It’s OKAY not having a second degree/major/minor 👍

There was once a point in time I thought having a second major was so cool. I remember during NS when my relatives asked me what I was doing I’d proudly tell them Information Security, with a second major in Math.

Only when I enrolled I realised how taxing having this second major is. Instead of having electives to lighten your workload for the semester, you do higher level Math modules. And the thing is, I used to like Math a lot, and thats why I thought having a second major was natural. In my second semester, I quickly realised why that was NOT the case. I tried taking this module (MA2101 - Linear Algebra II). You’d think math would be about numbers but nah, every assignment question was proving some theorem. I’d spend hours everyday trying to understand my prof’s notes (it didn’t help that he couldn’t teach well and reading his notes felt like reading some alien language uh…). Every week I’d not know how to do a single question in my tutorial (NOT EXAGGERATING) and I mostly had to rely on my 2 friends taking the module to carry me through and explain to me. Even attending the prof’s tutorials didn’t help a single bit.

It was week 7 and at this juncture I really had to make a decision as the deadline to drop the module was approaching - any later and I’m getting an F grade… I talked to many of my friends to consult them regarding this and finally decided on dropping the module (and the second major). I was already taking many other heavy computing modules that semester and it was too tough trying to juggle everything on my plate.

In hindsight, not having this math second major didn’t affect me as much as I didn’t want to go into any professions math-heavy anyway, like quantitative trading or research 📊. ALSO, I got to do many fun electives like taking Spanish 🇪🇸 or doing these light modules here. For those taking a second degree/major/minor, here’s a reminder to reassess whether what you’re studying has any correlation to your future plans, and whether you’re sacrificing your grades in your main course just to study for your second major. Having some internships and experience 💼 is going to be MUCH MORE appealing to employers than your second major so do try to prioritise those things!

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