UG Minor Poll/Opinion!!!!

[PsychMajorUndergrad18]

Hello All You Wonderful Psych Folks (trying out a new Opening lol),

Just wanted to voice a poll to see what you all think is a good minor to compliment a psychology major. Please vote and comment on the possible choices!!!!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

Do something you genuinely enjoy…and not related to psych. You can always take a stats class or two, but if you are going to go for an actual minor…make it something fun.

 

[PsychMajorUndergrad18]

Yea that makes sense lol. I'm thinking of just take random courses from each one that I like

 

[eremitestar]

I agree with doing something you enjoy. I minored in dance. It was a lot of fun, and ending most days with a dance class seriously helped my stress management. As an unexpected bonus, pretty much everyone I interviewed with for grad school was interested in talking about it. So, in my opinion, there's really no wrong choice here. Even something totally unrelated to psych can make you stand out as an applicant. You have all of grad school to learn more about psychology. Undergrad is really your last opportunity to explore other fields, so go nuts

 

[Ollie123]

From your list, I'd probably choose public health. Depends on your goals, but I usually recommend something technical (math, comp sci, biostats, engineering if its available as a minor). It pushes skills that won't get touched in a typical UG psych curriculum and would stand out more than a closely related "other social sciences" minor. I've said it before, but I genuinely regret not having a stronger background in these areas since it would be helpful for my research (but that's certainly not going to be true for everyone). Perhaps more to the point - these fields encourage critical thinking, something that is sadly lacking in the prototypical UG psychology curriculum. The couple computer science courses I took as an undergrad were more helpful for learning how to break down problems than psychology course I took in undergrad or grad school. Receiving an assignment that consisted of two words ("Make tetris") and no other information or guidance is not something I think most psychology majors would handle well...but it really does help develop skills that are incredibly important down the line. /soapbox

 

[R. Matey]

I agree with Ollie123, minoring could be an awesome opportunity to gain competence in an area that typical UG psychology experience doesn't cover. Chem or bio would only help you in an application to graduate school (I'm assuming since you're on a psych forum, you're interested in a doctorate in psychology). Econ or CS is also good considering the influence of decision science in our field. You also don't have to formally minor, you could just take a few classes to gain another perspective. Depending on how you structure your coursework, you still may have time to take a few classes for fun though I can think of other fun things to do besides college classes.

 

[Spydra]

When I was in undergrad I was really drawn to Anthropology, but didn't see it as a good career fit for me so it became my minor. To this day I still bust out random Anthropology facts in conversation and those courses definitely broadened my interests in the arts, food, films, etc.

 

[LETSGONYR]

Hello All You Wonderful Psych Folks (trying out a new Opening lol),

Just wanted to voice a poll to see what you all think is a good minor to compliment a psychology major. Please vote and comment on the possible choices!!!!

I'm always a fan of taking some classes or double majoring in a second (or third!) language. It's absolutely always useful.

Other than that, I fully support the people that recommended following your interests.

EDIT: I should clarify that I don't think majoring in a language automatically means you have the skills to use it professionally, especially if you never achieve fluency or if you don't keep up with it through graduate school or beyond. I think it's great if you can use a second language professionally, but I think it would be a benefit either way... for example, it will certainly help with understanding diversity or cultural factors that impact minority groups. But it's always important to recognize and understand the limits of your education or what you can provide. Many members of linguistic minority groups are already disadvantaged, and you have to be careful not to perpetuate that by trying to conduct therapy or assessment without providing them full language access (e.g., an interpreter).

 

[President_LeslieKnope]

I agree with doing something you enjoy. I minored in dance. It was a lot of fun, and ending most days with a dance class seriously helped my stress management. As an unexpected bonus, pretty much everyone I interviewed with for grad school was interested in talking about it. So, in my opinion, there's really no wrong choice here. Even something totally unrelated to psych can make you stand out as an applicant. You have all of grad school to learn more about psychology. Undergrad is really your last opportunity to explore other fields, so go nuts

+1. I minored in music in undergrad and a lot of interviewers asked about it. Nice ice breaker too!

 

[bmedclinic]

if I could go back, I'd minor in stats/computer science if we're only looking at having more education in a skill set that would have directly helped me in grad school. If it was just for fun and no strings attached and I could go back, I'd probably still do computer science. Bio/chem, depending on the type of program you're going into (e.g. mine had pathophysiology) would have helped quite a bit too.

 

[erg923]

Elizabethean Poetry.

 

[ClinicalABA]

I was actually a sociology major, with a minor in psych and classics. Wish I did more bio or maths as undergrad, as it would have offered a better foundation for stats and phsyiological psych in grad school

 

[AcronymAllergy]

Another vote for just pick something you'd enjoy learning, although additional science(s) and stats could help, particularly if your school's physio/comp psych class isn't very rigorous. I minored in English and also ended up taking a year each of calculus, chem, bio, and most of o-chem. Yes, I was in undergrad for a while.