i have always heard of majors and minors in a university or college. what the heck are they? more importantly, does a minor mean anything or is it just a way for someone to dangle the fact that they took extra classes while an undergrad?
A “major” is usually the subject in which a bachelor’s degree is awarded. A “minor” reflects lesser study than a major but still more than a couple of classes. A minor often is used to complement some aspect of a major, like a major in biology with a minor in biochemistry. But it can also just be a complete sideline.
It depends on the school. Some majors at my school (Georgia State) require a minor, and some don’t. A major is your “main course of study”. A minor is a secondary course, and they can be 2 completely different fields.
For example:
Most bachelor’s degrees require 120 credit hours over approx. 4 years.
Generally, you spend your first year or two completing “General Education” courses, about 36 credit hours.
You spend the last 2 or 3 years completing the requirements of your major.
A minor can completed throughout the time you complete your major, and must be at least 18 credit hours.
To get a B.A. you must declare a major. Some majors require a minor and some don’t.
Of course, this is for the college I’m attending. Some schools are a lot different.
[For whatever it’s worth]
Owners and operators of Mc Donald’s franchises attend “Hamburger University” in Elk Grove, Illinois. Upon completion of the 19-day course they are awarded with a Bachelor of Hamburgerology, with a minor in French Fries “degree”!!!
[/For whatever it’s worth]
so, basically, it’s worthless in real life, am i correct?
Worthless? I don’t think I understand your question. If you consider what you study and become somewhat proficient in worthless … I don’t know what to tell you. But if you mean a minor could be just something that interests you, I suppose. My college didn’t do minors, so I double-majored. I would have minored in political science had it been an option; instead I took a few extra classes and got the double-major (along with English). I took the pol sci classes because they interested me, but since I became a journalist sort of person, it ultimately was beneficial.
I’m not sure I’m helping but hey, there it is.
It’s not entirely worthless because it shows you had a significant interest in that second subject. That can be valuable for later career-switching, perhaps, or for applying to grad schools if you’re so inclined.
My sister majored in Elementary Education. She minored in math and speech/drama. As a result, she is qualiified (legally) to teach all subjects to students in grades K-8 and math and speech and drama to students in grades K-12.
I majored in Political Science and Psychology with a minor in creative writing. As a result, I am qualified to write eloquently about my inability to net a job in any way related to what I spent many many hours and tens of thousands of dollars studying in college. 
of course, my question was to marketability. and you have answered my question well, thankee!
h
My college required a “non-contiguous” minor–that is, one not directly related to the major. For example, I majored in biology and minored in music.
A minor’s required hours varies at my college, depending on the subject. Also, many classes that you take for your major can also count towards a minor. For example, if I want to minor in chemistry (not interested), I would only need to take 2 extra science courses and one lab (I had to take up to biochemistry for my major).
My minors are in Portuguese and zoology (reference, my major is animal sciences). For Portuguese, I need 15 hours, or 5 classes, and none of those are in my major, so they’re an extra load. As a bonus, at least, they satisfy many of my Gen-Ed requirements. My zoology minor requires 17 hours, but the two starting courses are the core biology courses, which I already took for my major. So now I only have 9 credits left (2 to 4 or 5 classes, depending on how many credits each class has).
As said before, a minor shows that the person was interested in another subject. I took Portuguese just because I’m interested in it, and zoology because I’m interested and I want to go to grad school/veterinary school. With a zoology minor I learn more about other animal species than just with an animal sciences major.
I’m about to graduate from the Science faculty, with a major in Comp. Sci. If I’d wanted, I could have minored in Business. (A popular choice for C.S., as a Business class is about 1/10th the work of any C.S. class.)
But I’m lazy and the books are expensive 'cause of all the pictures, so I didn’t. 
But I wouldn’t say it’s worthless. If I had thought I could have pulled it off, or had some friends in those classes, I would have taken it.
at UPenn, i majored in medieval/renaissance literature. i also minored in African-American Studies. no real overlap between the two, as you might imagine.
i will have to say that it was not wasted- working in the south in higher education, a lot of the sociology, history, and psychology in black/white relations has helped me work on college retention and programming for black students.
would i give my major up? nope- the written word is a passion of mine- but it’s always useful to have another skill set handy.
so it’s only worthless if you think it is.
At one point, I wanted to major in international relations and political science with a minor in psychology. At another time, I wanted to major in psychology and political science with a minor in religion.
My college advisor was aghast. His policy was thus: if you’re in liberal arts, complete a major. It doesn’t matter which one. It doesn’t even have to be in the field you want to work in. He said that people nowadays are looking for well-rounded people, so too much focus on one area may even be a turn off, so to speak. He believed that minors and double majors are nice, but unnecessary. Considering he was an official dean in the office of advising, I listened.
However, try getting a job with a major in religion. It’s not easy. The first question people ask me is, “What did you plan to do with that major?”
[rant]
And a major in religion is not a major in theology. People keep thinking I’m a pious priest-wannabe. Religion is academic, theology may be academic or it may be devotional. I did religion (and focused on Judaism ;j, not Christianity as many people suppose).
[/rant]
WRS
And to confuse this a bit further, some majors have concentrations, which are areas of specific interest. For example, I’ve applied to go back to school to be a communications/journalism major. I had to pick an area of particular interest within that field, so I chose electronic media (as opposed to print media or public relations). Once I finish those classes, I can take another concentration.
Also, in my major, I’m expected to take a minor. This may very well become an area of expertise once I graduate and find a job. So, if I choose Early Childhood Education as a minor, I can find a job in children’s television. If I choose a minor in healthcare, I can work in medical media. You can see where this is going.
Robin
Yes, my school does concentrations too. You have “general” degrees, then you have “concentration” degrees. For example, you can get an English degree, or you can get an English, Creative Writing Concentration degree.
Can’t help it - sorry. SO, if one were to take a subsidiary subject in English traditional folk dance - that might be a Morris Minor?
<Celyn scurries away fast, fst, fast!>
My school didn’t have official ‘minor’, but quite by accident I ended up with majors in both Radio/TV/Film and Religion. I guess that would qualify me to be a televangelist? However, I somehow ended up working for this here accounting firm. So they can’t be too important.
My college had a system that encouraged non-contiguous minors (minors outside the entire field of your major area of study). I majored in Anthropology and minored in theater.
I work in Marketing, which I always say is the place where Anthropology and Theater intersect in the Great Venn Diagram in the Sky. 
Just to make things extra-confusing, my university did not use the word “Major” at all, preferring the word “Concentration” instead. Leading to the somewhat amusing phrasing of certain introductory classes: “Biology for Non-Concentrators” (called “Noncon bio” by most) I always pictured that as the Biology class for people with poor attention spans.