Previous winners of the Commonwealth Writers' Prize have gone on to become major figures in the world of literature, including Louis de Bernieres, Zadie Smith and Ian McEwan.

BBC: Aminatta Forna wins Commonwealth Writers' honour

Taking an elective in college used to mean studying something you wanted to learn about but not necessarily major in: the mathematician who took a class in 19th century Russian literature or the French major who studied Biology 101.

CNN: Do you need a BA, MA, MBA, JD and PhD?