Selecting a Minor & Why I Chose Consumer Sciences
By: Lauren Laws
A minor can be a great addition for expanding your college education. While minors don’t have to completely match your major or career, you’d be surprised how well they can compliment your future path. So far, my minor classes have been some of my best talking points during interviews and I really suggest taking one if you have the time. Most minors can be low commitment and talking with your advisor, or upperclassman in AMA about their experience, can really help you decide.
While I would suggest starting your search during freshman year, I didn’t start mine until the beginning of sophomore year and will still finish in time. When first looking for options, you can find a list online that provides program details. After picking a few, schedule an appointment with your advisor to go over the details and to make sure it fits into your college plan. Advisors might suggest finding a minor that’s not in the College of Business to expand your horizons a bit, but many students in Fisher have added an Entrepreneurship and Innovation minor to their track. Other good options for Marketing majors can include a Music, Media, and Enterprise minor, Psychology minor, and even a language minor if you’re interested in working abroad after graduation. Be sure to check all the details like how many classes are required, what semester the classes are offered in, and if you need to fill out an approval form before claiming it. Once you start taking your classes and decide you want to pursue it, fill out the program form before graduation and you’ll be set to graduate with your minor.
My experience when choosing a minor started with a few visits to the advisor’s office. As someone who changed my major, I wanted to add extra classes to my expertise that helped develop my business knowledge while starting out in Fisher. I chose a minor in Consumer Sciences, which is a part of the College of Education and Human Ecology. I learned about the minor from an upperclassman in marketing who had the same interests as me, and it grabbed my attention because it studied the consumer/market relationship, with an emphasis on the identification and solution of consumer problems. Since changing my major, I didn’t have a lot of extra time to spare each semester, but luckily it only requires four classes. When I started, I was surprised with how well the topics were lining up with my other business courses. The classes helped me keep up with my Excel expertise, learn more about consumer behavior, and have a research project to talk about. As a marketing major, this sparked my interest, and it fit into my future career path so well.
I highly recommend scheduling a meeting with your advisor if you want to learn more about any of the programs. While I happened to find a minor that closely aligned with my major, it’s not necessary. Even a minor in something you’re interested in like photography or mathematics can be a great addition and you’d be surprised at the skills or talking points you can still pull from during interviews!
If you have any questions about consumer sciences, feel free to reach out to me and I’d be happy to tell you more!