Five students in triple-major club

  Monday, February 8, 2016 2:00 AM
  News

Pittsburg, KS

By the time Katherine Graham graduated from Waverly High School, she had already earned 30 college credits.

So, by the time she enrolled at Pittsburg State as a political science major, she was on pace to graduate in three years.

“But then I got here and absolutely fell in love with PSU,” Graham said. “I really didn’t want to leave early.”

In just her second semester, to help prolong her university experience, Graham added a justice studies major. Just one semester later, she did something very few students even consider: she added a third major, international business.

“A lot of my friends think I’m crazy,” said Graham, now a junior. “They always ask me how I do it.”

Graham is one of just five students at Pitt State who have three unique majors. She’s joined in the triple-major club by Basel Alkassab, who actually has four majors, Zachary Botkin, Viet Nguyen and Jeffrey Yankovich.

Some call them crazy. Some call them over-achievers. The students, however, call themselves … well … nothing.

“I know it’s rare, but it doesn’t really feel that odd to me,” said Yankovich, who was a double-major in finance and international business before adding a third major in modern languages. “I had been taking French since 7th grade, and I already had a French minor. I realized that by taking 9 more hours, I could make it a major, so I did.”

Yankovich, a senior from Lenexa, Kan., acknowledges, however, that having three majors can be a lot of work. But, he said, he likes it that way.

“A lot of people deal with stress by relaxing and getting their minds off busy work,” he said. “I tend to be less stressed when I’m really busy. When I feel the need to de-stress, I look for things to do. I’m not really good at relaxing.”

For Nguyen, a senior from Vietnam, having three majors is necessary to being best prepared for his future career in investment banking. Nguyen is majoring in finance, management and economics.

“The three majors I have are excellent choices because they help me develop necessary skills to be a competitive candidate in my career,” he said. “At the beginning, it was hard to plan my class schedule for the next three years, but my advisers provided great help for me.”

Suzanne Hurt is an academic adviser in the Kelce College of Business and has worked with many of the triple-majors. She said the key to their success, outside of the students’ own determination, is time management.

“What I like to tell these type of over-achieving students is that the key is getting through the first few semesters,” Hurt said. “There is no rush to finish, and there is no rush to deciding which or how many majors they’ll have. Once they have decided they want or need two or three majors, the most important thing is helping them develop a schedule that will allow them to succeed without being overwhelmed.”

The type of students who declare multiple majors, Hurt said, typically don’t need much help on the success part.

“These students aren’t just hard workers, they’re also high-achievers,” she said. “They are motivated by an intense desire to succeed. So not only do they have three majors, they also have incredibly high GPAs.”

Graham said that any student considering three majors should not be scared off by the workload.

“If it’s what you really want to do, it’s definitely doable,” she said. “I’m busy, yes, but it’s a necessary busy. I’m pushing hard to reach my goals of getting into law school.

“Plus,” she said, “I’m used to it. I don’t really know what it’s like to not be busy.”