It should come as no surprise that many students take advantage of the opportunity to mix majors and minors across schools. At a university like NYU, a major in game design with a minor in Middle Eastern studies, a double major in math and music on the pre-law track and a concentration combining artificial intelligence technology with law are just some of the many possibilities.
Applying to college often forces students to silo themselves into a single specialty — a daunting task, especially for young adults, most of whom have yet to explore enough career opportunities to decide on just one. But some NYU students, taking advantage of the university’s many cross-disciplinary opportunities, are using their undergraduate educations to embrace many of their interests and combine ostensibly unrelated fields, whether directly through the Gallatin School of Individualized Study or by double and triple-majoring across schools.
Tisch senior Ahmed Dadabai, for example, is a Game Design major — but he’s also quadruple minoring in interactive media arts, Hellenic studies, Middle Eastern studies and social entrepreneurship. Spanning three schools, these areas of study might seem unrelated on the surface, but Dadabai has found connections between his minors that allow him to expand his understanding of each.
“I think something that was easy about [pursuing these minors] was learning the ways that you can connect them,” Dadabai said. “It’s fun to be able to use similar concepts for different assignments and build on your knowledge.”
As someone who was initially unsure about what he wanted to study in college, Dadabai said he has appreciated the ability to dip his toes into almost anything. As an international transfer student from Bahrain, he was drawn to NYU for its opportunity to take classes across different schools and now satisfies his elective credit requirement with the pursuit of four minors.
When Dadabai decided on his minors, he was not overly worried about establishing a predetermined career path, but instead focused on exposing himself to different experiences that he could later combine in a professional field.
“What I want to do is to try to grab a job at a big gaming studio, just to get corporate experience,” Dadabai said. “For a couple of years, I’ll be there, but then I want to work in smaller studios, making games that I can incorporate my culture into — that’s where I would put my Middle Eastern studies minor into play. Another [path] I’d like to go with is [making] games for social impact for nonprofits.”
CAS senior Claire Tigner is double-majoring in mathematics and music and minoring in psychology and childhood and adolescent mental health studies on the pre-law track. Tigner said that studying her unconventional combination of majors and minors has led her to pursue unique opportunities at NYU — all of which contribute to her end goal of working in entertainment law.
“The math major taught me logical reasoning and critical thinking — how to form solid arguments,” Tigner said. “The music major exposed me to artists entering the industry alongside actors, directors, writers, many of whom don’t know how to legally protect themselves or read contracts because that’s not taught in their programs. That’s where I want to be: helping artists advocate for themselves and understand their rights.”
Although Gallatin serves as an obvious option for NYU students who don’t want to limit themselves in their academic discipline, Tigner said that CAS already offered her established interests, and her goal wasn’t to create something entirely new.
“I get asked about my unusual combo all the time — I think it sparks conversation and helps me stand out, which is exactly what you want as an applicant,” Tigner said. “I also have some job offers back in LA, like Teach for America, where I’d be teaching calculus … I see it as a stepping stone toward law school. I’ll make my way there eventually. ”
Even then, Tigner said pursuing an interdisciplinary track has required significant planning and coordination. She has talked to multiple advisors across the different departments of her majors and minors to organize her degree plan. Though she has been able to avoid taking summer and January term classes, she still has had many semesters of a full 18-credit courseload.
“Planning ahead is definitely the biggest thing,” Tigner said. “Also, learn how to advocate for yourself. I wouldn’t be able to do two majors and two minors if I hadn’t met with department heads.”
Of course, Gallatin has served as a place for students to combine different disciplines without the pressure of having to meet the credit requirements for each individual major and minor. Gallatin sophomore Julianne Plotkin is pursuing AI law as her individualized major, alongside a tentative minor in computer science. While she was initially interested in combining law with disability justice, her Life Among the Machines professor encouraged her to switch to AI law. In fact, the prospect of creating a discipline from scratch was what attracted Plotkin to Gallatin.
“I was interested in disability law — and that’s not really a major,” Plotkin said. “There’s also no ‘law’ major. If something like that existed, I might have taken it with some specific minors in computer science. But Gallatin allows more flexibility, and even if you declare multiple majors or minors, they’re still concentrated on those specific subjects.”
Although NYU students often poke fun at the unusual concentrations that Gallatin students develop, Plotkin said she loves how passionate her peers are about their interests and is excited to see how they use them in their future careers.
“It’s like I have an infinite degree,” Plotkin said. “I have a computer science background if I want to go into tech, but I’m passionate about law. So I could apply my computer science background and work at an intellectual property or patent law firm. Because I’ve done both the [humanities] and the technical side, I feel like I can move through life and explore what job really fits me.”
Dadabai’s advice to students who are interested in pursuing a variety of disciplines is to let your interests guide you, rather than trying to follow a strict plan.
“Just focus on the things that you really like even if things don’t seem like they fit on paper together,” Dadabai said.
Contact Stutee Oke at [email protected].
