In this episode of NU Declassified, the Daily Northwestern takes a look at the lives of NU’s dual degree students.
DELILAH BRUMER: From theatre and mechanical engineering to journalism and piano performance, Northwestern’s dual degree students are finding ways to forge their paths, no matter how unrelated their majors seem. Packed Google Calendars, copious amounts of caffeine and five-unit quarters are all part of the process.
BETHANY CHO: I firmly believe that you can create an intersection between any two subjects.
DELILAH BRUMER: That was freshman Bethany Cho, who is pursuing a dual degree in radio/television/film and computer science. In this episode, we’ll be taking a look at the lives of NU’s dual degree students. From The Daily Northwestern, I’m Delilah Brumer. This is NU Declassified, a podcast that takes a look into how Wildcats thrive and survive at Northwestern.
BETHANY CHO: I think they’re definitely mutually beneficial. One thing I noticed is, in my PA group we’re all dual degrees, so everyone has an engineering major and a communications major. It’s really funny, because this year, everyone’s doing film or theater as their communications major. It’s really interesting, because I feel like we walk around, we hang out and we don’t really fit into like the theater kid, sort of stereotype.
DELILAH BRUMER: Another dual degree student, Sammi Li, is a sophomore in Medill and Bienen. She said she hopes to connect these fields throughout her career.
SAMMI LI: I feel like when I chose all these different areas of study, I wasn’t really thinking like, “Oh, I want to do this in the future.” It was more just like, “I like doing these things. So I’ll just do them.” I feel like they kind of work out in the end anyways, because I’m really interested in multimedia journalism. Even though I might not become a professional pianist in the future, I know that the skills that I learned from being in Bienen, a lot of them can transfer over into the multimedia side of journalism, especially with things like audio and music.
DELILAH BRUMER: As if a dual degree isn’t enough to keep her busy, Li is also minoring in German.
SAMMI LI: I did German for so long, because I started in middle school, and then I just had been doing it for a certain amount of time, and I didn’t want to give it up. Yeah, and I think it’s just like in general, it’s really good to know another language I feel like and also the German media industry is pretty big as well.
DELILAH BRUMER: Sophomore Gabriela Norwood is pursuing a dual degree in theatre and mechanical engineering. She said she has developed several skills at the intersection of these fields.
GABRIELA NORWOOD: I think storytelling is one of the skills that really translates because, especially when thinking about design thinking and communication and product development. Being able to paint a really cohesive, well thought out picture with the product that you want to create is really important. I think theater helps tremendously with being able to, you know, tell a really well thought out and well put together story.
DELILAH BRUMER: These combinations of majors and personalities also require a lot of diligence and scheduling. Norwood is taking five units this quarter, while also staying involved in the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, assistant-directing a musical and volunteering at Campus Kitchen.
GABRIELA NORWOOD: So making sure that I establish a schedule that works and remembering that I’m a student first and prioritizing, like my education, but then also recognizing that the things that I do outside of the classroom are important to me, and I want to continue to doing them and like my professional life, my in my career and that kind of thing.
DELILAH BRUMER: Norwood said she tries to focus on her mental health, especially while juggling several activities and classes.
GABRIELA NORWOOD: I actually was supposed to be doing work today. I’ve just taken a very long break and just been watching TV. But just recognizing when I need to grind and when I can take some time to relax a little bit even if I can do work at that time. Just making sure that I’m prioritizing taking a break and just doing nothing and chilling out.
DELILAH BRUMER: Cho, Li and Norwood all said they prioritize balance and knowing what’s right for them. But why study two different and difficult subjects? The excitement of learning.
BETHANY CHO: I feel like this isn’t any different from high school like, this is probably the same kind of sleep schedule I was juggling in high school. Except I feel like I’m a lot happier now because I’m doing stuff I’m interested in. And it’s more of a choice, I guess, to be staying up and doing the work rather than me being forced to, like trudge through, just like subjects that I don’t really care about.
DELILAH BRUMER: From The Daily Northwestern, I’m Delilah Brumer. Thanks for listening to another episode of NU Declassified. This episode was reported and produced by me, Delilah Brumer. The audio editors of The Daily Northwestern are Virginia Hunt and Lily Shen, the digital managing editors are Scott Hwang and Laura Simmons, and the editor in chief is Avani Kalra. Make sure to subscribe to The Daily Northwestern’s podcasts on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or SoundCloud to hear more episodes like this.
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Twitter: @BrumerDelilah
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