I know that a college minor is just that, a “minor”. But I have to wonder, is it important? Can someone get a job or something on the side with a minor?
Soon I’ll be majoring in Political Science and minoring in film. I want to be an attorney as a career, but I also have a deep love for film. I believe it is (arguably) the best medium of art.
Doesn’t a minor count for something?
It can. But not that much most of the time. It is an instant reference to another area of study at college where more than usual courses and focus has been given
IMO a college minor doesn’t mean much. I have never heard of a person being hired as a result of having a certain minor. The courses you take will be more important than if you have a declared minor or not.
A minor in film does not feel like it would be particularly helpful for law school or your “career dream to work for the US government as an attorney.” So I’d recommend that you do a film minor ONLY if you enjoy the courses, do well in the courses, and can fit in all of the requirements for the minor without spending any additional time/expense as an undergrad.
Some film courses (especially upper level ones) can be terribly time intensive which may not prove to be the best use of your time. You can see how it goes and decide down the road.
If you don’t end up with enough courses for them minor then don’t sweat it – you can always list courses you have taken on your resume (you can have a line that says “Additional Coursework In”) and grad schools will see them on your transcript.
I told my kids to add a minor only if there was a subject other than their major that they found interesting and wanted to pursue. FWIW my S did not have a minor and my D added a minor to her schedule junior year which she did purely out of personal interest/enjoyment.
My school didn’t offer minors (at the time). Never mattered.
I think it depends on the minor. If the minor is Spanish and you’ve taken 5-6 courses and really master the language, of course you could use that in your career or to start a career. If it is film and you have just taken 5 random classes in the film major, I’m not sure it would help that much.
If you like those classes, take those classes. One of the best courses I took in college was War Movies. It was an experimental studies course, but was really more history and government than film. Started with the first movies made about WWII (mostly documentaries or Nazi films), went on films made during the war when the government controlled all film stock, and then to the difference in movies made post war but still about the war (Bridge on the River Kwai, Great Escape).
The thing is find interesting is combining two seemingly unrelated majors. I have heard that some people get two degrees simply out of strong personal enjoyment.
There was someone on Quora who wanted to earn two degrees, in Computer Science and Music. Many people were wondering how the two could be combined traditionally (like Computer Science and Math), but that wasn’t the point. She had a passion for both:
“So I think trust your interest and work really hard at both. In a bigger sense, Music touches people in a such a deep way that, often times, they cannot even explain it rationally. Yet, you have the opportunity with computer science to look for the underlying logic behind the emotional movement of music.”
In the same way, I want people to know that I deeply appreciate film, combined with the real world (so to speak) work of being an attorney…the logic, the debate, all of that. People seek the advice of an attorney during some of the darkest moments of their lives, and film can leave such a lasting and unforgettable emotional impact on people.
Chances are they won’t hire you because they appreciate your love of film. It can happen because you click with some hiring person, but your qualifications for the job opportunity are what matter.
That includes the ability to focus, as needed, on what’s truly relevant. You don’t need to declare some minor. In fact, major isn’t important to all jobs.
If you’re interested in poli science, what are you doing now, to be engaged? What have you learned about what a law career is really about?
On a personal note, in my “darkest hour,” the last thing I’d want is an attorney who turned talk to outside interests. I’d want absolute competence in legal matters.
Minors can have one of two objectives:
A minor is primarily an opportunity to take a deeper dive in an area of interest vs. unrelated electives that you may not care about. As already mentioned, it could be used to broaden the peripheral major topic (think Stats minor / Fin major, History minor / Polisci major, etc.) or it could be completely random.
Today, a lot of kids enter college with credits due to AP, DE, IB. Some will use that to graduate early (not a fan other than the cost savings which could be significant) while others get to explore other interests the open credits allow. Also give you an opportunity to change majors should you discover a different overwhelming interest without delaying graduation.
I view a minor as a more personal situation where you just want to learn more about a certain topic. However, I can see it becoming part of the interview dialogue as some will find it interesting and ask questions. “Tell me about the film minor…”
Computer Science can be applied to a lot of fields, so I can see CS and music. I wouldn’t take poli sci and film just to be different. Take courses that interest you, of course, but if you want to be a lawyer make sure you have a broad foundation. Sociology, psychology, philosophy, and history classes would help you be a better lawyer than film classes would. Unless you want to be an entertainment lawyer. In that case, you’d probably still want all the social science courses but you could add some media classes too.
Yes this ^^^combine the two areas of interest and make yourself more interesting. How about being a lawyer for film companies or movie studios? All film makers need contracts… I am sure there are other ways to combine your interest. Just Google the terms and I am sure you will come up with something that speaks to you.
Having a minor in film will make you a more interesting person but really won’t affect your career in any way unless you go into the entertainment field.
I work with lots of government lawyers. I have no idea what they majored or minored in in college. It really isn’t relevant and could only possibly come up in small talk before or after the actual work starts.
Anecdotal data - I know of at least two people who had interviews based on business majors and received job offers based on the additional math minors. Probably does not apply to film as a minor.
I knew and know two big time entertainment lawyers, both in LA, and they didn’t need one shred of film love. Both had/have substantial business backgrounds. Think JD/MBA.
Take the side courses you want because you want to. Be logical. Not because, at a young age you think people will be drawn to you because they like film, too.
Lawyering is much more than that.
My undergrad advisor told me at one point, “You don’t need a master’s degree to read books” (I had vague grad school plans at that point) and it was pretty much the most valuable career advice I’ve ever gotten.
So to OP- you don’t need a minor to love film. You can take two courses- one on early filmmaking (technique and narrative) and one on contemporary and pretty much be set up to value, appreciate, love, and research anything in the genre for the rest of your life.
@lookingforward , I know that obviously, an attorney’s office doesn’t care that someone minored in film. Still, I want a deep perspective on social sciences/humanities and the arts.
@blossom , thanks for your response. That’s a really good point. It’s interesting that James Berardinelli, one of the greatest film critics (next to Roger Ebert) didn’t even earn a film degree. He actually received a Bachelor’s of Science in Electrical Engineering.
Someone on Quora said “Never underestimate the emotional value of a degree.” They said getting two degrees in subjects they truly loved was a “badge of honor”. I know that sounds a bit cheesy, but I’m just dispelling the notion that someone cannot have multiple interests – and be great at them.
I was a Classics major with a deep love of antiquity who has had a 35 plus year corporate career so you don’t need to sell me on why someone can have multiple interests. Your issue is assuming that you need a degree, or a minor, or that you can’t be a lawyer who loves film without some signaling.
And that person on Quora is wrong, wrong, wrong. Your badge of honor is going to be to finish college and get started on your path-- not making life harder for yourself by setting up impossible goal posts.
@blossom , I wouldn’t have known that if you hadn’t told me. I don’t mind constructive criticism. About the “signaling” thing, I don’t blame you for thinking that. But it would seem to add legitimacy, honestly.
I’m just considering perspectives.
FWIW I was an accounting major who loves history. I took as many history courses as I could fit in during undergrad. However, I picked the particular history courses I was interested in taking rather than take all of the specific courses that were required for a minor (which if I remember right had both a geographic and chronological distribution requirement). Since having a minor in history would have no bearing on my career as a CPA I opted for courses that fit my personal interests (and that I could comfortably schedule around the classes in my major). Years later, zero regrets.
@happy1, Hm, that’s a good point.
I think sometimes you take courses because you have an interest and other times it might lead you to a certain goal and often times both.
As a premed I took an intro into film course since it counted as an English requirement… Lol… But it was one of my more interesting classes since it gave me a deep appreciation for how movies were made and we had to do a deep analysis and critique of a movie, so I got to understand that also. Nothing earth shattering but since then could never just “watch” a movie. Plus got to watch some truly classic movies.
But as I said above if it’s just for interest and enjoyment sorta make your own minor per se and take courses you enjoy. College is about exploration. If it’s about gaining knowledge to help you in that field subset then do that.