Slatalla, Michelle

April 20, 2008

What’s Your Minor?

DO minors matter? I need to know — right now, “You’ve heard of diversifying a financial portfolio,”
please — because as my second daughter sits across she says. “Well, we say a minor can diversify your
the table compiling an “apply to” list that favors the educational portfolio.”
sort of university that offers lots of them, I am
writing checks totaling $46,180 for a child at a Having a secondary area of study can signal to a job
college with no minors. interviewer that you have concrete expertise,
especially in business or a foreign language. It can
Tuition-paying parents get a little nervous without a also set you apart from all the other graduate school
focused student. applicants.

“Parents sometimes feel they’re getting their money’s Graduate admissions officers are just the sort of
worth if their child has a major and a minor,” people who are likely to read your transcript
confirms Laura Avila, assistant director of thoroughly, and a minor could indicate you did more
undergraduate advising at the University of work than the average undergraduate.
Washington in Seattle, which offers about 100
minors. But not all colleges offer them, and most of “We are running out of the traditional tools with
the rest don’t require them. which superb students can sort of document how
good they are,” says Barmak Nassirian, spokesman
Tara Stopfel, assistant dean for academic advising at for the American Association of Collegiate Registrars
the University of Cincinnati, explains: “Whether a and Admissions Officers. “It used to be enough that
minor is important really depends on a student’s you graduated from X, Y or Z university with summa
reasons for wanting one.” cum laude. But now instead of separating you from
the crowd, summa cum laude is the crowd. Some
1. WHAT A MINOR CAN DO FOR YOU students are resorting to double degrees, two majors,
majors and two minors, the sort of degree
accomplishments that would have been unnecessary a
I can’t remember what my minor was. Or, come to
generation or two ago.”
think of it, if I even had one. In those days, a
secondary area of study was usually either an
afterthought or evidence of an abandoned major. 2. HALF THE TIME, AND EFFORT

A generation later, minors have more cachet, for A minor is a quicker path to a specialization than a
practical and theoretical reasons. “A minor is a double major. While requirements vary widely
hidden weapon,” says Joe Cuseo, an author of among institutions, completing a minor generally
“Thriving in College and Beyond: Research-Based takes about half the coursework of a major. A history
Strategies for Academic Success and Personal major at Georgetown, for instance, must take at least
Development.” “It can be a good marketing tool, or it 11 history courses; a minor in history requires six. At
can be a way to explore a second interest and still Bentley College in Massachusetts, finance majors
graduate in a reasonable time.” complete eight finance courses; a minor requires
four.
Minors, along with double majors, are increasingly
popular as students try to master multiple subjects on 3. O.K., YOU WANT ONE. HOW DO YOU PICK?
the way to flexible careers or future education.
“Students understand that a minor can give them Minors can either counterbalance or complement a
better leverage in the job search after college,” says main area of study.
Ms. Stopfel; at her university, students with minors
“probably have doubled within the past five years or “Think of it as declaring an interest and specialty that
so.” you wouldn’t necessarily have if all you had was a
collection of electives,” says Mr. Cuseo. “If your
passion is English or art, and you’re worried about minors, Mr. Gordon says. “The one advantage I’ve
whether that’s going to be practical enough, a minor heard people say is that instead of having a
in computer science or business increases your miscellany of courses, a minor organizes the
marketability.” choices.”

Similarly, a biology major with a business minor may Colleges without minors may offer another way to
look attractive to a biotech startup. pursue a secondary focus.

Many colleges are creating minors that integrate Students at Williams, for example, can declare a
academics with life after graduation. “We’re trying to concentration in one of about a dozen
break away from the silo-ed experience and broaden interdisciplinary topics — including Jewish studies,
students’ context of the world,” says Ms. Avila. At Latino studies and environmental studies — in
the University of Washington, for example, students programs that don’t offer majors. In the past five
pursuing minors in disability studies and in diversity years, the number of students who have graduated
take courses in class, gender and race issues. At the with at least one concentration has more than
University of California, Los Angeles, doubled, says James G. Kolesar, assistant to the
undergraduates may choose among 76 minors, president for public affairs.
including the interdisciplinary “civic engagement”
and “environmental systems and society,” as well as Still others, like Bennington, where my daughter is a
the more traditional English and mathematics. freshman, eschew the whole system. Students
develop their own programs of study, creating not
4. THE CASE AGAINST MINORS just unofficial minors but unofficial majors as well.
I’ll be excited to see whether my other daughter
Is it too much to ask that young people develop the chooses a similar college or one with a more
necessary skills to become gainfully employed one traditional approach. And even more excited to learn
day? how much it will cost.

Many academic advisers say it’s important to keep an Michelle Slatalla writes the Cyberfamilias column for
eye on the big picture. The liberal arts argument The Times.
holds that undergraduates should explore broadly,
and a minor channels a student into a less varied
course of study.

“Both premature and overrated,” John R. Thelin, a

Yale has majors but no minors. Joseph W. Gordon,

“But, we share the liberal arts philosophy that breadth

Faculty members, though, have recently proposed