<p>What's the point of getting a minor or a second major? </p>
<p>Practically, most people will only use one major to get a job. If someone majors in Engineering and English, and then later becomes an engineer, what good does the English do, other than give him some credibility?</p>
<p>Some people tack on a second major or a minor because they’re interested in that subject and want to know more about it. For your example, one who majors in engineering might have that as some sort of financial stability in the future and might be good at it. However, that person may be genuinely interested in english as well, but obviously it’s a little harder finding a job with an english major but that person still may want to learn about english in depth. Others may double major because the classes overlap and the majors complement each other (i.e. Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering). It’s all relative to that person based on their interests and what they want to do in the future also.</p>
<p>It helps you explore a similar or completely different field you’re interested in; lots of people minor in Foreign language because it’s handy to be bilingual.</p>
<p>I’m interested in the field of Neurogenetics, so I’m majoring in Neuroscience and minoring in Genetics - they complement each other and I love studying genetics so I get to learn about something my major doesn’t cover in depth. Same thing with double majoring, people have varied interests and if the major isn’t intense, it’s not hard to do 2 in 4 years.</p>
<p>Some might minor because their school requires it (like mine) =</p>
<p>Plus it’s all about interest like the others have said.</p>
<p>To broaden your horizons.</p>
<p>I’m minoring in Physics because I want to go into a field that sits between Chemistry and Physics (It may evolve into a double major at some point, I’ll have to see how things play out).</p>
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<p>I couldn’t have said it better.</p>
<p>You can also double major to have something to fallback on if you’re desired career from you’re major doesn’t work out. For example, if someone does some humanities, and can’t find a job, but also double majored in Arabic, they have the Arabic to fall back on, and get a job with the government.</p>
<p>It gives you a competitive advantage, too. For many majors, there are a lot of people in the country who’ll be studying the same thing you are. Having a useful additional major or minor helps to differentiate you from them the same way an internship or a higher GPA might. With that being said, while my 2nd major is useful, my minor is in Polish just because.</p>
<p>I am a double major in international relations and economics (with 2 specializations, one in political economy and the other in Latin American/Caribbean Studies). The main reasons why I chose this - double majoring/minoring/specializing in things makes the breadth of your expertise areas more apparent. I initially declared as an international relations major with a political economy specialization, but then I realized that to get an double major in economics this would only require ~5 more classes so I figured I might as well. Plus, economics majors make a lot more than do IR majors, and both complement each other greatly (economics is a bit more technical, while IR is mostly theory-based). Especially since I want to be something like an economist focusing on latin american/caribbean development and planning to be fluent in spanish, I figured this would be the best way to prepare myself for the career path I’d like to follow.</p>
<p>I minor in something because I want to focus my attention toward it. Use it as an opportunity to better yourself in an additional area that could complement your primary area of interest (major).</p>
<p>It’s a way to structure your free electives. Usually, your gen ed requirements take 1/3 of your courses, your major takes 1/3 of your courses, and your electives take 1/3 of your courses. If you come in with AP credit then your free electives can be an even larger proportion of your courses. If you don’t have a second major or a minor that’s fine, but you’ll end up taking a whole slew of random courses with seemingly no purpose or direction. Lots of people find by their senior years that their elective courses were concentrated in a few areas anyway and they need one more course to complete a minor (or in extreme cases a major) in one or two areas.</p>
<p>Some second majors/minors can be useful (language, computer science) or can complement eachother (econ and math, poly sci and philosophy) but on the whole, I would say most second majors and minors add very little.</p>
<p>Or sometimes your school doesn’t offer the major you want, so you try to approximate it with a number of majors and minors. For example, my school doesn’t offer a psycholinguistics major (and really, why should it?), but I’m considering majoring in Psychology and Linguistics with a minor in Cognitive Science. If you mix those three together, it’s almost exactly what I want to study.</p>
<p>Seandurr, many people tell me that too. I’m a math/physics double major and people generally ask me what kind of jobs I will get with it, and why I’m doing so much work for it. The reason is simple: I absolutely love both subjects, and find it hard to choose between them, so why not do both? Besides, GE classes get dull especially if you’re not too interested in the topic. And, like others have said, it’s for broadening your scope. I was planning on minoring in music, for instance, and could have. But, I am choosing to become fluent in a foreign language.</p>
<p>Well, to use your example. It’s pretty well-known that engineers aren’t exactly renown for their writing ability, and I say this as an engineering major; if an engineer were to put on their resume that they also had an English degree, it has potential to give them a significant advantage over their peers (assuming the rest of their experiences and qualifications are similiar). </p>
<p>I’m double majoring as well, in CS and Mechanical Engineering and minoring in journalism.
All three are/were interests and subjects I want(ed) to pursue a career in.</p>