If you ask almost any college junior, they’ll tell you they changed their majors just about every other week during their first few years of college. Being unsure what you want to do for the rest of your life at age 18 or being interested in more than one major is nothing new for college students.

One of the great things that comes with a Penn State education is that if you plan your classes right, you can major in more than just one subject! Concurrent majors, familiarly known as double majors, are a great option for any student wanting to become a well-rounded candidate for any job or position.

Double majoring is so easy at Penn State! The key to successfully planning to take on two majors is sitting down with advisers in both of your respective colleges to figure out exactly what requirements you will need to meet in order to get the degrees. If you’re lucky and choose a major that complements your own, your credits might even overlap and count for more than one requirement!

From personal experience, I can tell you that taking on a second major is not hard if you plan well and make sure to stay organized (I even have friends with three majors)! It is so much easier to plan to take on extra credits if your majors somehow complement one another. I have been working towards a double major in Public Relations and Communications Arts and Sciences for the past two years. Thankfully, these classes have a lot of overlapping requirements and nearly every prerequisite I’ve taken has counted for one thing or another in my other major, making every class count!

Unfortunately, you can’t double major in the same academic college (or trust me, I would have double majored in another COMM program), but this requirement helps diversify your education and put you one step ahead of another candidate in your future job search. This also provides you with the opportunity to not only meet people in other majors, but gain exciting leadership opportunities in both of your fields of interest!

I definitely recommend taking the time to sit down and figure out how many classes might count for both majors. While it definitely can be done, and there are a ton of benefits to double majoring, it is a big time commitment that I really recommend you think about before you do! It’s definitely a rewarding experience, and I definitely advise you make your planner your best friend to help keep up with assignments, you won’t regret that!