Hunter Foote | Contributing Writer
Many students are focused on simply crossing classes from their major or minor off of their list, but undergrads solely focusing on their major could be missing out on an opportunity to learn valuable material before leaving APU. If there is room in your schedule, consider Collide’s five reasons to take classes outside your major:
1. Studying non-major-related subjects could open up your worldview. Junior biology major Ellen Emery says one of her favorite classes she took was World Literature to the Renaissance with Carole Lambert. “The seminar-style class had such a different and refreshing tone than my science classes. I learned about ideas and cultures that were entirely new to me,” Emery says. “My literature class taught me so much about the world that I never could have learned from my biology classes.”
2. Taking a class outside your major could provide you with social currency, the ability to add to a conversation. Senior communication studies major Matt Ross recently was asked at a job interview about his favorite academic accomplishment, and his answer had to do with a class not in his major.
In his Children’s Literature class, Ross was able to write, illustrate and bind his own children’s book. “Taking classes outside my major has been extremely beneficial in terms of the job market,” he says.
3. It creates a new avenue for networking and making connections. Meeting people outside your major gives more opportunity to make a friend, have a different perspective from a professor as a mentor or even find a future colleague. Spending time with people of different interests can only benefit you.
4. Taking classes closely related to your field of study or career path that are outside your major can be invaluable. As a journalism major, I’ve taken classes in graphic design, business law, accounting and marketing. This can help set me apart from others in my field when applying for jobs later.
Ross was also able to take a class called Introduction to Teaching, which he added to his resumé.
“I logged 40 hours of classroom time at a local middle school and had the opportunity to teach two full days of classes one week,” Ross says. “I taught roughly 80 middle-schoolers how to write, record and edit their own podcasts, which prompted a few of them to dream about starting their own YouTube channels. A few even expressed a future desire to do radio.”
5. If you have a smaller-sized major, taking other classes can help you explore the option of taking on a minor. According to Huffington Post, minors can help distinguish applicants in the field. If you have more education than your fellow applicants, you could have the advantage with a second (albeit smaller) degree under your belt.