Minoring in Physics, Majoring in Electrical Engineering

[LordWillO]

Hi,

I am a Senior in High School taking a lot of STEM classes. So far, I have really enjyed my physics class and AP Chemistry. I am in the 80th percentile for math in my school, taking Precalculus at the college level (the highest my HS offers is AP Calculus). I am an Amateur Radio Operator and I have really grown to like the fact that you can take math and apply to interesting concepts like transformers and resonance. I intend to major in Electrical Engineering (I want to do RF) and I am going to either the Air Force Academy or Naval Academy, and or I am goinf to do AFROTC or NROTC at whatever college I get accepted to. My question is: should I attempt to minor in physics, or would it be too challenging, or would it not be useful for me? I especially like electrmagnetics. If you need more information, just ask; and sorry for the long post.

Thanks!

 

[Hercuflea]

It is certainly doable. People double major all of the time. Just make sure you get your Calculus, physics, and chemistry sequence finished ASAP because you don't want to miss out on taking the more in depth upper level classes for lack of a prerequisite, trust me I learned the hard way.

 

[G01]

Given your interests and attitudes that seems like a completely reasonable major/minor combination.

I have multiple friends who majored in EE and minored in physics or vice versa.

 

[carlgrace]

Given your interests and attitudes that seems like a completely reasonable major/minor combination.

I have multiple friends who majored in EE and minored in physics or vice versa.

It depends on your university.

I originally majored in physics and switched to EE during undergrad. The number of required courses for upper-division EE at my university was too high to allow a minor or double major within 4 years. I'm not sure a minor is worth the additional time and expense.

Of course, if you go to a university with fewer required EE courses in the major, then go for it!

And I've never heard of a minor in Engineering. How brutal! What university was it?

 

[G01]

It depends on your university.

I originally majored in physics and switched to EE during undergrad. The number of required courses for upper-division EE at my university was too high to allow a minor or double major within 4 years. I'm not sure a minor is worth the additional time and expense.

Of course, if you go to a university with fewer required EE courses in the major, then go for it!

And I've never heard of a minor in Engineering. How brutal! What university was it?

It's a small master's university on the east coast of the US. The EE program is small, but good. They shared some courses with the physics majors (like upper level E&M) hence the overlap. I agree that the EE minor is definitely the more brutal of the two options!

 

[carlgrace]

It's a small master's university on the east coast of the US. The EE program is small, but good. They shared some courses with the physics majors (like upper level E&M) hence the overlap. I agree that the EE minor is definitely the more brutal of the two options!

Ah, that makes sense.

We had our own EE-themed E&M and QM and Solid-State Physics courses. They didn't let you count them toward a physics minor so I dropped the idea.