Hello everyone, I have a quick Yale-specific question for a applying to transfer. I’m applying to schools with urban studies programs, and I recently read that political science majors can concentrate in urban studies at Yale, which is great! But I’m also interested in statistics. I would ideally minor in the discipline, but I wouldn’t be opposed to majoring in it.
And then I found out that Yale does not have minors. That leaves three options for how to structure the application, but I’m not sure which one to choose:
(1) Talk about wanting to major in political science with a concentration in urban studies
(2) Talk about wanting to major in political science with a concentration in urban studies, and a statistics major
(3) Talk about wanting to major in political science with a concentration in urban studies, supplemented by specific statistics courses
Option 2 references both of my interests, but it’s definitely not guaranteed. I already checked all of the requirements I would have to fill, and there’s a chance I wouldn’t be able to do this combination – too many courses.
Option 3 makes the most sense, but I feel like it’s saying that I’m basically going to minor in statistics but not call it a minor – wouldn’t want to go against the school’s stance on minors.
This leaves option 1, but then that fails to address my interest in statistics, which is evident in my coursework. It might seem out of place to not mention it.
Many HS students over-estimate the actual value of “minors” on your transcript and resume. Employers will want to know of your specific experience-- not an additional handful of classes you took. Your work experience related to urban studies and relevant issues and how you’re able to convey that as part of your story is a million times more important than a line on your resume that says: “Minor: urban studies”
It sounds like there’s a point of view among Yale’s leadership that minors aren’t necessary, and I’m not sure of all the history on that. And I agree with what you said T26E4.
I can see some value to a minor in providing a school-sanctioned way to express competence in multiple areas though . . . “I majored in Chemistry with a minor in German” is a bit more straightforward than, “I majored in Chemistry, and also took two years of German, and spent a summer in Germany working at BASF”.
I was one class short of double majoring in Econ and History. I couldn’t squeeze in that senior thesis in History for my last year. I took WAY more classes in History that many other colleges would deem as a “minor”. It simply hasn’t mattered. My passion for History remains today regardless of what’s on my transcript.
Don’t fuss about minors. It’s never mattered to me when I’ve reviewed people’s resumes either. If it’s relevant, it’ll be discussed.
You can do a double major, which isn’t particularly onerous, except insofar as it does reduce the number of electives you can fit into your schedule. As an alternative, DS is considering getting an MS-BS in CS, which takes the same amount of time as a BS, but is particularly well-suited for students who don’t intend to progress to a PhD.
I had a number of friends who went the BS-MS route in a lab science, and then went and got an MD, a PhD, or both. They were the sort of person who climbs Mt. Everest “because it’s there.”
My wife double-majored, which was very unusual at the time. She had completed almost all of the requirements for one major when she decided she really wanted a different major, and she wound up doing both because she only had to take one more course and write a senior thesis to finish the first one. Years later, her career, which sort of took off from the second major, bent back around to the original major 20 years or so post-college.
My D is thinking about double majoring in Literature and German since she has taken so many German classes she is almost done with that also. I’m making a strong suggestion that she does not do that though and just be an Intensive Literature major which requires fluency in two languages. Her languages of choice are German and Korean.