Suggest me a Minor

What this tool does

You have your major, or a good idea of it, and now there is room for a minor, a smaller second focus. The trouble is that the field is wide open, and without a reason to pick one it is easy to dither. This tool gives you a starting point. It throws out a field at random, so you have something concrete to consider as a minor instead of a blank.

Press the button for a field. Press it again for another. Ask for a few at once to gather a short list. As with any study choice, take it as a way to surface ideas rather than advice, and check how any minor fits your major and your timetable with an academic adviser before you commit.

How to use it

1. Number / Quantity. How many fields to pull at once, from 1 to 100.
2. Generate. Pulls a fresh field, or a fresh set if you asked for several.
3. Starts with, Contains, Ends with. Optional filters that whittle the list before it picks. Leave them blank to draw from everything.
4. Copy. Sends the current fields to the clipboard as plain text for your notes.

A field is on screen as soon as the page opens, so there is always something to consider.

How it works

The list is a fixed set of minors, and each press draws one at random, with no repeats inside a single set when you ask for several.

The filters let you aim. Contains keeps any field with your text in it, so typing studies brings up the many area studies, from African and Asian to Jewish and Women's Studies, while a language or subject narrows it the same way. Starts with looks at the first letter and ends with at the last.

What is on the list

It is a list of around eighty fields suited to a minor. There are languages like Arabic, Chinese, and Japanese, a deep run of area and cultural studies, sciences like Chemistry and Astrophysics, and applied fields from Business and Information Systems to Journalism and Writing.

That spread leans a little more toward languages, area studies, and humanities than a list of majors would, which fits how minors are often used, to broaden out from a main subject. Take each pick as a candidate to weigh against your major, and use the Contains box when an area already appeals to you.

Why pairing a minor is tricky

A minor is oddly hard precisely because almost anything is allowed, and total freedom can be as paralysing as too little. Faced with a long list of possibilities and no obvious anchor, people stall. It echoes a 2000 study by Sheena Iyengar and Mark Lepper, in which shoppers faced with two dozen jam samples bought far less often than those shown only six. Abundance, again, slows us down.

Barry Schwartz called the wider effect the paradox of choice, where more options leave us less settled rather than more. A random field cuts through the open-endedness. It hands you one option to test against your major, which is far easier than weighing every subject at once, and it often turns up pairings you would never have dreamed up on your own.

How to choose one that fits

The useful question is how a minor relates to your major, and there are three good answers. It can complement it, adding a skill that boosts your main path, like a business minor for an artist or a language for someone in international relations. It can counterbalance it, giving you breadth in a different direction, such as a humanities minor for a science major, or the reverse. Or it can simply feed a passion you love but do not want to build a whole degree around. Any of those is a fine reason, so pick the angle that suits you, then keep the workload realistic, since a minor should enrich your studies rather than bury you. Check the requirements with an adviser, and let the tool keep suggesting until a pairing clicks.

Questions people ask

Is it free, and does it save anything?

It is free with no sign-up, and nothing is kept. The picks run in your browser, so copy a list for your research before you leave.

Can I get a few options at once?

Yes. Set the quantity to the number you want, up to 100, and press Generate for that many different fields in one pull.

How do I know if a minor fits my major?

Think about whether it complements your major, counterbalances it, or feeds a passion, since any of those works. The section above walks through each, and an adviser can confirm the practical fit.

Some of these are also majors. Is that a problem?

No, many fields can be studied at either depth, so the overlap is expected. The difference is the size of the commitment, and an adviser can tell you which subjects your school offers as a minor.

References

1. Sheena Iyengar and Mark Lepper, "When Choice Is Demotivating: Can One Desire Too Much of a Good Thing?", Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2000, the study behind choice overload. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11138768/
2. Barry Schwartz, "The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less", his talk on how more options can lower satisfaction. https://www.ted.com/talks/barry_schwartz_the_paradox_of_choice