Weinberg senior Justin Dynes, who just became a quadruple major, might as well be the unicorn of campus.

A triple major at Northwestern is one of the maximum combinations of areas of study students may pursue in most cases. The Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences’ “Rule of Three” prohibits a student’s total number of majors plus minors from exceeding three unless they petition to do so.

With his four areas of study, Dynes is part of an exclusive group of students on campus.  

Dynes majors in biology, the Integrated Science Program, English and neuroscience. He said he just added neuroscience as a major this year because he had “enough room” in his schedule. 

Although English is the stand-alone humanities major out of the four, Dynes said the subject gives him a new perspective on medicine as someone on the pre-med track. 

“There’s a lot of value in looking at medicine as a humanity and taking the human elements out of it, which you don’t necessarily get with the STEM side,” Dynes said.

Dynes’ ISP and biology coursework go hand in hand — ISP classes overlap with those that count toward biology, he said, allowing more flexibility. 

He also entered NU having completed his language requirement, which he said helped with course load. Dynes added that English is his favorite subject, so he knew he wanted to major in it.

To hear from some of NU’s triple threats, listen to the audio version of the story here.

Sam Kliss (Weinberg ’25) majored in art history, psychology and English. She also minored in legal studies. 

“If you have a love for two fields, take it, run with it,” Kliss said. “That’s the best thing about Northwestern, is everyone has such full academic and outside lives.” 

She took a medieval art history class her freshman year and enjoyed the subject enough to keep taking art history classes, eventually adding it as a major. 

Kliss said she balanced social life with academics by taking advantage of the lunch hour. She said lunch was a good time to hang out with friends — “everyone has to have lunch.”

Kliss now attends Cornell Law School. She said the time management skills she learned at NU helped her postgrad studying law. 

Weinberg junior David Wu said despite triple majoring in political science, statistics and data science, seeing other students’ involvement makes him want to do more. 

“Being a triple major, you intrinsically like doing creative things,” Wu said. “At Northwestern, seeing all the cool things people are doing in the math major makes me want to take classes with them.”  

Wu said he overloaded in classes for the past five quarters prior to this one. 

He said he is trying to commit to a routine that includes waking up early, exercising and talking to friends more often. This routine, he said, helps him balance his academic life with his social life. 

“Every Sunday, I have a scheduled block time to call my best friend at home,” Wu said.

Along with balance, Medill junior John Sisco said the key to triple majoring is managing his time and commitments effectively. 

Sisco is triple majoring in journalism, history and political science. Although he came into NU with Advanced Placement credits that eased his course load, he said he still chooses to take five classes per quarter.

On Feb. 14, Sisco was elected Associated Student Government co-president. Like Kliss, he said there are tradeoffs when balancing extracurriculars and academics. 

“Every commitment you add is sacrificing a certain window for time you could spend on something else,” Sisco said. 

He said he generally stays up late due to his time commitments and classes each quarter — but he added that’s true for many other NU students. 

One of NU’s slogans, Sisco said, is “AND is in our DNA.”

“There is something in the psychology of the Northwestern student that’ll make them do as many responsibilities as they can,” Sisco said. 

Email: [email protected]

Related Stories:

— ‘For the next girl’: Students carve out new era for women’s club sports

— NU students help D65 5th graders turn Python code into music— Northwestern alumni turn passion into full-time antique jewelry business

— ‘Caltech embedded inside of Northwestern’: A look into Integrated Science Program