I’m going to college for the first time and I want to Major in Engineering, didn’t realize I had to choose a minor as well and was thinking about Political Science. Do these 2 pair well as far as long term career benefits go? I’m oblivious to this whole college world…
EDIT: Aerospace Engineering, the Astronautical Branch. Sorry for not including in the original post. I’m just a guy who loves space/spaceflight and finally decided I wanted to do something about it by going to school and try to make a difference in the field. My ultimate dreams/aspirations are to work at NASA.
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It’s a little different for every college so there isn’t a really good all-encompassing answer.
But your major is what you are tying to get your degree in. It is the thing that you will spend the most time studying and, when you graduate, you assert it’s the topic that you know the most about.
A minor is optional. It means there’s a secondary subject you decided to take more classes than you *needed* to graduate. So you’re more well-educated in that topic than the average person, but you didn’t put so much effort into the topic as to meet the requirements for a full-fledged degree.
“Is Engineering/Political Science a good pair” is a very subjective question.
My first thought is, “What kind of engineering?” There are dozens of engineering specialties like aerospace engineering, computer engineering, electrical engineering, etc. That can matter.
My second thought is when I was in college, “Political Science” was a major people in my school didn’t appreciate. The feeling was it was a sort of “default” major people picked when they got through 2 or 3 semesters and HAD to declare a major. I was young, dumb, and didn’t question this but now it feels like gatekeeping. One of my bosses had no CS degrees and a Master’s of Political Science. So it’s definitely not irrelevant. What matters is the person, not the paper.
My suggestion to you is to see what the requirements to minor in Political Science are, then ask yourself if you find those classes both interesting and relevant. If you don’t, either don’t pick a minor or pick a minor that involves classes you find interesting.
I have a Bachelor’s of Computer Science and the most useful classes I took were humanities like Anthropology and World Religions. Those classes taught me about the different ways people view the world and that my ways weren’t necessarily “right” from all views. The stuff I learned in my CS classes were all things I sort of already knew from hobby work and early internships. You don’t really get to learn humanities as you go.
I’m not necessarily suggesting more humanities (but I think people skimp on them and it’s part of why everyone’s so mean today) but I *am* pointing out you should keep in mind that you’re going to learn 90% of what you will ultimately know about your major topic *on the job* and after graduation, so it’s worth investing any efforts towards a Minor in side topics you think will make you a better person. If that happens to be Political Science, go for it!
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