Do Minors Help?

[Wagginthetail]

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Helloooo,

How helpful are minors in getting into vet schools? I'm currently a dance minor, and it's starting to look like I won't graduate in the standard 4 years. If I drop my minor, or replace it with something I've already taken a lot of classes for, like chem, is it going to make much of a difference when I apply? I don't know I just kind of thought that a dance minor would look different. Opinions please? 🙂

 

[GellaBella]

In my opinion, your minor counts for very very little in the application process. ...actually, I think your major also counts for almost nothing.

what actually matters is that you did took all the prereqs (and did well), and that you took time to pursue something you were interested in. If that means you were an art major who happened to take the prereqs to apply, then I think you're in just as good of a position as someone with a bio major, as long as you did equally well.

Your veterinary experience is more valuable along with your overall and prereq GPA, GRE scores etc than exactly what major or minor you had.

At least that would be my opinion if I was an adcom. 🙂

 

[moosenanny]

I'm no expert at all, but just because you drop your dance minor doesn't mean you can't talk about it in the interview. If they ask a question like, "Tell me about yourself," "How do you de-stress," "What was your favorite class in college and why?", etc., you can certainly bring up your love of dance! This way, you can still distinguish yourself as having a unique interest, but at the same time you'll be able to graduate in four years. Hope this helps 🙂

 

[Myotis]

I'm sure others on here will have a better idea of whether or not a minor will help you get in to vet school, however, if it is something you enjoy, you should stick with it. I'm a zoology major with a wildlife minor. I could drop my wildlife minor, but the classes I'm taking for my minor are classes I want to take anyway. If it's something that makes you happy, you should stick with it. And I'm not going to be graduating in the usual 4 years either, and I don't think that's a bad thing

 

[ckgilabert]

i wrote in my personal statement that i was working on my micro minor b/c i wanted to be better prepared for vet school and what i wanted to do with my career.

my classmates and i have asked "why us" and dr. stewart said "its the whole package". so i think...if you can do it, do it. but if you can use that extra time to get more experience (varied experience) or work on something that will improve your weaknesses....then do that.

good luck!!! 🙂

 

[August24]

having a minor I think puts an obvious, visible stamp on a transcript that will draw attention to whatever it is. However, I feel that if you are taking longer to get through undergrad just for the sake of obtaining a dance minor and not because you are enjoying your dance classes or getting a lot out of it for other reasons, that's not a good reason.

At my school, an animal science major is just one credit away from a chemistry minor. All I would need to do would be to take one extra class to have that on my transcript. I was going to do it, but decided I would get more out of other classes instead and I don't want to do chemistry anyway, so I chose not to.

 

[HoneySmucks]

I decided to add a Near East minor last year, solely because I love Egypt and wanted the chance to take Hieroglyphic classes. I think by itself a minor contributes fairly little to your application; however, when faced with a sea of applications from Biology majors, I think a minor of something completely different does stand out---at the very least it reflects an alternative interest. If the minor is something you're truly interested in, then do it, but if it's not, then it's not worth the time.

Also, if your GPA is a bit low I think a minor sometimes provides an opportunity to take more classes you are interested in, which presumably you should do well in, and this can help raise your GPA. But then again you could just take some extra classes without getting a minor for them.