Looking for a minor with a Civil Engineering major

[Nick Perrone]

Hello,
I am going into my first year of college and going to be working torwards earning my major in Civil Engineering over the next five years. My school offers a chance to get an accelerated minor along with my major and I am unsure what to pursue. I have heard many other Engineers minor in math or business, but would like to know what would benefit my career path the most.
Thank you

 

[PhotonSSBM]

For skill sets, can't go wrong with Computer Science. Being able to program effectively at a level higher than the MATLAB stuff you usually do has a myriad of positives and no negatives. MechE or Physics might teach you some useful stuff. And Math is a lot of fun.

I have a Civil Engineering friend who's minoring in math. He says it's pretty straight forward since you have to take so many courses for the major already. For our school it's only three additional classes to what he already takes, and they count as technical electives towards his major's degree. So that's a good option. MechE would be cool as you'd potentially get to take thermo which is fascinating, especially from an engineering perspective, and a lot of the material science classes you take in Civil will crossover.

Ultimately, almost none of these will really help you negotiate a higher salary or pique employers interests anywhere close to what a good Co-op, research opportunity or internship will give you. So just do what interests you the most. Though once again, CS probably has the most utility and MechE probably has the most interesting stuff that's very applicable to your major already.

 

[maughanster]

I would minor in CS if I were you. Even if you don't finish the minor, exposure to the ideas is valuable. Math is a fun minor. Business would be a good minor if you ever decide to earn an MBA.

Other than that, I agree with everything in post number 2. If none of this sounds fun, minor is something you think might be interesting, like geology! Or just take elective classes that sound interesting.

 

[Vanadium 50]

but would like to know what would benefit my career path the most

Then you'll have to tell us what you think this career path is. Depending on what that is, a good answer might be architecture, or management, or materials science, or Chinese...