<p>You may all think I'm crazy, but I need some honest opinions on this. I have many, MANY academic interests and for a long time now I've been very unsure of what to study. I've had a handful of ideas I've been back and forth on: web design, chemistry, computer science, creative writing, sociology and linguistics are all subjects I've considered doing a major or a minor in. </p>
<p>I've recently decided that as of now I'm going to go for a degree in computer and information technology with a concentration in web development so I can become a web developer. Having so many interests, I think that it may be in my best interest for the sake of personal fulfillment (since this clearly won't beef up my résumé) to do at least one, if not two minors in fields that interest me even though they are of no relation to my major or to each other for that matter. So I am fairly sure I want to do a minor in linguistics, and I am considering doing a second minor in chemistry just to satiate my drive to study all of those fields. So my question is: do you think I should take on this second major in chemistry, or pursue chemistry instead of linguistics for a minor, or something else?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Why do you feel the need to do a minor? Why not just take the chemistry classes that interest you? Minors don’t really mean anything, and it’s unlikely you’ll gain anything from a minor that you couldn’t just as easily get from taking those chemistry/linguistics/etc. classes you want to take (without formalizing them via a minor).</p>
<p>I have to agree with Aura on this one, although i think a linguistics minor would be a goo idea, not so much on the chemistry side though.</p>
<p>A minor is more directed than just taking some random classes. Plus, if I’m going to take some classes in them, why not just make it a minor? Minors do mean something, too. They go on my transcript and can show employers or grad schools that I have a diverse range of interests, and if I decide to do anything with chemistry or linguistics later, having a minor in either might be more solid ground to stand on than just some unstructured classes. </p>
<p>That said, I’m not really interested in the minor vs just classes argument. No offense, I do appreciate your input, I just want to know if I should pursue those subjects. If I did, it would be in the form of a minor. </p>
<p>A minor would not really help you for employment. Exceptions are things like CS minors, where programming ability may be applied in such a job.</p>
<p>Do it for your own personal fulfillment but there really isn’t a big “edge-up” on jobs with two minors, let alone one.</p>
<p>A minor is “directed” in the sense that there are requirements you will have to fulfill, which could possibly include taking specific courses you have little or no interest in. Minors don’t show employers or grad school anything a transcript with those classes and a line on your resume wouldn’t also show (which, by the way, is exactly how much space a minor would also take up on a resume, only instead of writing “Minor: Chemistry” or “Minor: Linguistics” you would have a line a bit farther down about other interests, coursework, skills, or experience), and there is literally no difference between “structured” and “unstructured” classes if an employer or graduate school will be looking at your transcript anyway.</p>
<p>However, to answer your question of whether or not to pursue them and which to pursue, sure, absolutely. As a person with many interests myself, I took a variety of classes in a variety of disciplines in college and always encourage others to do the same. However, other than maybe a couple niche jobs, I can’t imagine either linguistics or chemistry will help you down the line with employment or graduate school, and neither of them will really complement a CIT major/web development concentration in any significant way. Maybe linguistics, as computational linguistics, applied linguistics, and programming linguistics are areas I’ve heard about quite a bit over the past couple years (though it’s not my field, so don’t give my observation too much weight).</p>
<p>Like Ctesiphon said, do it for your own personal fulfillment. It won’t really help with jobs or grad school.</p>