” Yoo said.

Since the 2000-01 school year, about 8-14% of graduating students have pursued a double major.

This premeditated approach to schedule planning is equally critical for students opting for double majors, which often requires balancing an even more demanding course load. Among the most popular double major combinations at UCSB, pairings like communication and psychological and brain sciences, global studies and Spanish, and environmental studies and geography stand out, reflecting a trend toward interdisciplinary studies that offer both broad knowledge and specialized skills.

Ma emphasized that the practical skills he gained from his double major combination was crucial in helping him achieve success after graduation.

"Data science gave me the tools I needed to succeed in real-world applications, while economics provided a theoretical framework," he reflected. 

Similarly, Chen accentuated the significant advantages of integrating diverse fields of study, therefore keeping multiple career options open and enhancing her overall educational experience.

"I think adding the two majors was necessary because I was really, really confused on what I wanted to do. I came in as pure biology, but with very high intentions of switching out of it. … I added psychology just in case I want to go into clinical psychology. But then currently, I've been thinking about going back into being pre-health but working in a genetic counseling position, which is a good way to integrate both of my majors. It really does combine the two things that I like about the two majors,” Chen said. 

In Ma’s current field of work, he diverges from his two majors, demonstrating how a broad educational foundation can lead to further career paths outside of one’s major. 

“I'm working as an actuarial intern at a life insurance company called Allianz. So a lot of my data, currently, a lot of my day to day work is actually like data analysis. And so that's why my data science major came in really, really handy,” Ma explained. 

In addition to the dynamic educational foundation that double majoring provides, the monetary advantage is also a large consideration. Liberal arts students in the United States who pursued a second degree in S.T.E.M. fields earned, on average, 9.5% more than their single-major peers. Similarly, those who combined a liberal arts degree with a business major earned 7.9% more.

Furthermore, those who double majored across fields tended to earn more than those with a single degree. For example, engineers and scientists who added a liberal arts degree earned 3.6% more on average than their single-major counterparts. 

“In the end, my choice of double majors was really helpful to my learning. I think it kind of gives me an advantage over people who just studied biology. I feel like the classes that I took here for psychology really helped me and shaped me to view people differently. And then getting jobs in counseling and working at peer advising, which is pretty supplementary to my psychology stuff, is very helpful for my future career goals,” Chen said.