Changing Minors - Negative Effects? (Problem Solved)

Reckless

Hey all,

As it stands, I'm two years through my B.A. in International Relations: Developing World with minors in Econ and PoliSci. The PoliSci minor is dirt easy to do alongside my major because the core classes of the IR program here draw heavily on PoliSci courses, so I've only had to take two extra classes to finish that minor.

I'm thinking about switching my Econ minor to one in Legal Studies. I love studying Economics and I think it's very interesting, so I won't be unhappy remaining an Econ minor. However, I've been more and more thinking about Law school after my B.A., as I'm very interested in the field and I've been kicking some serious tail on practice LSATs.

We've got a Legal Studies minor on campus which I could, in all likelihood, still fit into my last two years. I'd switch, but I've heard changing your minor can raise a red flag for graduate/law school admissions folk. For reference, I'm expecting to graduate with around a 3.7-3.8 GPA as long as junior year doesn't seriously mess with my grades, which I don't think it will.

So, my question, is there any truth to my fear of changing my minor mid-way through my B.A.?


TL, DR: I'm considering changing my minor halfway through my B.A. from Econ to Legal Studies. Will this throw up red flags at grad/law school admissions?

Thanks for any help!

Kyougu

I never heard of switching minors throwing any flags, but you could easily explain it as you felt that a minor in legal studies would benefit you in law school.

I minored in that myself, and really enjoyed the courses I got to take. They're a good mix of everything, from international law, constitutional law and business law, and everything in between. It would probably fit into your current curriculum pretty well.

Kistra

How would the graduate schools know you changed your minor?

My impression is that nobody cares about minors at all because at a lot of schools you can get them for two or three classes. When I applied to med school there wasn't even anywhere on the application to list minors, I have no idea if law school is similar. Most graduate schools have a more essay based system but there still wasn't a spot for listing minors on the applications forms that they do have.

tsmvengy

Nobody is going to care that you switched minors from Econ to legal studies.

Darkewolfe

Man, no one cares about minors at all. They're really for your own benefit, not resume building material.

Tomanta

I can't imagine any world where changing minors is worse than changing majors and I don't think anyone cares about changing majors.

Sentry

Yeah, seriously, no one gives two shits about minors. Do what makes you happy. No law school is going to look at a Legal Studies minor and say anything other then "oh."

Dog

I disagree that no one cares about minors. If you're looking for a job in a field mostly unrelated to your major in college (and I'm talking fresh out of college here), but have a minor in that area, it can be really beneficial because even though it might be only a few classes, it gives you a leg up over another applicant in the same situation without that "experience"

With that being said, no one cares if you switch your minor.

Reckless

Sweet. Guess this is basically problem-solved. Thanks all!