<p>Hi. Right now I am majoring in civil engineering as a freshman. I plan to do a minor with it or even a second major, if necessary. What would be good? I've been told by family member that Architecture is a good minor, or even getting a masters in Business Administration or Environmental engineering. But I am not sure if these are necessary especially Business Administration.</p>
<p>I would strongly recommend against a second major or a minor. There are already more civil engineering electives available than you will be able to take. If you’re interested in structures, take more design classes (wood, masonry, etc.) or analysis ones. If you’re in general civil, decide what you’re most interested in and take those classes. It is much harder to learn this stuff when you’re working full-time - now is the time to tackle it!</p>
<p>If you ARE in structures, I would recommend getting a master’s degree in structures. There’s really too much to learn in just four years.</p>
<p>Ever hear of “jack of all trades, master of none?”</p>
<p>I’ll second MaineLonghorn’s comments. Between my bachelor’s and master’s programs, I took 168 credits worth of courses, but there were still more courses within the civil engineering department that I was interested in taking! Nowadays, I try to continue learning on my own, but it is definitely much more difficult with a full-time job.</p>
<p>There is a reason that “6 x 9 x 19” was the standard mantra at the Elbonia College of Engineering when I completed my Civil Eng. I minored in arch design and our cry of “6 x 9 x 19” signified that in 4 years all we learned was the dimensions of a standard brick (in metric). </p>
<p>The arch design minor was a good choice since we could sign for small buildings without having a separate architect do the design (Elbonian building code, EEK). You could also minor in surveying, road construction, public works, and one or two more. </p>
<p>Depending on what you have in mind for the future I could see taking a few classes to prepare for grad school (i.e. maybe extra math) but other than that, any specialty you pick would likely be done in grad school as suggested above. </p>
<p>Look at the offerings of the typical decent to good CivE department versus what is required in the major sheet. See what you’re missing 
I just checked Purdue which has a very good Civil Eng program and the list of electives versus list of slots in the degree plan is amazing. </p>
<p>(<a href=“https://engineering.purdue.edu/CE/Academics/Undergraduate/Courses[/url]”>Undergraduate Program - Lyles School of Civil Engineering - Purdue University)</p>
<p>Kaligleean - what sector within civE are you interested in? Environmental? Structures? Transportation? Geotechnical? I think a minor is completely fine but in order to give you the best advice, I need to know which sector interests you</p>
<p>It also sounds like you are unsure on which to do. Unless you are completely adamant that you must do structural engineering or transportation engineering or geotechnical engineering, I would say switch majors to ME or ChemE. MechEs and ChemEs can work in many civil industries. But it’s rare to see it the other way around.</p>
<p>It really doesn’t matter what, if any, minors you have. When I was reviewing resumes of college applicants for hiring, I would look at the classes they took. That’s what matters, not the fancy lettering you get that spell out your minor on your diploma.</p>
<p>A few business classes that have some relationship to engineering (for example, manufacturing management was a class I took in college) would be beneficial. Any more than that and I would really question whether you wanted to be an engineer. After a two new hires of the engineering/business ilk failed miserably for me, I would avoid joint engineering/business majors like the plague. Their resumes went right to the round file. Even after many years since these bad experiences, I still get my blood pressure up over it. Avoid it if I were you.</p>
<p>@Civilneil I’m mostly interested in the construction engineering sub-dicipline of civil engineering.</p>
<p>That’s a relief. I guess I’ll focus on just my main major then, which is better. Thanks guys :)</p>
<p>Enjoy your major. Try hard to get an internship - that will be key to landing a job. It will also help you refine your course selection toward best fit. </p>
<p>I added a Technical Communications concentration to my Mech Eng major. It involved 5 courses, some of which also covered other slots such as free elective. The company that hired me out of college was not interviewing Mech Eng that year… but not enough Tech Comm majors signed up, so I got my foot in the door due to the concentration.</p>