What is a Good Minor to Complement my Social Science Degree?

Ensuring that you can actually handle your course load is an important consideration, but you’ll also want a minor that complements your planned career field when you graduate. If you don’t have a specific career path in mind, then it’s good to pick a minor that gives you some flexibility and secondary job skills in case employment in your major field of study becomes hard to find.

Anthropology

The subfields of anthropology tie themselves neatly into minors in other fields. Aspiring biological anthropologists can minor in biology, linguistic anthropologists can minor in linguistics, and cultural anthropologists can look at cultural studies or sociology. Psychology and human development are also good general choices for any subfield. Linguistic anthropologists who are particularly keen on doing work in a particular country or region can also minor in that area’s primary language. And if you like the idea of spending lots of time in the field, archaeology is a complementary course that can expand your employment horizons greatly.

Communications

Minors that complement a communications degree include English literature (with a focus on creative writing), journalism, technical writing, media production, marketing, or a foreign language. A minor in business is a particularly good choice for communications majors who hope to break into corporate office work, as people who possess business skills paired with excellent communication ability are always in demand.

Economics

Any math minor is a solid choice for an econ major, but other relevant options to consider are business, history, political science, psychology and sociology. Communications isn’t a bad option to consider either, as there are relatively few economists who are good at explaining the principles of economics to laypersons.

Political Science

Philosophy is probably the most common minor for political science majors, but anthropology, history and sociology are also all career-appropriate options for minors. If you’re interested in the politics of other countries, minoring in their language is probably your best option.

Psychology

Psychology majors can go two routes with their minor, depending on what aspect of psychology they are most interested in. For those interested in studying the neurological processes of the brain, choose a life science like biology or chemistry. For those more interested in behavior and social interaction, look into the other social sciences such as anthropology or sociology.

Sociology

Sociology majors who aren’t moving on to grad school will probably want to shore up their job prospects by acquiring skills in the fields of employment that have an interest in their major – communications, marketing, social work or public relations. Sociologists who can acquire programming or web design skills might find themselves in demand with the explosion of online social networking.

All these options assume that you plan to make a long-term career out of your major. Of course, people frequently change majors in the middle of college, not to mention changing careers in the middle of their lives! If in doubt, it’s never a bad choice to minor in something you have a deep personal interest in, even if it’s not related to your major.