<p>Are minors worthless?</p>
<p>Does anyone ever care about a graduate's minors?</p>
<p>Which minors are worthwhile? Skill oriented minors, such as accounting or foreign language?</p>
<p>Minors are good for foreign language and topics that you may study in graduate school, so that you may meet possible requirements for that intended major.</p>
<p>Minors aren’t useless. Universities often require that you have one, some with a few exceptions. (Nursing, for instance, doesn’t require a minor at my school.)</p>
<p>Does anyone care? Who knows, but a little extra knowledge in an area besides your major isn’t a bad thing. Majors/minors usually complement each other in some way. </p>
<p>Foreign language, English, and psych are useful minors for many different areas. Obviously, accounting wouldn’t be a good minor for everyone, but it might be for some people. It depends on what you want to do.</p>
<p>So a minor might be sufficient for Master’s/PhD program admission? I thought a major would be required in a field before embarking on advanced studies.</p>
<p>That would also depend on what you want to do. </p>
<p>For instance, I am a nursing major but I began with a psych minor. I know that I want to work in psychiatric nursing, so psychology classes are definitely useful. I have since decided to double major, but I don’t know if that would have any affect on my admissions to grad school (over the minor), since my psychiatric nursing experience will mostly be gained on the job anyway. </p>
<p>A minor helps you to specialize more than you would with a major alone. When you go to grad school, you aren’t just a generic nurse, or biologist, or whatever, like you are in undergrad. Grad school is much more specific, so your minor can aid you in this. (biochemistry, for example, with a bio major and chem minor.)</p>
<p>So for example, an English major who likes Russian literature would major in English and minor in Russian? And a History major who wants to focus on French history would major in History and minor in French?</p>
<p>I think the purpose of a minor (as far as it being a requirement from a university) is to make students more well-rounded and knowledgeable in another area besides their major. It’s not necessarily for further education, since no-one needs to go to grad school, but it is useful to take additional classes in an area you want to specialize in (or to simply know more about.) I think a minor at my school is 9 credits? So it’s not going to be intensive study, just a few extra classes.</p>
<p>You can minor in anything you want, it doesn’t have to be related to your focus. Chem and pol sci? Physics and Russian lit? Nobody cares if your minor complements your major. It just makes more sense if it does. But if you are a physics major with a passion for Russian lit, who’s to stop you?</p>
<p>If you know that your interests lie in two areas, and you see yourself in a career involving them, then it makes sense to make them your major and minor. It’s really up to you.</p>
<p>I would say minors are DEFINATELY NOT useless. Say your career in your major doesn’t work. Employers would rather you have some sort of degree rather than nothing.</p>
<p>There’s so much double-majoring now I almost wonder what’s more practical/useful: double majoring or minoring, I suppose it really depends in the field.</p>
<p>For instance, I’m really interested in advertising, but not sure I want to major in marketing which would be applicable to that career…more interested in a general, liberal arts degree like sociology or american studies. However, I may minor in marketing so that I have the basic skill set to put on a resume. OR art so that I can take graphics courses to become proficient in computer programs that I could also list on a resume and would look good for advertising.</p>
<p>There’s several big differences between a double major and a minor.</p>
<p>Many uni’s require that you choose a minor, and it’s usually about 3 classes in that area. (about 9-12 credits)</p>
<p>A double major is a lot more work than a minor. You have to take all the core requirements for that degree, which is around 40 credits. I think you also have to maintain a certain gpa to double major (B average, I think, at my school.) If your two majors are somewhat related to each other, you can end up with some courses that overlap. In my case there are 3 courses that work for both degrees. (bio, stats, communications) Some degree combinations will share more classes than this.</p>
<p>That’s really the best way to choose a major/minor or double major- by looking at the course lists.</p>
<p>The appeal of the double major, aside from graduating with 2 degrees, is that they can be done in the same amount of time. It can be a good way to go if you plan carefully and work hard.</p>
<p>I was a nursing major with a psych minor, but then I realized it would only be 7 more classes to switch to a double major, and I love psychology classes so it’s not a problem. It will make my course load heavier, though. (16 credits per semester, plus a few spring/summer courses.) Plus, it’s an additional cost to take those classes.</p>
<p>I don’t know if it helps your chances a lot with grad schools or employers having two degrees. I wouldn’t do it for that reason alone. I know that the knowledge I’ll gain from both areas will be useful in my career, so it’s worth it to me. The decision to double shouldn’t be chosen lightly, though, because you’ll be taking a lot of classes in that specific area. It will take your time, effort, and money, so make sure it’s what you want to do.</p>
<p>In response to the poster above, I don’t think it’s the norm for a minor to be just 3 classes, at least not at most universities. The school I go is generally 6 courses with like 2-upper levels, although I’ve seen as low as 5 but as much as 7 as requirements for a minor.</p>
<p>Thanks for the correction, and my apologies for the mistake.
I double checked, and a psych minor at my school is 18 credits. That would be more like 5 classes, depending on the number of credits each class was worth (many are 4 cr.) Two are lower level courses, and the rest are 300-400 level.</p>
<p>Also, since general psych counts as a gen-ed, I didn’t count it towards the minor. </p>
<p>I imagine the amount varies in different programs and at different universities. It’s still a big difference between the 40 credits required for a major, since nearly all of the courses are upper level.</p>
<p>Minors should have intrinsic value for the person seeking them.</p>