It's Never Too Late to Take on a Minor

Jonathan TomczakTHE SANTA CLARAOctober 10, 2013 You might say I enjoy school too much.The summer before I came to Santa Clara, I sat down, looked at our school’s website and tried to plan the next four years of my life.I had known for a long time I wanted to graduate with two degrees, but I was ambitious. I wanted more.I set my sights on getting two minors as well: communication and sociology.But I didn’t really know why I wanted them.I didn’t stick with sociology, but getting a communication minor was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.Any financial advisor will tell you the smart thing to do is to have a diverse portfolio. Similarly, having a minor is a way to make a wise educational investment.It’s something that shows employers that you have a certain level of skill in a different academic field.That can be the difference when fighting for a job.An employer who works heavily in the Latino community would be interested in someone that has a minor in Spanish. And even minimal training in computer science would be a boon to any hiring manager.That’s not to say that on-the-job experience isn’t important as well. A minor is an academic achievement, and human resources departments see them all the time.They don’t see them with everyone, though, and that could be the difference between getting an interview and being left out in the cold.After all, you’ve earned that minor. If you’re taking a number of classes outside your major anyway, for core requirements or just for kicks, it makes sense to take them from the same department and get recognition for all the time you put into them.Classes for a minor are still classes. They still require you to work hard. It’s just that there are fewer of them standing between you and success.But I know I won’t convince you to take on a minor just for the hope that it’ll help land you a job. That’s not even why I like my minor so much.No, the real perk of a minor is that you get to learn about an area of interest without all the extra nonsense.Every department has its reasons for requiring certain courses. I respect that. But sometimes it can feel like you’re spending way too much time on information you’re never going to use.To successfully learn, the material has to be something you have at least somewhat of an interest in exploring. Majors often go beyond this into areas that you might not care that much about.In a minor, however, that’s all but gone. Capstones and generic introductory courses aren’t usually required. If they are, it’s to a lesser extent than a major.If getting a degree in that area isn’t important to you, it’s much faster and more enjoyable to get a minor. The classes you take will be classes you want to take.Some departments’ minor programs are more open than others, of course. All of them, though, will be more flexible and shorter to attain than a major. A chemistry degree at Santa Clara requires 30 classes. A minor can be done in fewer than 10.My communication minor requires six classes, and only one is a specified class.From then on, I was more or less able to pick and choose what I wanted to learn about. It was an astonishing amount of flexibility, and I tried to take full advantage of the opportunity.I knew I didn’t want to major in communication, but I haven’t taken a single communication class I didn’t love, and they’ve been some of my favorites during my time at Santa Clara.Some, such as “Persuasion,” nicely complemented my majors. Others, like “Communication and Sport,” were just plain fun. And I would’ve never known my love for writing films if it hadn’t been for “Global Screenwriting.”In fact, I wouldn’t even be working for this newspaper if I hadn’t stumbled upon the “Journalism Practicum” class.None of that was for my degrees. None of it was planned. But I’ve discovered and learned many new things — including things about myself — because of my minor.I’ll be graduating at the end of March, exactly one quarter early.Ironically, I realized the other day that if I decided to stick around for that extra quarter, I could still complete that sociology minor I had originally planned to get.It just goes to prove that it’s not too late, and never too early. Add a minor for yourself. You’ll be a better person for it.Jonathan Tomczak is a senior political science and history double major and editor of the Opinion section.