FORT WORTH, Texas — On Saturday, May 7 during TCU's commencement ceremony, two graduates announced will be celebrating a rare feat: earning triple degrees.
According to the university, TCU students Brent Hewitt and Sarah Jennings are both earning triple degrees — meaning three bachelor’s degrees each. For Hewitt, he'll receive a BS in engineering with a mechanical emphasis, a BS in economics and a BA in mathematics. For Jennings, she'll graduate with a BS in dietetics, a BA in studio art and a BA in modern language studies — French.
“These students embody the hard work and student excellence at TCU,” said Provost Teresa Abi-Nader Dahlberg, provost and vice chancellor for Academic Affairs. “What a shining example of the cross-discipline efforts underway, the well-rounded Horned Frogs we have and the incredible graduates we will have in the class of 2022.”
Sarah Jennings
Jennings is from Dallas and said she chose TCU because the university offered all of the fields she thought she might study as well as a club gymnastics team, a music program that accepted nonmajors and study-abroad programs. She added a dietetics major during her second year at TCU.
“This decision set me behind schedule for the dietetics degree plan, but would allow me to achieve a triple-degree — including some of my other areas of interest — if I planned very carefully while finishing the dietetics degree, took 18 credit hours most semesters — as well as summer courses — and continued with my plan to study abroad in France,” she said.
It took Jennings five and a half years to complete the three degrees.
She expects to complete her master’s in dietetics at TCU in May 2023 and become a registered dietitian that summer, the university said. Read more about Jennings in TCU's breakdown here.
Brent Hewitt
Hewitt transferred to TCU from California in 2018 with 60 transfer credit hours, according to the university.
“I was drawn to TCU by how small the classes are and how invested the professors are in their students,” he said.
He came to TCU as an engineering major, but added the economics and mathematics majors after coming to Texas.
“With the help of my Honors adviser, I picked out some courses that were of interest to me. From there, I found the space to complete the necessary courses for the major,” he said. “The biggest challenge was trying to take the classes that interested me the most without having to compromise too much to fit them into the rigid structure that the engineering degree plan requires.”
TCU said that following graduation, Hewitt will pursue a master’s in economics from the University of Leeds in Leeds, England.
“I was really fortunate to have all of those transfer credits and to have the support of my parents, my peers and my professors,” he said. “I definitely could not have done any of this on my own and am really thankful.”
To read more about Hewitt's journey at TCU, click here.