What would be a good minor to pair with a Computer Engineering major?

Hey Aleksa,

To minor or not to minor is a very good question. Your selection of a computer engineering (CE) major will put you in a strong position with employers. Adding a minor just makes you look that much better. But a minor can also help you achieve a higher level of personal fulfillment during your time at school. Thoughtfully chosen, a minor will enable you to begin or expand your personal knowledge and mental acuity of any human endeavor of particular interest to you, and to do so at the University level. Now the question becomes what you want to do with a minor.

Bad news first. There will be additional classes that you’ll have to take. You’ll need to take typically eight credit hours towards your minor that do not count towards anything else. At most colleges, if you declare your minor early enough, most of the classes taken towards your minor can also be counted towards general study or your major. The longer you wait to declare your minor, or the farther away your major and minor are (in terms of subject matter), the more classes you’ll have to take specifically for your minor.

Now the good news. Following are some of the major reasons students pursue a minor and some pros and cons with each:

1) A few schools require that you have a minor in order to graduate in your major. Harvard started this in 1910. Either way is fine, just make sure you’re ready.

2) Having a minor shows potential employers your strong work ethic and your willingness to put in the extra effort when required.

3) If you have a passion for something besides CE, perhaps you could minor in that and stay with your computer engineering major because it’s so broadly applicable. Then if the future brings opportunities in the area of your passion, could do one or the other or both.

4) There are broad proficiencies that employers need that together might not add up to a major such as leadership, interpersonal communication, critical thinking, debate, intellectual creativity, and others. You could work with academics and industry and create a minor for yourself.

5) For STEM majors like yourself, a liberal arts minor like history, psychology, English could make you a more “well-rounded” person who could bring in different perspectives and play well with others.

6) Disciplines like CE require some specialization in terms of terminology, ways of thinking, ways of addressing issues that can make it difficult to communicate succinctly with a lay person. Same is true with accountants, financial analysts, mathematicians. A minor in a discipline that requires a similar but different rigor of thought and vocabulary can give you a different lens through which to view the universe.

7) With a CE major you could minor in some aspect of CE for which you have a passion or that could best prepare you for some new development you see coming.

8) If you’d like to do some foreign travel or study abroad, you could minor in a foreign language.

https://www.worldwidelearn.com/education-articles/5-benefits-of-taking-a-minor-while-in-college.html

http://www.collegerank.net/need-college-minor/

One unexpected minor path to consider is Philosophy.

Not that you're planning on dual-majoring, but take a look at Stanford's CS / Philosophy dual-major. This is just to illustrate that it's not just some random guy on the internet suggesting it - it is in fact sufficiently mainstream that a school with Stanford's reputation offers a dual major in it.
https://majors.stanford.edu/csphilosophy

I have been working in Information Technology (IT) for over 40+ years. This is how I started:

I attended a two community college (much cheaper than a four year college) and received a degree in Math and Science. I check with the four year college before attending the community college and every class that I received an A would be fully transferable and all B's the course material would be reviewed. About 95% of my credits were transferred.

Attending the four year college my major was Management Information Systems (MIS) emphasizing on computer courses. While in college I learned about finance, transportation, law, accounting, business management and all my electives were computer courses that interested me.

When I graduated I had learned about computers but also how they were used in business. While working in the IT business I took many extra courses to learn more about computers (lunch time classes, Internet courses, bought books, etc.). In the IT business you can never stop learning because there are advancements every day.

So this is one way to learn about Computer Engineering but there are many other ways. You just have to decide which way is best for your.

I graduated from Syracuse University with a degree in MIS. This degree combined Computer Science with a business background (accounting, finance, business law, transportation, business management). That was many years ago. Today, Computer Engineering is a much broader subject with universities specializing in different areas of Computer Engineering.

A university that is highly regarded is Stanford University. This doesn't mean that you have to attend Stanford but should look at their curriculum.

Quoting from Stanford University major in Computer Science. "Symbolic Systems is an interdisciplinary program that combines computer science, psychology, philosophy, and linguistics in order to better understand cognition in both humans and machines. Viewing people and computers as symbol processors, the symbolic systems major strives to understand how people and computers reason, perceive, and act. Within the symbolic systems major, there is a core set of required classes; beyond this core, students choose an area of concentration in order to gain depth. "

The key to this degree is understanding the relationship between computers, human error, and human interpretation. Other colleges offer electives in their CS degree program. Psychology and similar courses would be good choices.

Just one of many answers to this very broad question.

I agree with Patrick, Aleska. Computer Engineering is a highly technical and prescribed major. You should consider taking a minor that emphasizes abstract, creative thinking such as philosophy, history, art. (I minored in Philosophy, myself.) In doing so you leave college with a more comprehensive view of the World and likely become more thoughtful and creative in your new profession.

Good Luck, Pete Sturtevant, PE