When choosing a minor, many students may not know their options.

Betsy Miller, the assistant to the dean for the college of Arts and Humanities, said she believes students should start thinking about their minors as a freshman.

“The key is looking early to see what relates to your major,” Miller said.

Miller suggested declaring an interdisciplinary minor because she thinks they go best with any major.

Some interdisciplinary minors include criminology, pre-law, women’s studies, Asian studies and African-American studies.

“For instance, a music teacher certification major can go with a math minor,” Miller said. “It’s all about exploring the different minor options.”

One reason she suggests looking early is because a student could be close to completing a minor and not even know it.

“A lot of students aren’t aware of how many minors we have; when I call students to apply for graduation, I’ll tell them they’re one class away from completing a minor,” Miller said.

Will Barrett, a senior communication studies major, believes nursing is one major that will do well in the economy today.

As for what majors and minors go well together, Barrett said a family and consumer science or sociology minor would go well with a communication major.

“You learn to communicate with a communications major, and this compliments those minors pretty well,” Barrett said.

Ashley Bell, a junior family consumer science major, shared Barrett’s belief that nursing is a major that will do well in the economy today.

“Nursing has been in high demand and doesn’t seem like it’s going down anytime soon,” Bell said.

Since she is a family consumer science major, she believes that a psychology minor goes well with it.

“You learn about families in my minor; in the psychology minor you learn about mental and physical health, so I think those two go hand-in-hand,” Bell said.

James Tidwell, the chair of the journalism department, said he thinks taking more courses outside a major will help students to be more well rounded.

Journalism majors are required to take 80 hours of courses outside of their major.

The most common minors for journalism majors are English, political science, history, sociology and psychology.

“If a journalism student has a minor in history, they are likely to be a good history writer,” Tidwell said.

To find the different minors, go to www.eiu.edu/majors.

Erin Riedl can be reached at 581-7942 or edriedl@eiu.edu.