Benefits of Minors

All college students need to choose a college major. However, not every student needs to choose a minor. A minor is a secondary academic focus which can be made up of a diverse range of subjects and a varied number of required credits. The benefits of minors can include:

1. Gaining knowledge in your personal interests
2. Complementing your minor
3. Developing insight into a possibly double major
4. Making connections outside your core area of study
5. Improving your employment opportunities

Gaining Knowledge in your Personal Interests

Minors do not necessarily relate to your selected major or your future career. They can concern your personal interests and help broaden your skills. For example, an engineering student choosing to minor in creative writing may not sound like a good use of time. However, creative writing could improve the engineer’s writing ability and writing skills can be extremely useful in an engineering career.

Complementing your Major

A minor can complement your major by adding a focus to your studies. For example, an Industrial Engineering student could choose to minor in Manufacturing, thereby providing more depth to a topic all industrial engineers are required to study.

Developing Insight into a Possible Double Major

If you’re on the fence about double majoring, taking classes toward a minor (without actually declaring a minor or double major) is a safe start. You can decide later if you want to double major. A minor that complements your major may only require a couple more classes to become an additional major. This “accidental major” may not be born out of interest, but it could be desirable to employers.

Making Connections Outside your Core Area of Study

Networking is extremely important. Naturally, most of our time is spent with people in our major. We interact with the same community of students, faculty, and staff. Taking minor classes outside this community would allow you to get to know a new group people. These connections could eventually lead to a future internship or job.

Improving your Employment Opportunities

Minors can help you stand out to employers and give you a leg-up in your job search. Specialized skills gained from minors can be beneficial in the workplace. In addition, a minor shows employers that the student can manage additional work and gives students a topic to talk about in interviews.

After giving you some of the benefits of choosing a minor, what I am about to say might shock you: I probably will not decide to minor. If I do, it will be as I am creating my Senior schedule sometime in January or February of my Junior year. What is holding me back? Time. Penn State offers a huge array of opportunities to students, including clubs, research, and teaching assistant jobs. While I have gotten ahead in my class credits by taking courses during my summers, I have used my extra time to become a Director for the Society of Women Engineers, a learning assistant, a teaching assistant, and a WEPO Mentor. I put choosing a minor secondary to pursuing these interests. Yes, there are lots of benefits to choosing a minor. However, a minor is not the only thing you can do to make yourself stand out. The good news is that Penn State provides a nearly limitless number of possibilities. It's up to you to choose the opportunities that are best for you.

Ava Drum

Team K Mentor