Do you need to have a minor

Parents Forum
1

<p>My son is a history major and is in the spring semester of his junior year. His college, while it does of course require that all students have a major, it does not require that the students have a minor. </p>

<p>He is feeling like he should have a minor since "everybody" has one and he does not. He has taken a number of electives but none so far have inspired him to want to persue that field for a minor (a minor would require 18 credits in a certain area). </p>

<p>I think that a minor isn't all that important since your diploma only notes your major and not your minor. When job hunting, I only applied for jobs that fit with my major and no one ever asked me what I minored in. My husband had the same experience when job hunting.</p>

<p>So, it is just fine to not have a minor? I'd appreciate hearing from others who have 'gone before us'.</p>

<p>Thanks in advance.</p>

2

<p>It is just fine not to have a minor.</p>

<p>There seems to be a trend (which I, personally, don't get) to double major, triple major, have a minor etc.</p>

<p>But it is really not important in pretty much any career that I know of. "Everybody" having one is something he should not worry about at all. But, if he is concerned, he could meet with an advisor or a faculty member in the field he wants to pursue (if he's planning further education) or a career services person in a career field that interests him - ask these people if there is any advantage to having a minor. I don't think there will be.</p>

3

<p>I actually heard that some graduate programs see minors and extra majors as a "lack of focus"...</p>

4

<p>@ bookreader</p>

<p>There is nothing wrong with just having a major. It is true that more students graduate with a major and minor. Some students, such as my myself, also pursue double majors. Some are able to add a minor to their double majors. The most ambitious pursue triple majors! The most important thing is graduating with degree in a major and a breadth of courses that your son particularly enjoys.</p>

5

<p>Minors really only matter if it's in something that is clearly complementary to your major. For lots of things like econ and physics, it would certainly be seen as a good thing if you had a minor in math. If you're interested in foreign relations, having a minor in the language spoken in the region you're most interested in would be a good thing. If you're taking history just for the hell of it...it's not going to help.</p>

6

<p>the person who featured this thread probably thought this was a significant threat to talk about - and i agree completely.</p>

7

<p>At SEMO, some majors require a minor and some don't. It mainly depends on the number of credit hours a specific major is. You have to have 120 credits to graduate so if a major program is only 50 credit hours then you have 19 to go after completing the University Studies stuff which is 51 I believe. My program I don't have to worry about a minor because after the 51 my program is 76 so it's over 120.</p>

<p>One of my professors talks about "bait" and when you're fishing you want to use a variety of bait. Having a minor in this or a certification in that, or experience in something can be used as "bait" when looking for a job. So the more bait you got the better. Sort of...</p>

8

<p>On that note, would it be a good idea to have 2 majors and a minor? Or would this be too much? (I'm starting college this fall)</p>

9

<p>Don't spread yourself out too thinly. Study what you love and study it deeply -- if you happen to love the content of two majors then you should go for it. But if you're just resume-padding by trying to stuff in multiple majors and minors, odds are you're not going to have a very deep knowledge in any one of those things</p>

10

<p>dont do a minor because it will be better for a job or something. minors can be something youre just generally interested in and will enjoy taking a lot of classes in.</p>

<p>or, you could be like my brother. he was a bio major premed student in college and last semester he found out htat if he took one extra chem class he would then have a chem minor. so ofr him it was wroth it. im a finance/human resource management major but i might minor in history because i love learning about history and tkaing history classes. yet i could never imagine majoring in it, it would be too much</p>

<p>to get to the point, noone really cares about minors i think. unless its something like econ/physics and math.</p>

11

<p>There's no need to minor. </p>

<p>I have also heard comments against double-majoring by professors and others. It makes sense for a few students, some students run into it automatically based on their interests, and no one else should really worry about it.</p>

12

<p>Because of AP classes and the type of classes, my son said he has seen double majors and double minors! It isn't like they planned it, but because of the classes taken, they could have a double in each.</p>

<p>I haven't heard this across the board yet, but GC's have been telling me in the future AP courses to get out of others will become less. You will get credit, but not necessarily a release from taking a course. Two friends of my son said English AP's aren't being used to get out of English 1 courses and Government AP courses are only used for credits at his school. It can be a "money" thing for the college, or it can be that some have seen the level of writing,etc. wasn't up to par.</p>

13

<p>In hiring, I would not be more impressed by a candidate with a double major or minor than one with a single major. I might even find it confusing and distracting on the resume, but expect I could look beyond that in most cases and see it as a neutral. If a job applicant has a secondary skill such as a language ability, that can easily be communicated on a resume without the addition of a minor in that field. </p>

<p>A history major is going to be a good fit for a job that values critical reading and writing ability, which covers a lot of potential options. If your son minors in something it might limit his job prospects if he interviews in a field totally unrelated to his minor. The potential employer might believe he would be unhappy unless doing something more connected to his minor, which in your son's case would not be true. </p>

<p>Of course, he could also produce multiple resumes, depending on the job prospect and emphasize different skills in each. Some resumes wouldn't mention the minor and others would so it doesn't have to hurt. Nevertheless, totally unnecessary to pursue, in my opinion.</p>

14

<p>Agree w/Analyst. We list the type of degree we're seeking w/respect to a specific job. If you've got the degree & experience, that's great. If you've got an unrelated major/minor, this does NOT work as a plus factor (neither does it detract). Practically speaking, experience is a more weighty plus in our hiring consideration than degree major or variety.</p>

15

<p>I disagree with the idea that a minor (or a double major) will somehow disadvantage a job applicant. Many employers are looking for creativity and versatility - even in technical or other very specific kinds of positions. I'd prefer to hire an engineer who had, say, a minor in music or anthropology, vs. one who didn't if all other things were equal.</p>

<p>I suppose if a minor somehow causes a student to sacrifice lots of coursework in his/her major or to miss out on internships, etc., then it could be more of a problem. In most cases, though, a student can complete a minor without "major" tradeoffs.</p>

<p>To me, a minor that is quite different than the major indicates that the applicant is likely to be more interesting, better able to deal with people outside his/her discipline, and more likely to come up with novel solutions to problems. There can be specific benefits, too - I'd expect a CompSci major with an English Lit minor to be more likely to be able to put together well-written proposals and PowerPoints, though clearly one would need to dig deeper to ensure that was really the case.</p>

16

<p>Um, lots of good responses so far. I agree that a minor is unnecessary. But I also agree with those who say AP courses and college coursework taken in HS can make a minor unavoidable. And what about those students who truly love two subjects? My UG double was Chemistry and Mathematics, but when I got into the working world I found I liked the latter MUCH more than the former. The Math major did open a few doors for me. YMMV.</p>

17

<p>My niece minored in Spanish which helped her find a job since she was bilingual and my son is also doing that. He has enough to credits to minor in Economics too. I don't think a minor hurts, it does interest in another area or can compliment the one you have.</p>

18

<p>I never viewed anything beyond one major as necessary, but I do understand where your son is coming from. If he knows he's doing what he wants to do, though, then he's just fine. A good chunk of kids will end up dropping their second majors, downgrading them to minors, or dropping minors, even in their senior years. Your son just knew himself better from the outset ;) </p>

<p>A few things did catch my eye elsewhere in this thread...</p>

<p>
[quote]
The most ambitious pursue triple majors!

[/quote]
</p>

<p>^ There are certainly people who pursue three degrees, have good reason for doing so, and are successful in their pursuit. Not arguing that. But there are also some people who head down this path because they're indecisive, they don't know what they can handle, they're disorganized, they mistakenly think that it'll impress employers, or they want to avoid real depth of study. Of course, again, I'm not claiming that this is all true across the board...just noting--in this forum full of ultra-ambitious students--that a triple major is not necessarily the only (or the best) way to prove your work-ethic. I believe it's actually banned at some schools, to boot.</p>

<p>
[quote]
Minors really only matter if it's in something that is clearly complementary to your major.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>I can only speak anecdotally here, but I disagree. I see the benefit of having a complementary minor, but certain non-complementary combos can also be meaningful. I supplemented my philosophy major with a math minor (out of interest, not practicality). In precisely the way that Roger_Dooley suggests, I've received good feedback from career counselors, internship supervisors, grad schools, and professionals. My minor wasn't necessary by any means, but it has proven useful (at the very least, it's been a conversation starter). </p>

<p>There are also certain awards/fellowships/honors--Phi Beta Kappa among them--that take 'breadth of study' (aside from required GE's) into consideration. A non-complementary minor is not the only way to demonstrate broad interests/skills--electives can do it, too--but it is one way. Again, not necessary, but not useless.</p>

19

<p>I'm a History major with a minor in Jewish Studies. I just found myself taking a lot of courses related to Jewish history and literature and bam, it became a minor as long I took an intro to Judaism course and some Hebrew (which wasn't all that hard..). They complement each other really well since I was able to pursue more historical based courses. History majors also are known to have a minor in languages as languages are so important. </p>

<p>But for my minor was strictly out of interest- if I didn't have my Jewish Studies minor, I would've been an art minor! But as for the future, it does help a bit when I apply for Jewish-related jobs and programs.</p>

<p>But it will NOT ultimately get me into PhD programs for graduate school because you can only cover so much as a minior. Minors don't offer the same kind of depth and breath that majors do. But I'm hoping that my strong preparation in my major will get me in.</p>

<p>So minors.. unless actually practical in one way or another relating to what you would like to do after college may it be graduate school or employment, aren't necessary. Just pursue it just for the fun of it! :)</p>

<p>Double majors drive me a little nuts though I actually have a fair amount of courses in Jewish Studies to turn the minor into a major if my school would allow it. But it definitely does get exhausted because it seemed like that's all you were doing- just focusing on those areas and not taking classes in anything else!</p>

20

<p>I'm currently interviewing for PhD programs in the biomedical sciences. I was a biological sciences major, but decided to pursue a minor in nutritional sciences. Since I have a lot of interest in studying metabolic biology and the biology of body weight regulation, this has really helped me. I think in a circumstance like this, when you plan on going into research (which is oftentimes interdepartmental) a minor can put you at an advantage. And it's something to mention at interviews.</p>