How major is a minor?

[ooklarom]

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Hello SDN! (first post!)
As an upcoming second year molecular bio undergrad, I am debating whether or not I should add a minor in the humanities. I am particularly interested in Spanish. I am on the fence because:
a. might hurt my GPA (I received a 5 on AP spanish, meaning I would have to jump into more advanced courses. Note that I am not a native speaker.)
b. time constraints (Planning on continuing research in my lab during the quarter.)
c. social life, or at least what remains of it
Would a spanish minor enhance my application for med school (particularly, those in California)? This is not my ultimate goal in picking up a minor, I really do enjoy the subject, but this last factor may just nudge me off the fence. Thanks in advance for the input!

 

[SharpieMarker]

For some reason, spanish is a recommended course for some uc schools. can't remember off the top of my head, but maybe ucsf and/or ucla.

but, the biggest reason to get a minor is because you want to. don't get a minor if you're just doing it for med apps. do you want to learn more spanish?

 

[odddodo]

For some reason, spanish is a recommended course for some uc schools. can't remember off the top of my head, but maybe ucsf and/or ucla.

but, the biggest reason to get a minor is because you want to. don't get a minor if you're just doing it for med apps. do you want to learn more spanish?

Hispanics are slated to become the majority in California. Seeing as most UC medical school graduates are going to practice in California, knowing Spanish is considered desirable. Not sure how much of an advantage it is, though.

 

[LifetimeDoc]

Minors are pretty minor...

...almost completely irrelevant to your medical school application.

 

[Law2Doc]

Minors are pretty minor...

...almost completely irrelevant to your medical school application.

Agreed. Absolutely don't do a minor in hopes it will look good for med school. Med schools really don't care about majors or minors. It is something you only do if you are taking all those courses anyhow, or if it will make you or your parents proud.

Many med schools, not just in Cali, will consider fluency in Spanish to be a positive. But they don't really care whether you got a major, minor, or learned it on the street. (And bear in mind that in rare instances, people who claim to be foreign language speakers have actualy been "tested" at interviews when they are paired up with foreign language speaking interviewers, so don't fake it).

 

[shantster]

The only time I was ever asked about my minors was for clarification of my two majors (bio and psych). At two of my interviews people asked if the bio was the major and psych a minor, and then I clarified it and told them my minors, and it was met with mild disintrest.

I do agree that the Spanish minor would be useful for just the fluency aspect. I'm a little annoyed with myself for not thinking about doing that while in college since I'd like to learn Spanish, but I'm not sure the best and cheapest means to do so now.

 

[Blade28]

Don't choose a major or minor based on your med school apps.

Don't rule out classes you're interested in just because you're worried about not getting an A.

 

[LifetimeDoc]

Don't rule out classes you're interested in just because you're worried about not getting an A.

Bad advice. I enjoyed the challenge and coursework of a chemistry major and those calculus classes I took, but that C in Physical Chemistry (10 credit hours total) and C's in Calculus II and III hurt a lot. Those bad grades wouldn't have existed if I had not taken such hard classes, and I would have had a much higher GPA and more interviews because of it.

Take things that you are interested in, but if they are notoriously hard classes or you think you might get a B- or lower in them, steer clear.

 

[Law2Doc]

Don't rule out classes you're interested in just because you're worried about not getting an A.

Well, if you want to get into med school, you are better off with all A's than taking courses you find interesting. Sad but true. Ideally you find some overlap to live within.

 

[gotmeds?]

Minors are pretty minor...

...almost completely irrelevant to your medical school application.

So are majors for that matter.

 

[limpkitty]

I agree with the advice above about minors, except for the fact that you're considering spanish. This would be very good for your application as adcoms are eager to get spanish speakers into med school b/c there are so many people who don't know english in this country. One of the doctors I shadowed was a spanish major and it's been very helpful to him.

So I think spanish is the one major that can actually enhance your application

 

[DrReo]

What is the reason for a minor anyways?

 

[Medikit]

I really wish I would have taken more Spanish classes, I need a translator for so many of my patients right now! You don't have to get a minor but it certainly would be good to take a few classes here and there.

 

[sle3pyguii]

What is the reason for a minor anyways?

I think schools want you to have some interest in another field rather than just the major field.

 

[TheRealMD]

What is the reason for a minor anyways?

Same reason people take honors courses instead of regular ones or join a billion clubs freshman year only to realize that they aren't doing anything useful in any of them...

it's merely something to stick on your resume!

Sad but true.

 

[silverlining1]

If you're worried about time, don't do the minor. Can't you still take a bunch of Spanish classes (as much as you can fit in) even if you don't do the minor? I agree that Spanish is useful, especially in California, but you don't have to have the knowledge via a minor.

 

[ooklarom]

Thanks for the heads up! To clarify, I'm deciding between taking spanish or doing clinical work. Although both would enhance my undergraduate experience, a spanish minor may(not) help my app whereas meaningful clinical experience would. As mentioned by a previous poster, UC's strongly recommend spanish courses. Do you think my AP Spanish score would cover this aspect?

 

[Law2Doc]

If you're worried about time, don't do the minor. Can't you still take a bunch of Spanish classes (as much as you can fit in) even if you don't do the minor? I agree that Spanish is useful, especially in California, but you don't have to have the knowledge via a minor.

Agree. Again, the minor is meaningless. If you can say on your app that you are fluent/conversational in Spanish that would be a positive. But med schools really don't care if you picked it up in school in a major/minor or via immersion or from Berlitz etc. People spend way too much time trying to figure out what med schools like to see, and honestly all they ultimately care about is that you took the prereqs and got A's. All the rest is for yourself, not med schools.

 

[da8s0859q]

Same reason people take honors courses instead of regular ones or join a billion clubs freshman year only to realize that they aren't doing anything useful in any of them...

it's merely something to stick on your resume!

Sad but true.

And because you want to, but yeah, I agree with the young'un here.

 

[Blade28]

Bad advice. I enjoyed the challenge and coursework of a chemistry major and those calculus classes I took, but that C in Physical Chemistry (10 credit hours total) and C's in Calculus II and III hurt a lot. Those bad grades wouldn't have existed if I had not taken such hard classes, and I would have had a much higher GPA and more interviews because of it.

Take things that you are interested in, but if they are notoriously hard classes or you think you might get a B- or lower in them, steer clear.

I disagree. I may be idealistic for advocating learning "just for the sake of learning," but I chose my undergrad major because I was damn interested in it. Sure it kicked my butt, but I think I ended up OK.

I also picked my minor because it interested me.

I'm not a fan of people cherry-picking their classes just to get As.

 

[bhishma]

Not sure exactly how things work here, but I've got a question about Minors as well, but it's different. For future reference, let me know if it would have been better to make a new thread.

I'm planning on applying to a MD/PhD program, aiming "top quality" med school. Right now I'm a Biomed Engineering major and I'll be adding a math minor (only one extra course). I've decided to add a neuroscience minor just to diversify away from just physics and math (that's all biomed engineering is). But it's 15 extra hours and that leaves me with 2 more years of 20 hour semesters. Is it worth it? My ECs will be taking a hit but I've heard they're "not as important".

 

[Law2Doc]

I've decided to add a neuroscience minor just to diversify away from just physics and math (that's all biomed engineering is). But it's 15 extra hours and that leaves me with 2 more years of 20 hour semesters. Is it worth it? My ECs will be taking a hit but I've heard they're "not as important".

I wouldn't give up the ECs to get a minor on the transcript. As said above med schools WILL NOT CARE that you had a minor. Physics and math are already going to make you diverse from the usual bio/biochem premed student, and adding another bunch of sciences in fact will be pushing you further into that non-bio-scientist pigeon hole. If you wanted to add diversity you would need to add a nonsci minor. But even that is a waste of time as med schools won't care. I sure wouldn't spend 15 extra hours to get a minor if the goal is diversification. Only do a minor if your reason has nothing to do with how med schools will perceive it. ECs are much more important to med schools than a minor.

 

[atomi]

Hello SDN! (first post!)
As an upcoming second year molecular bio undergrad, I am debating whether or not I should add a minor in the humanities. I am particularly interested in Spanish. I am on the fence because:
a. might hurt my GPA (I received a 5 on AP spanish, meaning I would have to jump into more advanced courses. Note that I am not a native speaker.)
b. time constraints (Planning on continuing research in my lab during the quarter.)
c. social life, or at least what remains of it
Would a spanish minor enhance my application for med school (particularly, those in California)? This is not my ultimate goal in picking up a minor, I really do enjoy the subject, but this last factor may just nudge me off the fence. Thanks in advance for the input!

I just have to say that your concern about it hurting your GPA is ridiculous. If you are smart enough to go to med school, then you are smart enough to get an A in Spanish. Languages are the easiest classes at college and generally also the most fun. Go for it, although really it sounds like you need to balance your life out. If I were you, I would seriously consider staying for 5 years and trying to have a little more fun and enjoy life. You only live once and then you're dead. A lot of ambitious people in college seem to forget this (at least I know I did and I regret it). The one good thing I did do in college was get a German minor and study abroad, which helped me stay sane. As far as a spanish minor enhancing your application -- it's not going to hurt, but really no one will care.

 

[foreverLaur]

you don't have to get a minor to learn the language. i am thinking about spending a summer abroad in Ecuador. i get Spanish credit and i live with a local family. i think that will be far more useful towards my learning of the language than any minor ever would.

 

[midn]

Same reason people take honors courses instead of regular ones or join a billion clubs freshman year only to realize that they aren't doing anything useful in any of them...

it's merely something to stick on your resume!

Sad but true.

This is true most of the time, but honors classes are substantially more interesting than their regular counterparts.

Some honors classes actually have quite a bit of grade inflation. In my honors chemistry class, I needed a negative score on the final to make a B in the class.

 

[mdm2fly]

Perhaps if you are more interested in the language aspect of a Spanish minor, you should just take the language courses and forget about the minor. I know a lot of people are saying that you shouldn't do it for your apps, but there IS a reason why med schools desire fluency in Spanish...it will be extremely useful in your future, especially in California.

If I were you, I would take the language courses, but my opinion is a little biased because I jump on every opportunity I get to learn new languages because I pick them up pretty easily, so if you don't see yourself as a person that picks up languages quickly AND your only interest is in improving your app AND you see yourself slaving over your Spanish homework when you could be focusing on your science work, perhaps you should wait for a slow quarter when you can concentrate on learning the language or study abroad on one of those programs that teaches you Spanish.

whew! that was a pretty long post for me.