Importance of undergrad major?

[gloaming]

Hi, I'm a senior undergrad English major at a top university. I've been considering (but not committed to) applying to graduate school in literature for some time, and am now leaning more strongly towards it. My current plan is to apply after taking a year off to teach English abroad. My question concerns the value of the undergrad major in grad school admissions. I've already completed the English major requirements with a 4.0 GPA, and I've also nearly finished (4 more classes to go) a double major in Cognitive Science/Neuroscience.

However, I'm now trying to decide whether or not to finish the Cog Sci major. I've taken 10 classes towards that major, with a 3.8 GPA, and although I really enjoyed them, the 4 remaining classes do not interest me that much. One of them (an advanced programming course...I hate programming) would likely be a huge timesuck and a struggle to get an A. I'd much rather just take more literature classes, as well as have more time to devote to working on writing samples and lit honors thesis--which are the most important things for grad school admission, right? With so little time left in undergrad, I feel driven to just do what I love. But I've also been told that the cog sci double major will make me a unique applicant, so I should stick it out. And I wonder if my transcript will make me look wishy-washy, showing that I took many cog sci classes without completing a major (my school doesn't have minors, or I would have at least 2 by now). What do you think? should I stick out mediocre classes for the 2nd major, or stop worrying and just do what I love?

[jasper.milvain]

What do you think? should I stick out mediocre classes for the 2nd major, or stop worrying and just do what I love?

The second one.

[Minnesotan]

Why not both? Literary Darwinism is a burgeoning field. You'd be getting in at the end of the first wave of this scholarly trend!

Go bone up on your Dennett and your Richerson & Boyd!

[lotf629]

Yeah, in my subfield as well, cog sci is hot. Unless you're absolutely sure you don't want to do anything science-related in your lit research, I'd consider wrapping up the double major.