Author: wayupstudent

Top Locations for a Social Media Job

You’ve decided that you want to become a social media manager and you’ve researched interview tips to help you land the job. Whether you’re looking for a paid or unpaid internship or an entry-level job, the next step is to consider the top locations for this industry and find one that suits you.

Here are the top locations for a social media job.

1. New York, NY

New York is considered the hub of digital media for a good reason. It has more than double the number of social media jobs of any other city in the country. This includes everything from digital strategists to copywriters and social media managers. With so many available jobs, there’s a lot of opportunity to advance quickly in the field, making it a great place to start your career.

Average salary: The average salary for an entry-level social media job in New York is $49,000, 15% higher than the national average.

2. San Francisco, CA

With its bustling tech startup scene, the Golden City comes in second when it comes to social media jobs. Like its East coast counterpart, San Francisco offers great opportunities for those just beginning their careers. The increased demand for social media positions in the city also ensures that you’ll be able to find more advanced roles as you advance in the field. Added bonus: San Francisco has the highest paid social media jobs in the country.

Average salary: The average salary for an entry-level social media job in San Francisco is $55,000, 33% higher than the national average.

3. Chicago, IL

Another city with a thriving digital media industry, Chicago has plenty of opportunities for college students and recent grads who are interested in helping brands manage their social media presence. If you’re interested in combining your social media skills with a passion for other industries, this city also has opportunities for social media managers in the financial and medical fields.

Average salary: The average salary for an entry-level social media job in Chicago is $43,000, 3% higher than the national average.

4. Los Angeles, CA

Known as the birthplace of the entertainment industry, Los Angeles is one of the best places to be if you’re interested in social media marketing for news outlets, celebrity magazines and luxury brands. The city also has an emerging startup scene, meaning that there is a lot of opportunity to manage social channels for innovative tech companies too.

Average salary: The average salary for an entry-level social media job in Los Angeles is $44,000, 6% higher than the national average.

5. Washington, DC

If you’re interested in politics, chances are you’ve already thought about moving to Washington D.C. after graduation. And that’s great news because the city has plenty of social media jobs available, especially for news outlets and political organizations.

Average salary: The average salary for an entry-level social media job in Washington D.C is $48,000, 15% higher than the national average.

Landing a great social media job or internship doesn’t just involve building your personal brand and preparing for the interview. It’s also about knowing what kind of lifestyle you want and where you want to live. By knowing which locations offer the best jobs, you can ensure that you’ll find a role that’s right for you in a great location.

Next, get more career tips for internships and entry-level jobs such as Networking Offline and find answers to common interview questions such as What Are Different Types of Public Relations Jobs?.

What Types of Skills Are Best for a Literature Major?

Before you decide to officially become a literature major, it’s important to make sure you know what you’re getting yourself into in terms of the skills you’ll need to succeed in the major. Here are the top 5 qualities you need to make sure you possess to ensure that you rock the literature major.

Reading skills

It goes without saying that you’ll be reading a lot as a literature major. However, being a “good” reader goes far beyond just getting through the pages and books you’re assigned in a timely manner.

The best readers are also star annotators and note-takers, and they know how best to categorize and remember the information they read for later.

Writing skills

Literature majors will spend lots of time crafting their thoughts on various works into essays and papers, so the most successful majors are those who have strong writing skills and also aren’t intimidated by writing prompts.

Critical thinking skills

Being a literature major means being able to think deeply about everything you read and dissect. You’ll need to be able to look at a work from all angles and consider what is the most important. Then, you’ll need to articulate those thoughts well.

Communication skills

Literature majors need to not only read and write well, but they need to be able to explain their thought processes and ideas effortlessly to professors and peers in the classroom. Additionally, the best literature majors aren’t intimidated by speaking in classes ranging from small seminars of under 15 students to lecture halls of over 100 people.

Time management skills

Because you’ll spend so much time reading, writing, and expressing your thoughts and ideas in class, the best literature majors have superior time management skills to keep track of it all. This means knowing when and where you work best on campus and being willing to spend some extra time in the library to make sure you understand the material (even on weekends).

 

Next, learn more about this college major such as Architecture and get more career tips for internships and entry-level jobs such as How to Get the Job You Really Want.

How to Answer: What Gets You Up in the Morning?

 

One of the most common questions you’ll encounter during an interview for an internship or entry-level job is: “So, what gets you up in the morning?” This question is meant to give the hiring manager an insight into what inspires you and gets you going.

Here are some things to keep in mind when preparing your answer.

Talk about what motivates you personally and professionally

The hiring manager is interested in more than your previous internship experience or the classes you’ve taken. They want to know what motivates you to get up every day, so be sure to tell them that. If you’re interested in leading your own team one day or learning a specific kind of skill, mention it and explain why it’s important to you.

Pro Tip: Don’t be afraid to talk about big goals. After all, there’s no better way to show that you’re truly motivated to succeed.

Give specific examples

Talking about what inspires you is a great start, but it’s important to back it up with concrete examples. Be sure to explain why it’s meaningful to you and how you plan to work it into your life. This is especially important if the goal is career related since you’ll want to show the steps you’re taking to achieve it.

Say something like: “I’m really motivated by helping kids from low-income backgrounds and I’ve done a lot of volunteer work in this area throughout my time in college. It’s easy to be passionate about something so meaningful, but it’s especially important to me because of my background and where I’m from.”

Explain how it has shaped your career path

Once you’ve explained your goal and outlined your plan for achieving it, connect your answer back to the position you’re applying for and show why you’d be an asset to the company. Be sure to demonstrate that you’ve truly thought about the position and how it will fit into your life.

Say something like: “I know I couldn’t have gotten to where I am today without the help of mentors from a local organization in my hometown. In fact, this volunteer work has been a major driver in my decision to start a career in elementary education and I’m looking for a position where I can develop the skills that will allow me to do that successfully.”

By talking about your future goals and how they inspire you, you’ll show the interviewer that you’re thinking ahead and taking proactive steps to shape your career. This is a great way to stand out from the crowd and help potential employers see your value.

Next, get more career tips for internships and entry-level jobs such as How Do I Get a Job in Another City or State? and find answers to common interview questions such as Tell Me About a Time You Went Above and Beyond the Requirements for a Project.

How to Become a Communications Specialist

An intriguing field with plenty of career opportunities, the field of communications has a lot to offer recent grads. If you’re interested in becoming a communications specialist, you might be wondering about the best way to get started. Should you look for an internship or attend networking events? Ideally, you’ll want to do both with a few other things mixed in.

Here are the steps you need to follow in order to become a communications specialist.

1. Decide what area of communications you’re interested in

Like the field of public relations, communications focuses on building and maintaining relationships between a company and the public (including customers, the media and industry thought leaders). However, unlike public relations, communications is a broader field which also includes creating internal communication strategies and training programs for specific companies. In order to give yourself the best chance of success in the field, it’s important to research the different type of communications you’re most interested in. For example, if the idea of being the public face of a company appeals to you, then a role on an external communications team could be a good fit. On the other hand, if you think you’d rather work to build communications policies within the company, then an internal communications role might be a better choice.

Pro Tip: If you’re not sure what each type of role entails, reach out to people who work in the industry — either from your own network or from your school’s alumni network — and ask to set up a 15 minute chat so that you can find out more about the roles and decide which one is most appealing to you.

2. Develop your skill set by taking relevant classes

In addition to learning about the field itself, it’s also important to develop your skill set by taking relevant classes and working on independent projects. Good classes to take include those that fall under the umbrella of a communications major — such as marketing, sociology and business classes. These will give you a better understanding of the field as well as helping you to develop useful skills like crafting press releases.

Pro Tip: If you’re interested in more than one subject, consider taking on a double major or minor to help you learn about communications while also giving you the chance to explore other subjects.

3. Intern with a communications agency

Internships are another great way to learn new skills and get hands-on experience and interning with a communications agency is a great way to gain exposure to all the different aspects of a communications position. During your internship, you’ll attend strategy meetings, create materials for distribution and learn how to handle media enquiries. Best of all, you’ll get a sense of how all of these different tasks fit together to create an integrated communications plan.

4. Grow your professional network

One of the best things to do in any industry is to grow your professional network. When it comes to communications, this is especially important since you’ll frequently liaise with journalists and customers, as well as working closely with other communications professionals. The best way to do this is by reaching out to your network of friends, professors and peers and identifying those people who have direct experience in the field. Beyond that, it’s also a great idea to stay in touch with former co-workers and managers from your previous jobs. Since communications is a tight-knit field, they’re likely to know about new opportunities as they come up and they can help connect you with hiring managers for those roles.

Working in communications is an exciting opportunity to be both the public face and internal core of a company. By following these tips, you’ll be sure to find an opportunity that’s right for you.

Next, get more career tips for internships and entry-level jobs such as 5 Tips for Getting an Entry-Level Job Unrelated to Your Major and find answers to common interview questions such as Why Do You Want to Work Here?

Entry-Level Software Engineer Job Guide

“Entry-Level Software Engineer” is a broad term. It’s often one used by larger employers to recruit computer science majors and other student seeking software development positions. During the interview process many of these employers will ask candidates to think about what specialization they’d like to focus on (e.g. front-end, back-end, etc.). These engineers spend most of their day writing code to make products and services function. The vast majority of employed entry-level software engineers work for large technology companies or startups.

Entry-Level Software Engineer Job Guide

Specialization under the software engineering is particularly common in an entry-level role. Most teams are composed of several specializations of engineers. Here are the most common types of software engineering roles:

  1. Back-end engineers spend much of their time writing services, algorithms, and architecting the core bits and pieces of a system and the way it works.
  2. Front-end engineers make the services that the back-end engineers are writing accessible to the end user through a UI. It’s not uncommon for front-end engineers to have some experience with UI design or partner often with a designer at the company.
  3. Operations engineers are responsible for ensuring the infrastructure that supports a product or service is reliable and stays up and running. Another primary responsibility is ensuring a system’s scalability.
  4. QA or test engineers are responsible for building systems that test the code that the other engineers are writing to ensure it’s stable and reliable.
  5. Full-stack engineers do everything (back-end, front-end, operations, testing). These are less common as entry-level roles unless they work at a small startup.

Common Responsibilities of Entry-Level software engineers

The tasks that software engineers perform vary greatly depending on their specialization. Here are a few examples of what they do:

  1. Building an RESTFUL API for consumption by another team at the company or a 3rd party. (Back-end)
  2. Constructing an interface in HTML, CSS, and Javascript that accesses the API and allows users to perform tasks. (Front-end)
  3. Spinning up infrastructure to support a new mobile app that the company is building, paying careful attention to how it might scale if the app takes off ala Pokemon Go.
  4. Writing tests that automatically ensure that the new app remains reliable and can handle a large load of traffic.

Types of Entry-Level software engineer Jobs

As you know by now, specialization is important. However, when searching for entry-level jobs, it’s even more important to become familiar with all of the different verbiage that an employer might use to describe their position. If you know what terms to search by, you’ll be far more likely to be able to find all of the available positions and narrow them down to the ones you’re most interested in.

Another great search strategy is to use software languages as keywords. Employers are often working on a Java or C stack and need engineers that can work in those languages.

Here are a few search terms you could use to search for entry-level software engineering postions:

Salary Expectations

The median salary for entry-level software engineers is $75,275.

The range is $54,084 – $110,908.

The higher end of this range is quite high and is often skewed significantly by the larger tech companies (Google, Facebook, etc.) and the competitiveness for their entry-level positions. They’ve been known to give $500,000 signing bonuses to the best recent grads. Crazy!

Location is one the largest factors in calculating salary, so it’s particularly helpful to consider the entire salary range.

The Bureau of Labor expects the number of software engineer jobs to grow by 17% over the next 10 years. That’s incredible growth. It’s no secret that software development is one of the most promising career choices.

Who Typically Gets These Jobs

Every year, we survey over 20,000 students and recent grads in an effort to understand the internship and entry-level job market. Based on the results of our State of Hiring report, the students or recent graduates that apply to these entry-level jobs have several things in common:

  • While many students are willing to look at jobs unrelated to their major, computer science majors are not. 72% of them only want to consider software development jobs.
  • San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, and Seattle are the most popular destination for computer science grads.
  • Surprisingly enough, 75% of graduating computer science majors have worked a paid side job. Employers see this as a major benefit, as one of their primary concerns with engineers is how they will fair in a post-college work environment.
  • Only 28% of graduating seniors majoring in software engineer have no internship experience.
  • Most computer science students will not have any student debt when they graduate.
  • Almost 56% of seniors majoring in computer science have taken an online course related to their major.

Related Entry-Level Fields

Despite it being somewhat rare that software engineer majors seek jobs outside of their immediate major, it does happen. When they do go outside, here are the areas they’re most likely to look at:

  1. Electrical Engineering
  2. UX Design
  3. Product Management
  4. UI Design
  5. Analyst

Additional Resources

  1. It never hurts to brush up on a few software engineer topics. You can take a few online courses to get back in the swing of things.
  2. For more salary information, head over to Payscale.
  3. For more advice on starting your entry-level job search, check out our guide!
  4. And finally, to prepare for an entry-level job interview, prepare for the top 20 entry-level job interview questions.

Search for Entry-Level Software Engineering Jobs Now

Next, get more career tips for internships and entry-level jobs such as What is an Entry-Level Job? and find answers to common interview questions such as Tell me about yourself.

Types of Internships for Natural Sciences Majors

A natural sciences major is a great opportunity to learn about the sciences while also developing your skills. If you’re a natural sciences major, you may be wondering about the best way to develop these skills while also discovering career paths related to your major. Since the field itself is fairly broad, an internship is one of the best ways to explore potential roles while gaining hands-on experience.

Here are some of the most common internships for natural sciences majors.

Education intern

An education internship prepares you for a career as a teacher or educational consultant in the natural sciences. You might work as an administrative intern at a school, supporting the staff by organizing events, updating databases and sending out emails. You might also work as a teaching assistant where you’ll be preparing teaching materials and presentations while helping teachers in a classroom setting. Educational internship opportunities can be also be found at ed-tech companies. In this type internship, you’ll likely be producing content or helping to design an educational curriculum.

Research intern

Research internships are a great way to get increased exposure to the natural sciences field, especially if you’re a pre-med student or if you’re considering pursuing an advanced degree. You can work as a research assistant at a university lab, join a specialized summer research program, apply to be a student trainee for the U.S. federal government (such as the Pathways Program) or work for a private research firm. This type of internship will give you the opportunity to assist with important research while also learning about the technicalities and ethics involved.

Pre-med intern

Another common type of internship is a pre-med internship. Hospitals and universities frequently have summer programs for students working toward pre-med requirements, giving them an overview of a medical environment and its various responsibilities. From observing different departments to shadowing doctors as they attend to patients, this type of internship will orient you to a healthcare setting while also giving you valuable hands-on experience.

Data science intern

Natural sciences majors can also branch out into data science, a field that involves making meaningful connections between data sets. As a data science intern, you’ll gain valuable experience with large data systems while also learning how data informs business decisions. Whether you intern with a start-up or a large corporation, this type of internship offers great exposure to how science can affect all types of businesses and company operations.

Environmental science intern

Environmental science internships give natural sciences majors an understanding of careers within the field of environmental science. From developing an educational curriculum to helping with the creation of initiatives focused on environmental protection, this type of internship will help you learn more about the field while also showing you how you can really make an impact.

Science journalism intern

A science journalism or writing internship at a scientific publication trains you to report recent scientific developments and generate ideas for other science-based articles. During this type of internship, you’ll be mentored by a staff of writers and editors, and in most cases considered an active member of the team. It’s a great opportunity to learn about science writing and to stay ahead of the latest science news.

From working in a lab to exploring the environmental sciences, a natural sciences internship is a wonderful opportunity to find out what you’re passionate about and to develop the skills you need to succeed in your chosen field.

Next, learn more about this college major such as What is a Natural Sciences Major and is it Right for Me? and get more career tips for internships and entry-level jobs such as When to Start Applying for a Summer Internship.

How to Answer: What are you Passionate About?

 The reason interviewers ask this question is because they’re trying to get a sense of who you are beyond your resume, and to know that you can commit to something and see it through to completion. This is a great chance for you to show what makes you a unique and well-rounded person and to demonstrate the value you could bring to the team!

Here are some interview tips that will help you nail this answer.

Talk about what excites you.

Your personal values and interests are part of what makes you unique, and talking about them is a great way of showing how your passions have shaped who you are both personally and professionally. Talking about what excites you is also a great way to humanize yourself in the interview and become more than just a resume. Plus, it’ll help the interviewer to remember you.

Show how you’ve made your passion a part of your life.

Whether you’re interested in animal rights or basketball, the passion itself is not as important as how you talk about it. Be specific and give the interviewer a sense of how that interest fits into your life. For example, if you’ve been an animal rights advocate for a long time and you volunteer at a shelter, explain how that experience has shaped you and what you’ve learned from it.

Say something like: “I’ve always loved animals and I had several dogs growing up. During my first semester of college, I started volunteering at the local animal shelter. I’m passionate about working with animals because so many pets end up abandoned and I want to help them find good homes.”

Pro Tip: Whatever your passion, make sure to clarify that devoting time to it won’t change the time and commitment you’re able to put into your work.

Show how your passions drive you to succeed.

Once you’ve established what your passions are and shown that you’re dedicated to them, talk about how those passions have driven you to succeed. This will show the interviewer that you’re able to use your personal interests to set goals and achieve them!

No matter what the passion, showing that you’re able to turn your interests into achievements is a great way to demonstrate long-term thinking and to show employers that you could help them meet their goals.

Say something like: “Volunteering has given me the chance to not only work with animals but to also learn about nonprofit organizations, which has given me hands-on experience of company operations and helped to shape my career goals.”

Answering “What are you passionate about?” is a great way of showing potential employers that there’s more to you than what they can see on a resume. In addition to showing that you’re a well-rounded person, it’s also a great way to prove that you’re able to set goals and achieve results based on those goals. Added bonus: You may find out you have some things in common with the interviewer!

Next, get more career tips for internships and entry-level jobs such as How to Dress for a Job Interview at a Bank and find answers to common interview questions such as What Gets You Up in the Morning?

What is a Double Major?

As you get closer to declaring your major, you may be faced with some tough choices. Would you rather major in creative writing or economics? More importantly, which major would set you up for greater success? As you consider your options you might also think about the best way to combine your interests into a double major.

Here are some things to keep in mind if you’re thinking of studying two subjects at once.

What is a double major?

A double major is a combined focus on two academic subjects. Although these subjects may be closely linked (such as economics and business), they can also be vastly different (such as biochemistry and French). In order to successfully complete a double major, you’ll typically need to take double the number of major-related classes, since you’ll typically need to fulfill up to 12 classes in each of your chosen subjects.

What are the benefits of a double major?

There are many benefits to doing a double major including increased exposure to new things, networking opportunities and skill building. In fact, studying two subjects at once is a great way to open up doors when it comes time to find a full-time job. Best of all, employers are likely to be impressed by your work ethic and to consider you a strong candidate.

What are some of the challenges of a double major?

Although there are many benefits to doing a double major, it’s also important to consider some of the challenges that come along with it. For example, with an increased workload every semester you’ll have less time for electives, internships and extracurriculars. Although this won’t necessarily negatively impact your college experience, it’s definitely something to keep in mind as you get ready to declare your major.

Choosing a major is one of the most important parts of your college career. When deciding whether to declare a double major, be sure weigh the advantages and disadvantages of a double major and make the decision that fits you best.

 

Next, learn more about this college major such as Computer Science and get more career tips for internships and entry-level jobs such as How to Evaluate Job Fit in Your Interview.

Top 5 Industries for Workforce Diversity

Regardless of your major, if you’re embarking on your first job search you might be wondering which hiring trends are likely to affect your career. One of the biggest professional trends in recent years has been an increased focus on diversity. This is partly the result of new diversity guidelines set out by the Equal Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and partly the result of studies showing that companies who hire with diversity in mind tend to be more successful and have happier employees.

To get the inside scoop on which industries are making diversity a major priority, we recently sat down with the team at NetSuite, one of the leading software companies in the world and a recognized diversity leader, having been named a 2020 Women on Boards Winning “W” company for the fourth year in a row. We analyzed several factors including gender, ethnicity, age and geography, and highlighted both traditionally diverse industries and those that having been taking big steps towards improving their diversity rankings in recent years.

Here are the top five industries focusing on workforce diversity right now.

1. Healthcare

As one of the oldest and most established industries, healthcare has a long history of serving diverse populations and hiring employees who reflect that diversity. This is especially true when it comes to ethnic and gender diversity with one-third of healthcare workers being non-white and two-thirds of nurses being female. In addition to racial and gender diversity, healthcare is also geographically diverse meaning that it is evenly spread out across the country. Although the industry has already made great strides in developing an inclusive workforce, in recent years it has placed an even greater emphasis on hiring candidates from multicultural backgrounds in order to better serve expanding sectors of the population.

2. Education

Like healthcare, education is one of the most diverse industries, particularly when it comes to gender and geography. This is partly due to the fact that two-thirds of teachers are female and partly the result of the industry itself being one of the largest workforces in every state. In an effort to meet the needs of an increasingly diverse population, schools and universities are looking to further improve their diversity initiatives and have started hiring employees from an even broader range of social identities and economic backgrounds.

3. Retail & Distribution

Next on the list is the retail industry which ranks highly for gender, geography, age and ethnic diversity. This is largely due to its size (it serves a wide range of customers and requires a lot of employees) and also due to the fact that retail companies are themselves diverse, covering everything from fashion to technology. In order to ensure that the industry is as inclusive as possible, recruiters in the field have been increasingly looking to hire candidates from every racial, ethnic and economic background as well as ensuring that gender is taken into account at all levels of the industry.

4. Professional Services

One of the fastest growing industries at the moment is the professional services industry, covering services like accounting, consulting and law. Although fields like accounting and law have traditionally lacked diversity in terms of gender, education and ethnicity, with the expansion of these fields (and of service-oriented professions in general) this trend has changed significantly in recent years. For example, professional services companies now employ a much higher number of women than they previously did and are located in geographically diverse areas of the country. Hiring managers in these fields are also working to hire and retain talented individuals from a variety of educational and socio-economic backgrounds and expanding their recruiting efforts accordingly.

5. Financial Services

Like accounting and law, the financial services industry has traditionally been one of the least diverse industries in the country. However, this has been rapidly changing in recent years as companies have realized the value of expanding their candidate pool and hiring from a broader range of schools, majors and backgrounds. With the success of these initiatives now being evident, financial services companies are making an even bigger push to increase diversity. The result is that recruiters are looking to hire candidates with diverse skills while also aiming to effectively close the gender gap.

The increased focus on workforce diversity in recent years is an important trend that signals a desire to expand job opportunities for job seekers all over the country. By knowing which industries are leading the pack when it comes to diversity, you’ll be able to find a broad range opportunities that match your skills and get one step closer to finding your dream job.

Next, get more career tips for internships and entry-level jobs such as Top 10 Things You Should Look For in a Company and find answers to common interview questions such as What’s Your Dream Job?

What is a Minor?

A minor is a specialization or concentration that may or may not complement your college major. For example, if you are majoring in Biology, you may choose to minor in a related field, such as Chemistry, or an unrelated field, such as Spanish. Minoring in a completely different field can help you gain knowledge or skills in a field distinct from your major. In a sense, a minor is like a “mini” major. Generally speaking, students who elect to do a minor have to take 4-6 classes in the chosen subject. This is about half of the amount required for a major, which typically requires between 8-12 classes.

A minor gives you an edge.

Pursuing a minor allows you to enhance your major studies and develop a side passion. It gives you an edge intellectually by introducing you to new ideas and, depending on what you choose, it can give you a professional edge, too. That extra line on your resume shows potential employers a few things. If your minor is related to your field, it can show potential employers that you have a depth of knowledge that sets you apart from other recent graduates in your intended industry. A minor unrelated to your field may show employers that you are curious and multi-faceted. Either way, a minor indicates that you are willing to pursue a rigorous workload and commit to finishing what you start.

Ask yourself if and why you want to minor.

Ask yourself exactly why you wish to minor in a subject. Is this a subject you love but couldn’t pursue as a major for whatever reason? Will this minor make you more competitive in your field? What benefits could this minor bring to your career in the short and long-term? For example, do you want to improve upon your foreign language skills to broaden your post-grad horizon? Or, do you want to learn how to code, run a small business, or obtain some other skillset you cannot learn from your major? Your minor can help you achieve your goals, but you must know what those goals are.

Do your research, talk to your faculty advisor, and take at least one sample class in your minor to help you make this important decision.

Assess the feasibility of taking on a minor.

You may have the interest to do a minor but not the time and energy. Before committing to a minor, meet with your advisor to go over the requirements. Minors often are best for students with broad majors in business or the liberal arts. They also work well for students on track for career paths in competitive fields. An engineering major, for instance, may have less time and reason to acquire a minor than an English major because their major demands might be stricter and their career path is less competitive due to the nation’s shortage of engineers.  Majors in the hard and practical sciences tend to be very structured with little room for choice or flexibility.

Pro tip: One effective way to pick up a minor is to “double dip.” A single class may be required by both your major and your minor. By taking that class, you fulfill a requirement in both programs without putting in extra time or effort. This tactic generally is most feasible for students who choose a minor similar to their major. A student majoring in French may be able to minor in, say, European Studies or Translation Studies, simply by taking an additional class or two beyond what is required for the major.

Another consideration is money. You must figure out if you can afford what may amount to an extra semester of work. Most minors require five or six classes, or about 15 to 18 credit hours, devoted to that area of study. If your major and minor course requirements do not overlap at all and you do not have AP, IB, or community college credits, you will have to be very wise about structuring your elective classes. Otherwise, you almost certainly will spend extra time in college.

Declaring your minor.

After you’ve taken a sample class or two and made your decision, you may think you’re ready to declare your minor. Make sure you know exactly how to do that. Every college or university has a different process for declaring a minor. You may have to meet with your advisor or the head of the program. You might even have to officially apply for the program, similar to the way you may have applied for your major in the first place. No matter what, you will almost certainly have to fill out paperwork to make your minor official—but this investment of your time, money, effort and brainpower can make a huge difference in your academic career and professional life.

 

Next, learn more about this college major such as Philosophy and get more career tips for internships and entry-level jobs such as How to Stand Out With Business Cards.