<p>I have noticed a number of threads regarding which "double major" or "which minor" students should select. Why is there so much interest in second majors and minors? Is this an increasing trend? DS graduated with ONE major...no minor at all. DD is also going to graduate with ONE major...no minor at all. Both on the four year plan. They would have had significant difficulty adding courses to their already full schedules (music performance/engineering). Just curious why this double major and minor topic is such a big one on CC.</p>
<p>This has been going on for at least a decade and is very popular at LAC's where it's often easy to accomplish due to relatively few prerequisites or required classes. It's nearly impossible to do at my child's flagship state u where students in engineering are busy fulfilling requirements through at least junior year.</p>
<p>Our D1 is minoring in courses she is interested in, gender studies and dance. She is majoring in math and economics to hopefully support herself someday.</p>
<p>One is for practicality and one is for academic interest.</p>
<p>My son might end up with 2 minors because his double major might not be feasible without spending money on extra classes. I think for him, it's a good thing, because they compliment or help his major, one being a language.</p>
<p>Many colleges require a minor or a cognate for graduation. S1 (poly sci major) must also complete a concentration in a specific area of his major (he has completed two concentrations-one in World Affairs and one in Public Policy and Administration) as well as either a cognate or minor outside of his major (he chose a cognate in Sociology--it relates well in regards to policy). S2 is a freshman with a Major in Communications. His college requires a concentration within his specific major (as of now, he chose Broadcasting, TV, and Film) as well as a Minor (he's pretty sure he's going to minor in History).</p>
<p>FWIW, in the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Texas, students are required to have a minor.</p>
<p>I believe there are a few schools (Princeton?) which only allow a student one major, and do not offer minors.</p>
<p>For D1, who was a chem major, her minor was an area of interest and also created "balance"...east asian studies.</p>
<p>The vast majority of our students at the school at which I teach now do, or at least, desire double majors. In this context- a business school- it's definitely a trend fueled by anxiety/insecurity/competitiveness and has nothing to do with intellectual interest. They see others doing it, so they think they must too, in order to get a job (we see a LOT of such trends in the business school- things that take on a life of their own). And this is despite the strong evidence we have collected showing it makes no difference whatsoever on the job market. And in fact, I can think of few faculty or staff who think it's a good idea because the required courses for each are such that the students have no room left in the way of electives that they are truly interested in or to expand their horizons outside of the narrow, pragmatic confines of a business school.</p>
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Just curious why this double major and minor topic is such a big one on CC.
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Lots of people on CC are high achievers and very motivated. A double major with three minors is just how they think. In the end it generally will not matter what one majored in and almost definelty not matter what one minored in. However, many top high school students enter college thinking they want to do everything. You can't blame some of these kids, having taken AP everything and thinking they can meet any academic challenge in their way. I have friends in my college who are doing it all. One is an engineering/business double major and premed. There are others trying to balance engineering with something humanities based like history or philosophy. Many will see that a double major isn't practical or not what they thought it would be, and will settle for a minor. </p>
<p>There are others who just take courses in the areas that interest them. They find after their junior year that the electives they took gave them a minor in one subject, or make them just a few courses away from a major in a subject. I found that with a major in economics, I needed to take two more math courses to get a math minor. I have another friend who realized he had taken so many history courses, he just had to fill out a form with the department to get a minor.</p>
<p>There are also just situations where two majors work well with eachother. IR + a language seems like a good, and pretty common, combination. Econ + Math is also a good combination for a student who wants to go into a graduate program for economics.</p>
<p>A lot of students enter college with many AP credits, which also allow them to take higher level courses earlier and have time to take on additional major/minor.</p>
<p>I think many schools differ and some as stated, have to have a minor and major. Some students come in with so many credits that a double major is easier than for others. For others, if you love Psychology as my son did but wonder about possible jobs prospects and grad school, you might want to do Econ and Psych as one example to give yourself a broader brush. There are many possible scenerios and some are student-driven and some aren't.</p>
<p>My younger one is doing a double major in international business (accounting) with international service (economic development). By the time she graduates, she will be able to work for one of the big accounting firms, or be part of the financial arm of economic development projects around the world (she also has lots of languages).</p>
<p>My older one was a double major in Music/Italian Studies. She was the ONE student (out of scores of applicants) accepted in her Ph.D. program in her area of musicology, most likely because of her Italian studies - the pure musicology applicants were a dime a dozen. So in her case, it mattered A LOT.</p>