Everyone knows the pressure of declaring a major, but the pressure to declare a minor is not as noticeable. I entered Boston University with a declared major in Psychology but besides that, I had no idea what else I was interested in. My high school was extremely small and there was not a lot of flexibility to take interesting or unique classes. I knew I liked Psychology, science, and history, but I wasn’t prepared for the insane amount of different classes that Boston University offered.
After my general education requirements were completed my freshmen year, I started branching out into different areas of academia. Currently, I am a sophomore, and this semester, I decided to take a poetry class on top of four other classes. I wrote an article about why overloading with this particular class was so helpful — feel free to read it here. Next semester, I’m taking a British history class because I’ve always enjoyed history and I am a dual citizen of the US and the UK, so I figured it would probably be a good idea to educate myself on Britain.
Recently, I finally decided that I wanted to study in London for the fall semester of my Junior year, and while I’m there I’ll be taking classes specific to that program, so I don’t know how much of a say I’ll have in my schedule. However, when I get back, I want to take a class in either photography or communications. I have gone back and forth about declaring a minor, but I’ve found that I don’t have a strong enough interest in one single subject to commit to a minor. I do, however, have a strong desire to get as much out of these four years as I can. Attending such a large university comes with many perks and one of those perks is the amount and range of classes offered. I could take a linguistics class in made-up languages or a communications class based on a TV series. I personally think that it would be a waste to not try and learn as much as I can before I graduate.
An opposing argument to this has been made by many of my friends who are passionate about two things but don’t necessarily want to double major. I completely understand this, and there are many benefits of a minor.
My case for not declaring a minor is personal and may not apply to you, and that’s okay! I know that this is the best scenario for me and I still fully support those who choose to declare a minor. I also might find something that I love after taking one of these classes and decide to minor in it, which would be great. I’m not opposed to that, I just can’t choose only one thing to settle on right now.
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