Minors (and Certificates) Aren't Minor

As students begin to plan their Fall 2019 schedules, they might consider adding courses that will help them work toward a minor or certificate. Both minors and certificates allow students to craft their own educational experience and make their four years at Penn State truly unique. This edition of the Advising Essentials will highlight the logistical considerations of adding a minor or certificate to a student's educational experience as well as explore the value of doing so.

Minors and Certificates Defined As defined in the Bulletin , a minor is "an academic program of at least 18 credits that supplements a major." A minor may consist of coursework in one discipline, or it can be interdisciplinary in nature. Certificates "often reflect emerging academic areas" and can provide students with "necessary professional development requirements." On average, certificates require 9 to 15 credits.

Exploring Minors Penn State has over 200 minors and 100 certificates. To explore all of their options, students can utilize the Bulletin. Just as when a student is exploring majors on the "Baccalaureate Degree Programs" page in the Bulletin, the "Minors and Certificates" page allows students to filter their options. Students can select areas they are interested in to show corresponding minors and certificates.

The Importance of Minors This article in The Chronicle of Higher Education details what most advisers know: minors are important. Minors can serve as the "interdisciplinary link" that bridges the gap between two areas of the student's interest. Though minors may be though of as secondary to the student's major, their value is not lesser. Often, students express that they choose minors because they will "look good" on a resume. While building a strong resume is important, minors and certificates have a much larger influence on a student's career than just being on a resume. Minors and certificates allow students to become experts in an additional area of study. In some cases, students have pursued internships and career opportunities that more closely align with their minor rather than their major. In addition to learning the academic information, students also learn skills that easily transfer into the workplace. Skills such as critical thinking, making connections across disciplines, and problem solving will be invaluable to students upon entering their careers. As a faculty adviser, you have the opportunity to motivate students to consider the value of their minors. Engage in conversations with students about why they are pursuing a minor, encouraging them to think beyond their resume.

Advising Considerations Students are able to complete any Penn State minor or certificate, regardless of the campus the minor or certificate is housed, as long as they are able to schedule the required courses. For example, the Psychological Science minor is housed at Behrend. Despite this, a Greater Allegheny student is eligible to complete the minor because all of the required coursework is offered at the Greater Allegheny campus. Because minors and certificates are not campus-specific, it is best to disregard the "Campus" filter option in the Bulletin. Instead, it is most advantageous for students to filter by their interest area and then explore the "Program Requirements." That page details the specific courses the student must take to complete that minor or certificate; they can then assess whether or not they will be able to schedule those courses at Behrend. Depending on the minor or certificate that a student pursues, they may be able to utilize those credits to fulfill requirements for their major or General Education requirements. Students must take at least 6 credits of coursework to fulfill their minor/certificate that is not already prescribed by their major. However, students can utilize minor/certificate courses to fulfill other requirements for their major such as electives and supporting coursework. Let's look at an example. One of your advisees is a Finance major who is interested in adding an Economics minor. ECON 102 and ECON 104 are required coursework for both the major and minor. The minor also requires ECON 302 and ECON 304; one of these courses could be used to fulfill the "Additional ECON Course" requirement and one of the "Approved Electives" requirements for the major. The remaining requirements for the minor-- two 400-level ECON courses-- could be utilized to fulfill additional "Approved Electives" or "Supporting Course" requirements within the major. In this scenario, the student does not need to take any additional credits in order to fulfill both the major AND minor as they would need with just the major.

Upcoming Events Join us at the next session of the Faculty Adviser Professional Development Series! The "Working with Students from Diverse Populations" session will feature a panel of staff, all of whom have experience working with students from a variety of populations. There will be two sessions: Tuesday, March 26 from 2:30-3:30pm in Reed 114 and Wednesday, March 27 from 1:30-2:30pm in Burke 236

Thank you,