Is a minor important?

[biggspc]

Hi all. I'm a college undergrad who will likely one day pursue my PhD in Anthropology. Would grad schools care is I didn't have an undergraduate minor. I might get one in either chemistry or religious studies, but on some level I'd rather just be free to choose classes that interest me.

[Bukharan]

I doubt there is a 'yes' or 'no' answer. Schools look at a package. If you can persuade them that what you did in college aided your development as an academic, shaped your academic interests and was of good quality, your chances of getting in will increase.

[SimilarlyDifferent]

I doubt it is likely to matter more than your GPA does. If you think you can still keep a decent GPA without a minor, then it should be fine. That said, if you want to specialize in something specific that has overlap in another subject field, then I'd say it might make you a stronger applicant. For example, if you want to do cultural anthropology and study belief systems, then a religion minor would strengthen your application. A minor also keeps your options open in case you decide that you would rather go to grad school for something other than your major field. (Not that you can't already do this, but it would make more sense to apply to grad programs in religious studies, etc if you minored in it rather than if you just had one or two courses in it)

[persiandoc]

I totally agree with you. I am an MD and I got accepted to NYU last week. I also got some waitlist offers from top-tiered schools such as Columbia, Princeton and CUNY. I also got interview from Yale and I have yet to hear from them. I don't have a US degree and my GPA was decent but not ace. I imagine the strength of my application rests on my publishing and researching experiences as well as my medical background. I have no formal training in anthropology but I'm quite well read and familiar with modern medanthro literature.

I gather the important factors for getting in a given program can be ranked as follows:

1. the compatibility of your interests (reflected in SOP), approaches and methodology with the faculty (the more faculty members it targets, the greater chances you'd stand)

2. prior correspondence with the faculty (the more the better)

3. SOP (that would explain your preparation to do a PhD in anthro, how your background undergrad has urged you to go for anthro and why this program is the best for you)

4. Recs

5. GRE

6. GPA

My recommendation is if you want to apply next year and you kinda have some limited time, invest your time on reading and SOP instead of GPA, GRE. Yet, do your best to achieve the cutoffs for GPA and GRE. If you can handle all of them at the same time, that will be perfect. Don't forget that SOP is the key application material as it weaves a lot of others together,

Wish you good luck

I doubt it is likely to matter more than your GPA does. If you think you can still keep a decent GPA without a minor, then it should be fine. That said, if you want to specialize in something specific that has overlap in another subject field, then I'd say it might make you a stronger applicant. For example, if you want to do cultural anthropology and study belief systems, then a religion minor would strengthen your application. A minor also keeps your options open in case you decide that you would rather go to grad school for something other than your major field. (Not that you can't already do this, but it would make more sense to apply to grad programs in religious studies, etc if you minored in it rather than if you just had one or two courses in it)