Why Im not a double major anymore

Why I’m not a double major anymore Two days ago, I won a 35mm SLR on eBay! Now I have something I can use for the photography class Ill get to take next term because Im not a double major anymore. Why did I ever decide to double in the first place, and why am I no longer majoring in chemistry? I have quite a few reasons. Pick your favorite one. -I love chem, but Im not good enough at it to last a second in a department where everyone seems to be premed but me. (My high school had a medical magnet program that I was enrolled in until my junior year, when I realized that I absolutely did not want to be a doctor. Ive been taking science classes purely out of interest since then; doing so has suited me far more than any ambitions to go into the medical field ever have.) -I decided to work towards the second major because there were a ton of chemistry classes that I wanted to take for fun, and when I checked things out, the just for fun classes put me three classes away from a chem degree. Regardless of what anyone may tell you, this is not a good enough reason to take on another major. It really isnt. -Recently, I came to the revelation I warned about way back in August or so: I hate physical chemstry. I also dont want to be a guinea pig for Course 5s lab restructuring, since my year is the first to be subjected to the new modular lab requirement. These were the three (now five) classes I needed to add for the degree. I still dont want to take them. -Ive always wanted my time at MIT to be about learning for the sake of learning itself, and the emphasis I was placing on the double major was taking away from that. Once I fully realized what was going on, I knew that something had to change. The best answer to the question, however, comes from my advisor, who after he heard about my former intention of pursuing a dual degree said this: Were you insane? Maybe I am. (Ive wondered this many times before.) Just not insane enough to put myself through three more years of 60-unit semesters with no room to try anything new. I bought the camera to celebrate the end of my dual degree delusion. Itll certainly be put to good use next term in SP.747, which Ill be taking instead of 5.43. I was at WMBR last night answering phones for fundraising week when I explained all of this to ArFox, a Course 5 grad student in the Cummins Group (oh, they say theyre all synthetic chemists, but that is a repository of physical chemistry if ever I saw one). His reaction was to ask me if Id even taken a physical chemistry class before. Not outside of general chem, no, I said. (Fine, so he had a valid point.) Take one. The quantum mechanics of the blah blah blah chemical bonds blah blah awesomest thing ever, he replied. (what?! I stopped paying attention for half a second and got lost.) Since I listen to everything everyone tells me to do (HAHAHAHAHA), it looks like I may end up being a double major again. Or maybe Ill just take 5.61 next fall. One final note: I have a paper due tomorrow afternoon for my bilingualism class. I wrote this blog post instead. ^_^