How to List a Minor on a Resume (With ATS-Safe Formatting Examples)

Q: How do you write a minor on a resume?

Use the label 'Minor in [Subject]' every time. This is the only phrasing that major ATS platforms reliably recognize as a structured education field. Place it either on the same line as your degree separated by a comma (B.S. in Marketing, Minor in Psychology) or on a separate line directly below your degree. Always write the full subject name; abbreviations like 'Minor in CS' will not match keyword searches for 'Computer Science.'

Q: How do you list a double major and a minor on a resume?

Connect the two majors with 'and' on the degree line, then append the minor after a comma or on a separate line. Example: 'Bachelor of Science in Finance and Accounting, Minor in Data Analytics.' If the two majors have different degree types, list them on separate lines under the same institution.

Your minor belongs on your resume when it adds a keyword the job posting requires and your major or experience do not already cover. When it does not add that value, it takes up space that stronger content could fill. This guide gives you an ATS-rated formatting framework, a decision matrix by experience level, and complete education section examples for every scenario.

Should You Include Your Minor? The Decision Framework

The question is not whether your minor is impressive. It is whether your minor is doing keyword work your resume needs. With 98.4% of Fortune 500 companies using an applicant tracking system to filter resumes before a recruiter reads them, every line in your education section is either earning its place or consuming space that could lift your ATS score.

Use the matrix below to decide. Find your experience level in the left column, then read across for each scenario.

Experience Level	Minor is relevant to the role	Minor is unrelated to the role	Career change scenario
0 to 3 years	Include. It adds keywords your thin work history cannot supply.	Include only if the education section is short and space allows.	Include. It is often the strongest bridge credential you have.
3 to 8 years	Include when the minor field name matches a keyword in the job description.	Omit. Your work history is doing the keyword work now.	Include when the minor is the clearest signal of your target-field knowledge.
8+ years	Include only if it is the sole evidence of a required specialization not in your titles or bullets.	Omit. Recruiters expect your experience section to define your expertise.	Include with caution. A graduate credential or certification is usually a stronger bridge at this level.

The one-rule test

Before adding your minor, scan the job posting for required skills and keywords. If your minor field name (or a close synonym) appears in the posting and does not already appear in your major or your experience bullets, include the minor. If you cannot find that gap, omit it.

Note on Harvard Business Review data: Between 2017 and 2019, employers reduced degree requirements for 46% of middle-skill and 31% of high-skill positions. The softening of degree requirements at senior levels means a minor carries even less weight once you have a decade of titles and accomplishments. The decision framework above reflects that reality.

The 4 Formatting Patterns (With ATS Safety Ratings)

There is no single correct way to format a minor on a resume, but there are patterns with meaningfully different ATS risk profiles. The table below rates each pattern on three dimensions: parser compatibility, visual clarity, and space efficiency.

Pattern	Example	ATS Safety Rating	Platform-Specific Risks	Best For
Comma on same line	`B.S. in Marketing, Minor in Psychology`	High	No known parser failures across major platforms.	Most candidates. Broadest compatibility.
Separate line below degree	`Bachelor of Science in Marketing Minor in Psychology`	High	No known parser failures. Some parsers attach the minor line to the institution block as a second degree; this rarely causes problems.	Candidates who want to emphasize the minor or who have a long degree title that leaves no same-line space.
Parenthetical	`B.S. in Marketing (Minor: Psychology)`	Medium	Parentheses are generally safe, but some older parsers skip content inside parentheses when building keyword indexes. Test with your target company's ATS before relying on this format.	Situations where visual brevity matters and ATS risk is acceptable because work history is strong.
Pipe separator	`B.S. in Marketing \| Minor in Psychology`	Low	Workday and Taleo parsers are known to misparse pipe characters, sometimes splitting the text into two separate fields or stripping everything after the pipe. Do not use this format for applications submitted through Workday or Taleo portals.	Not recommended for most applications. Use only on a human-read LinkedIn profile or portfolio site.

Pipe separator warning: The pipe character ( | ) is commonly presented as a modern, clean separator in resume formatting guides. It creates real parsing failures on Workday and Taleo, two of the most widely deployed ATS platforms. If you submit through a company portal built on either system, a pipe-separated minor line may be stripped entirely from your parsed profile.

Bullet sub-listing (the fifth option for recent graduates)

Recent graduates who also have Latin honors, relevant coursework, or a thesis can use a bullet sub-list under the degree line to group all supporting details together:

Bachelor of Science in Computer Science

State University — May 2025

Minor in Applied Mathematics
GPA: 3.8 / 4.0, Magna Cum Laude
Relevant Coursework: Machine Learning, Data Structures, Linear Algebra

This format is ATS-safe when formatted as plain text bullets. Avoid using actual bullet symbols or Unicode characters in submitted files; use a standard hyphen or let your word processor generate a standard disc bullet. Both parse reliably across platforms.

Correct Phrasing

Minor in Psychology
Minor in Computer Science
Minor in Business Administration

Avoid These Labels

Concentration in Psychology
Emphasis in Computer Science
Focus Area: Business
Track: Marketing

The label matters. ATS parsers are trained to recognize "Minor in" as a structured education field. Alternative labels like "Concentration in," "Emphasis in," or "Focus Area:" are institution-specific terms that many parsers cannot map to a recognized field, which means the keyword in your minor subject line may not index at all.

ATS Keyword Value of Your Minor Field Name

A minor is not just a formatting question. It is a keyword insertion point. When a job posting requires "Computer Science" knowledge and your major is Marketing, adding "Minor in Computer Science" to your education section creates a keyword match that your experience bullets may not supply.

Keyword Coverage

Verified keyword match a correctly phrased minor adds to your ATS score for each matching job requirement

Non-Standard Labels

Keyword matches generated by "Concentration in" or "Emphasis in" on most ATS parsers, because those labels are not mapped to a recognized field

Pipe Risk

~40%

Estimated share of ATS-submitted resumes processed through Workday or Taleo, where pipe separators cause parsing failures

Always write the full subject name

Abbreviations fail keyword matching. "Minor in CS" does not match a job posting that requires "Computer Science." Write the full discipline name exactly as it appears in the job description whenever possible. If the posting says "Data Analytics," write "Minor in Data Analytics," not "Minor in Analytics" or "Minor in Data Science."

International and non-US equivalents

Some university systems outside the United States do not use the term "minor." If your credential uses a different label (strand, concentration, specialization, subsidiary subject), translate it to "Minor in [Subject]" for a US-targeted resume. Recruiters and ATS systems trained on US education formats will not recognize institution-specific terminology from other systems.

Strategic tip: Run your resume through an ATS checker before submitting to confirm that your minor field is being indexed as a keyword and not ignored. Our scanner parses your education section the same way major ATS platforms do and flags missing or misformatted credential fields. Optimize My Resume

Double Major Formatting (and How It Differs from a Minor)

A double major and a minor look similar but signal different things. A double major means you completed all requirements for two separate academic fields within one degree. A minor means you completed a reduced set of courses in a secondary field. The formatting distinction matters because ATS parsers treat them differently.

Three double-major patterns

Pattern 1: Two majors, one degree (most common)

Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Political Science
University of California, Los Angeles — May 2024

Pattern 2: Two separate degree lines (when the degrees have different types)

Bachelor of Arts in English
Bachelor of Science in Computer Science
New York University — May 2024

Pattern 3: Double major plus a minor

Bachelor of Science in Finance and Accounting, Minor in Data Analytics
Boston University — December 2023

Format Element	Double Major	Minor
Connecting word	"and" between the two fields	"Minor in" prefix on its own line or after a comma
Degree line count	One line (same degree type) or two lines (different degree types)	Always subordinate to the major degree line
ATS interpretation	Both fields are indexed as primary credentials	Minor field is indexed as a secondary credential
When to drop	Drop the second major only if it is completely unrelated and you have 8+ years of focused experience in one field	Drop when work history provides better keyword coverage

Do not list more than two majors on a single line. If your institution allowed three majors (rare), list the two most relevant and note the third in a cover letter if it is germane to the role.

Complete Education Section Examples

The examples below cover the five scenarios most candidates face. Each is formatted for ATS compatibility using the high-rated patterns from the table above.

Example 1: Recent graduate with relevant minor, GPA, and honors

EDUCATION

Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering

Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA — May 2025

Minor in Computer Science
GPA: 3.75 / 4.0, Cum Laude
Relevant Coursework: Robotics Systems, Python Programming, Finite Element Analysis

Use case: Applying to a robotics or automation role that requires programming skills. The minor in Computer Science adds a keyword the major does not supply.

Example 2: Career changer using minor as bridge credential

EDUCATION

Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, Minor in Business Administration

University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI — May 2019

Use case: Transitioning from a clinical research role into a people operations or HR role. The minor in Business Administration signals foundational organizational knowledge that the major and early career experience do not cover.

Example 3: Professional 5 years out (minor omitted)

EDUCATION

Bachelor of Science in Marketing

Penn State University, University Park, PA — May 2020

Use case: Five years of digital marketing experience. The minor in Sociology added no keyword value that the experience section does not already cover, so it was removed to give the education section a cleaner, more professional appearance.

Example 4: Double major recent graduate

EDUCATION

Bachelor of Science in Finance and Data Science

University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX — December 2024

Use case: Targeting quantitative finance or fintech analyst roles. Both field names appear in postings for target roles, so both are worth listing. No minor is included because the double major already fills the education section with high-value keywords.

Example 5: Minor in a technical field added to a non-technical degree

EDUCATION

Bachelor of Arts in Communications

Fordham University, New York, NY — May 2023

Minor in Information Technology

Use case: Applying to a technical writer or digital content role that requires IT familiarity. The minor is placed on a separate line because the degree title is long and comma-placement would create a visually crowded line.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Include your minor when it adds a keyword the job posting requires and your major or experience bullets do not already cover that keyword. Omit it when your work history already provides strong keyword coverage or when space is needed for more impactful content. Recent graduates with fewer than three years of experience benefit most from including a relevant minor, because the education section carries more weight when the experience section is thin.

Use the label "Minor in [Subject]" every time. This is the only phrasing that major ATS platforms reliably recognize as a structured education field. Place it either on the same line as your degree separated by a comma (B.S. in Marketing, Minor in Psychology) or on a separate line directly below your degree. Always write the full subject name; abbreviations like "Minor in CS" will not match keyword searches for "Computer Science."

Connect the two majors with "and" on the degree line, then append the minor after a comma or on a separate line. Example: "Bachelor of Science in Finance and Accounting, Minor in Data Analytics." If the two majors have different degree types (a B.A. and a B.S.), list them on separate lines under the same institution. Keep the minor subordinate to the degree line in both cases.

A minor helps when it adds a keyword the posting requires. It is neutral when it is unrelated but formatted correctly. It can hurt when it is formatted incorrectly (especially using a pipe separator on Workday or Taleo applications) because parsing errors can corrupt the surrounding education block. A minor almost never impresses a recruiter on its own; its value is almost entirely in the keyword it contributes to your ATS match score.

Generally, omit an unrelated minor once you have more than three years of professional experience. For candidates with limited work history, an unrelated minor can still fill space and demonstrate intellectual breadth without actively hurting your application. The exception is career changers, who should always evaluate whether the minor field name appears anywhere in the job description even if it seems unrelated at first glance.

Do not abbreviate the subject name. ATS keyword matching is literal: "Minor in CS" will not match a search for "Computer Science." You can abbreviate the degree type (B.S., B.A., M.S.) but the subject field after "Minor in" should always be spelled out in full. The label itself, "Minor in," is already concise enough that no abbreviation is needed.

Remove your minor when you have 8 or more years of experience and the minor subject does not appear in the job description, when the education section is crowded and the minor is adding no keyword value, or when you are applying for senior or executive roles where a minor reads as an undergraduate credential rather than a differentiator. If the minor is the only evidence of a required specialization not covered by your titles or bullets, keep it regardless of seniority.

Should You Include Your Minor? The Decision Framework

The one-rule test

The 4 Formatting Patterns (With ATS Safety Ratings)

Bullet sub-listing (the fifth option for recent graduates)

ATS Keyword Value of Your Minor Field Name

Always write the full subject name

International and non-US equivalents

Double Major Formatting (and How It Differs from a Minor)

Three double-major patterns

Complete Education Section Examples

Frequently Asked Questions

Should I put my minor on my resume?

How do you write a minor on a resume?

How do you list a double major and a minor on a resume?

Does a minor help or hurt your resume?

Should I include a minor if it is not related to the job?

How do you abbreviate a minor on a resume?

When should I remove my minor from my resume?

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