5 minors that look good on your resume
Many students choose to focus on their major area of study, and fill rest of their credits with bird courses to boost their GPA and ease their load. That is a lot of money being spent on courses that provide little to no value for their personal or professional life.
My two cents? Don’t waste money on courses that provide no value towards your degree or self-development. It is a waste of money and time. As a business student, I cannot afford to spend $2000 on a course, or anything for that matter, that will not help me in the future. It is not what I went to university for.
After I completed all my program requirements, I realized that I had a lot of credit spaces to fill. I am a Business Administration student, so I don’t choose a major but a “specialist” which is essentially an area of business you take more courses of. I wanted to keep my options open, so I took the general stream and did a minor in a subject that complemented my business degree. Below are the top 5 contenders I was considering. The following list is not only applicable to business students but quite relevant for any student.
- Computer Science
It is no secret that coding is a very in demand skill to have. As the world is further moving forward to a digital age, people who know how to code will always remain in demand. Regardless of your major, this will help give you an edge on your job applications. It is also a great way to start learning how to code by yourself. Once you grasp the logical reasoning that goes behind coding, learning more languages becomes easier. I learned Java in high school, so for me, learning VBA/Macros and Python was easy and quick.
- Statistics/Applied Statistics
This is what I ended up minoring in. The statistics course that I had to take for my business program was all hand calculation which I didn’t like. I realized that I like statistics but I don’t want to sit there with a calculator for most of the day. I researched into the Applied Statistics minor and took the opportunity to learn R, SAS, and Python. I got to learn a lot as it focused less on getting to the number and more on what the number means.
- Language (i.e. French, Spanish)
It is always a good idea to learn a new language. Not only is it fun but you can also learn more about different cultures. Learning a popular language such as French, Spanish, German, etc. can also help with landing great international opportunity. It is important to keep your options open as you may not know where your career might take you in the future. Also, a great way to stand out as an individual too.
- Economics
Want to know how the world functions? What does supply and demand mean? Do you know how inflation occurs? Do you want to know why a pandemic such as Covid-19 is not just a health issue but a major world issue? You may not see a job posting that says “Economists wanted” but economics sets a solid foundation of knowledge that is not just important for career but crucial for making important life decisions as well.
- Political Science/Law
I took 2 law courses in order to fill up some of my electives. One thing that I learned while taking these courses is that I do not know much about how Canadian politics works as well as I thought I did. It is easy to look into electoral debates and form opinion but it is hard to fact check some of the claims if you don’t understand how the legal system works. You may not want to pursue a career in law or politics but having the knowledge on how the justice system you are part works is still very important.
Minors are a great way to gain more knowledge on subjects that are out of your main focus point. Whether is it give yourself a resume boost, compliment your skills, or just to be more informed about other issues, pursuing a minor is a valuable use of the crazy amount of money you pay for tuition.