It seems that many Swarthmore students straddle the subject areas of humanities/social sciences and “hard” sciences. For example, one of my hallmates is a biology major who is deeply invested in political science. The liberal artsyness of this college allows students to involve both in their life; biology and religion, economics and math, physics and english/political science. Other than a double major, students can have a special major where they find a specific connection between the two subject areas. Then there are people like me who might have been interested in the natural sciences and then realised that we prefer the humanities. I’m still exploring.
With music, I realised that many students are at least interested in it even if they aren’t academically invested. There are numerous “academic” musical and dance groups. And then there are some bands, like Earl Grey and the Tea Bags. It’s often a surprise to discover that someone had a secret talent for music or/and dance. Other times, familiarity is welcoming. For example, I went to an orchestra concert last weekend and I knew almost every musician in it, either by sight/name or personally.
If musical/dance groups don’t appeal to you and you don’t want to work for a double major, there are more than enough non-academic opportunities to satisfy you. One of the members of the Phoenix staff is a biology major who is also a WA, writing associates. Interesting, no?
It’s nice to know that “conflicts” between intense interests don’t necessarily have to be resolved by choosing one or the other. Oh, lovely Swat in full bloom. (Literally too.)
