<p>Okay, so I'm taking a premed route and my intended major at Cal will probably be Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. Now I'm planning on minoring, and I'm assuming there's not really a limit to how many minors you can pick, so I want to have at least two. Maybe more if the workload isn't too bad. Now I understand that some pick minors that compliment their major or if they're simply interested in them. Well, I kind of want to do both... If you get what I mean. Anyways, out of these minors, what would you recommend? And I'm picking these out assuming that I can pick minors outside of my college (College of Letters & Science). And yes, I'm interested in all of these. And that women's studies? I'm a male that's just curious!</p>
<p>College of Chemistry[ul]
[<em>] Chemistry
[/ul]
College of Letters & Science[ul]
[</em>] Asian American and Asian Diaspora Studies
[<em>] Creative Writing
[</em>] Gender and Women's Studies
[<em>] Linguistics
[</em>] Mathematics
[<em>] Peace and Conflict Studies
[</em>] Rhetoric
[/ul]
College of Natural Resources[ul]
[li] Nutritional Science[/li][/ul]</p>
<p>It doesn’t seem like you have a solid reason for wanting to minor? It’s a good way to get some experience in a field, but they are otherwise useless and it doesn’t sound like you want experience in a particular field but are rather just curious. Maybe take some intro classes in the subjects you’re interested in and decide which one you actually want to pursue.
I personally think double majoring is a better use of your time than having 2 minors.</p>
<p>@dina4119
I’ve considered the idea of double majoring before, but I’m fearful of the possible workload, since there’s other things that I want to do also like volunteer regularly and join some student organizations. Plus, I’ll probably have to get a job to try and earn in-state residency. But to explain some of the reasoning behind some of the minors above:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Chemistry: I was thinking that if I’m already going to major in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology that it wouldn’t be to bad and would somewhat compliment my major.</p></li>
<li><p>Asian American and Asian Diaspora Studies: I was really leaning towards this one, because growing up as an Asian American in the Deep South, I’ve never really come into vast amount of Asian culture. I’ve always been curious of the Asian culture, but am really interested in the possible cultural differences in various Asian Americans living in different regions.</p></li>
<li><p>Creative Writing: I love writing, and that’s something that I really want to improve on throughout college and keep on going. I simply just do not want to lose my writing skills.</p></li>
<li><p>Gender and Women’s Studies: I’m honestly just really curious when it comes to this one. So I guess I could rule it out.</p></li>
<li><p>Linguistics: I have a bit of an interest in etymology for awhile now, and that kinda expanded to linguistics after my teacher showed us a lecture by Steven Pinker on TED. Now I am really interested in the various elements that affect our language. I kind of tie this to myself, since I’m bilingual, and am able to speak Vietnamese fluently, while my cousins can’t.</p></li>
<li><p>Mathematics: I’ve always enjoyed mathematics, and like creative writing, I want to further develop that. But also, this was probably one of the ones I was willing to rule out, along with that women’s studies.</p></li>
<li><p>Peace and Conflict Studies: Pretty much the same idea as the women’s studies.</p></li>
<li><p>Rhetoric: My English teacher (before he quit) really emphasized on the use of rhetoric in our essays and our speeches. Problem is, I never fully grasped it before he left. Personally, I love public speaking and am looking for ways to improve and I believe understanding a bit of Rhetoric will help that.</p></li>
<li><p>Nutritional Science: Being a person who struggles with weight, every time when I diet, I always find myself looking for ways to diet and that the ones that have always been the most effective were ones solely based on eating certain foods. Moving further into that I’ve been pretty curious about nutrition in general, but like some of the other minors, I’m willing to rule this one out.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>These are just my thoughts.</p>
<p>Ok then, this seems like more of a decision you should make after having taken an intro class in these fields. But as an aside, Biochem and molec bio is an emphasis within the major of MCB, it’s really only 3 extra chem classes. </p>
<p>And for creative writing, all creative writing classes require instructor approval with submission of a writing sample, so you’d most likely have to take more english classes than just the requirements for the minor. </p>
<p>I know several people who are pre-med and doubling in english and MCB (as pre-meds, they have jobs, volunteering, research, etc) , so don’t let it scare you if you actually want to double. </p>
<p>@dina4119
Alright then! Thanks! I’ll look more into doubling up. </p>