Making it All Fit

Late first semester, a girl across the hall had a project that inspired me to create a plan of study. Nearly every class I needed to take was on an Excel spreadsheet, organized into neat charts explaining what that course was, what requirement it fulfilled and when I would be taking it. I created a table to show the courses I was taking by semester and their hours, added these up by semester and totaled them all together to make sure I met the requirements to graduate. I made sure everything fit into the three and a half years I planned on staying at the university (I brought a in lot of previous credits). I had it all planned out. I was a Photojournalism major with three minors. I was good to go. I never had to worry about my courses again.

But then...my first minor was dropped due to lack of funding. Actually, according to an email from the school over the summer, this minor is once again available...gee, thanks university for causing all this for no reason! It's not solely that department's fault though. After doing a bit more research, I didn't really like the second minor. I thought it went nice with Photojournalism, but many of the courses didn't relate or interest me so I would have dropped that anyway. This left me scrambling, seeing if I could find another possible minor that would interest me. I had empty spots in my charts to fill! Certainly nothing scientific. Math was out of the question. I considered English for a while (my university supposedly has a decent English program), but there were too many choices to make. I couldn't pick up another foreign language and everything else just seemed totally unrelated to journalism. So I looked into the Japanese major.

Japanese is hidden at my school. The courses are not listed in the Romance Languages and Literature department, but in the German and Russian Studies department. If you want to minor or major in it, however, you have to go to the Special Degree Programs department. Technically, my second major is International Studies with an emphasis on East Asian Studies. I am often tempted to add "specifically Japan" on the end, just because it sounds so pretentious. Honestly, it's for clarification. Now I just say Japanese. If my professor caught me saying that, he would lecture me, so shhh, don't tell.

After clearing my three minors from my spreadsheet, I faced the daunting task of looking up a whole new set of requirements for my new major. I also had to work in 12 more credits, since to double major at my university you need that many more credits to graduate...it makes no sense to me. I filled enough spaces with blank three credit hour courses, distributing the course load as evenly as possible. It still fits in three and a half years. Barely. I am at or just under the limit of hours you can take without special permission almost the whole way through. I have no room for error. If I mess up anywhere, my whole schedule is thrown off. That's why I won't. I have worked my tail off for a year to make sure that I can keep this semester early graduation. I will work my tail until I see this through.

Most people who double major take an extra semester or an extra year to graduate. I'm taking one less than what is expected for one major. My adviser doesn't think I will be able to do it, but I know I can.