<p>I only need 3 classes for a minor that I'm not interested in, but it's only 3 classes... why get a minor? Resume padding? Does it even help you land a job? I know your major isn't very important in most cases for getting a job, so that means a minor is even less important?</p>
<p>As far as I hear, it’s just like a gold star on your diploma. Pretty and nice to have, but not very useful.
I’m still planning on getting a minor, just because.</p>
<p>I like the metaphor: they’re like baseball cards. Usually worthless but you collect them anyways. Maybe they’re helpful for certain majors but engineering is the elephant in the room. No employer has even bothered mentioning that I have a math minor.</p>
<p>I think some liberal arts majors are encouraged to get math minors, but I don’t see why they don’t just double major in liberal arts and math if that is the case, especially with the way the world is right now. </p>
<p>lol this thread reminded me that I was talking to a freshman interested in medicine that he didn’t have to have a major to get an interview for medical school, I told him that if you had 5 minors in different areas instead of a major, that you get an automatic interview.</p>
<p>A computer science minor with an electrical engineering degree is a sweet deal and can open many doors and bolsters your resume</p>
<p>“It’s like a golden star on your dimploma” and “they’re like baseball cards. Usually worthless but you collect them anyways.” Those 2 quotes sums it up. You never know what something is gonna be worth one day. Also, it gives you more options on what you can study in grad school I believe.</p>
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What liberal arts majors are encouraged to get mathematics minors? Why do you separate mathematics and liberal arts? The former is but a part of the latter.</p>
<p>Because it gives you the ability to study stuff outside your field that you enjoy.</p>
<p>^^ No. You get a BS in Math not a BA; hence math is not a liberal art. It’s a good idea to pair minors with BA degrees because God knows there’s no direct career path for someone who majors in sociology or art or music or creative writing etc etc. Shows some semblance of you going to college to learn something useful for the industry.</p>
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I can already do that by taking classes in those fields… it’s just that some minors just have to require that one annoying class I never want to take which is the only thing separating me from anofficial checkmark on my resume</p>
<p>^^First claim is entirely false. One can receive a BA in Mathematics, just as one can receive a BA in Biology, Physics and Chemistry.</p>
<p>Yeah you can get a BA in Engineering too. But it’s like preparing an excellent meal and then garnishing it with lard.</p>
<p>I have a BA in math, with a minor in computer science. </p>
<p>Back to the topic. I got the CS minor because it might make me more employable. I felt that “coursework in computer science” looked too sketchy on my resume, so I jumped through all of the hoops for the minor to get that gold star on my resume.</p>
<p>Everyone thinks minors make them more employable but I’ve yet to see any proof. For example, ^^ why would a company bother hiring you for your CS minor when they can hire a dozen people who have CS as their major.</p>
<p>^ Because I am way smarter than most of those CS majors. :)</p>
<p>Technical training only matters so much in computer science. Every company uses its own software that anyone they hire has to learn from scratch anyway.</p>
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That image is as unappealing as that sentence is false. First of all, I never mentioned Engineering so you chose a specific example that has far worse job prospects than its counterpart, but I will take your example and roll with its implications. By your logic, one who receives a B.A. in Physics/Chemistry/Biology is far less appealing than one who receives a B.S. in said fields. What about schools that do not offer the option of a Bachelor of Science? Are their graduates who majored in Mathematics/physical sciences less appealing (I guess this would be regarding graduate programs since a bachelor’s in any of those majors do not lead to the greatest of job prospects) by default? The simple answer: no.</p>
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<p>Err…pick a better school; you don’t go to a Chinese restaurant looking for Italian food. If a college/univ only has a BA program in something that should be a BS, then chances are it’s not a very good program to start with. The BA programs also just aren’t as rigorous as their BS counterparts. You end up taking watered down versions of classes and more gen eds…not something that is going to wow an employer when there’s a bunch of BS degrees around.</p>
<p>^That’s quite the generalization considering many top LACs do not offer B.S. degrees in the hard sciences. For example, Reed only awards B.A. degrees (plus MALS and whatnot, but only B.A. for bachelors degree) and Swarthmore only offers a B.S. in Engineering. Clearly the quality of the school does not depend on the abundance of B.S. programs.</p>
<p>Back to the original discussion, OP if you’re not interested, don’t take the extra classes. A minor generally just kind of happens (in my experience) if you’re taking quite a few extra classes in a subject you like. That can generally be pretty obvious from your transcripts, but I think it’s good to just get the minor (again, if it’s something you’re interested in and have a decent skill set in) since many employers won’t look at your transcripts. </p>
<p>It’s also good to show what area of something you’re interested in. For example, one of my degrees is in Anthropology- a very wide field. With my interdisciplinary minor in Bioethics, it becomes more clear that I’m studying medical anthropology and human ethics- something much more narrow than simply anthro and it gives employers a better idea of my background. Hope that makes sense.</p>
<p>That and if you get a minor in a useful and related field to your major (i.e. if you are doing biomedical engineering you minor in electrical engineering) then that could increase your skill set and make your resume look that much better</p>