Thomas Jefferson Scholars Program

I’m in a unique dual degree program between the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and College of Humanities and Social Sciences which is called the Thomas Jefferson Scholar program. This means I must obtain a major from the life sciences, as well as the social sciences (my two majors are Biological Sciences and Psychology, respectively). Having two majors may seem intimidating at first but it’s really not! A lot of classes tend to overlap, especially if you pick two majors from the same college because the general education requirements are similar. Because I came into college with over a semester of AP credit and community college credit, it has only taken me an extra semester to complete both degrees. The nice thing about the way electives are set up is that most of my Psychology courses have fulfilled my Biology electives and vice versa. So, there is not as much flexibility in my schedule with free electives, but I’m graduating in December with two degrees and have been successful in both. If you’re interested in a double major, I suggest tackling only one at first to make sure you can handle two and the course work that accompanies it. Look at the course requirements for each and see what overlap there is among classes. Remember, having two majors within the same college allows for more class overlap, but if you want to obtain degrees in different colleges it’s definitely not out of reach. Posted by: Catherine Casey