An increase in the number of Penn State undergraduates pursuing multiple majors has led to mixed feelings regarding how prepared these students will be in the future.

In a nationwide trend, Penn State has seen a 50 percent increase over the past four years in the number of students who intend to graduate with more than one major. This fall there are 744 multiple major undergraduates, compared to 476 students in the fall of 1999, said Anne Kepler, assistant registrar for Academic Records.

Jeremy Cohen, associate vice provost for undergraduate education, said students felt pressured to have credentials.

"They perceive the need to take double majors," he said.

While he said there are a "few exceptions," he worries that many students are worse off by trying to take on so many academic responsibilities.

"I worry personally that when students take on multiple majors, there aren't enough hours in the day to reflect [on other areas of college life]," he said.

Cohen stressed the importance of general education in the curriculum, saying it "is just as important as depth in a single area." He said students with multiple interests might benefit from pursuing one major and then combining a minor in another subject.

"Graduate schools look for balance," he said. Some students might be better off working with faculty on research than with pursuing multiple majors, he said.

Cohen said focusing on one major leaves time for developing relationships with faculty. These relationships can lead to letters of recommendation that may mean more to graduate schools than a student's number of majors.

Within the Schreyer Honors College, nearly one in five graduates this year will have more than one degree, said associate dean Judy Ozment.

"Many of those majors are very related," she said of students' double or triple majors. Ozment sees a natural "marriage" between some majors, like information sciences and technology along with media studies.

"If you're really in the cross-set [of two related majors], of course it's going to be important, and someone's [resume] is going to rise to the top of the pile," Ozment said.

For students, double majoring can have unique perks.

"A department is more likely to help you if you're one of their students," said Jamie Dunnick (junior-French and international studies). "I can take whatever French class I want because I'm a French major."

"Because my majors are so linked, I don't think there is added stress," she said. In addition to her double majors, Dunnick is pursuing minors in Spanish and linguistics.

Dunnick said she is interested in education, and one of her options is being a bilingual elementary school teacher, where she says the combinations of her majors and minors would help her.

For Julie Henninger (junior-finance and art history), a double major was a way to study something she loved while being able to "assuage" her parents' concerns. After entering Penn State as an engineering major, Henninger realized that engineering was not what she wanted to study. She decided on art history, but her parents weren't happy, she said.

"They didn't think I would ever find a job," she said, so she decided to choose finance as a second major.

"Finance makes me a marketable person in general," said Henninger. "Art history is just what I like to do."

Cohen said 10 years ago he knew just two or three students who double-majored, "now it's not at all unusual."