<p>Hello, I am junior in high school and over the past couple of years I've come to really enjoy all my history classes to the point where I often find myself watching historical documentaries and reading all sorts of books about history outside of school. But ever since I was a child I've loved the job of engineers, particularly ones working with aircraft/spacecraft. So my question for you'll is what careers are out there that would benefit from having a major in both history and aerospace engineering? </p>
<p>History might be beneficial just for the sake of general knowledge, knowing how people have lived before and having seen things put into the perspective (which some engineers definitely haven’t seen, because they design junk that breaks, pollutes or is just plain useless).</p>
<p>They are the same as with a single major in aerospace engineering. </p>
<p>Seriously though, if you can swing 5 years financially study it because you love it. Life is short. Do what you want. </p>
<p>I know that 5 years at a school like University of Wisconsin-Madison is less expensive than 4 years at a private school. I think that’s also a better road than a 3-2 program where you have to switch schools.</p>
<p>^ Then anyone who doesn’t has a history degree is ignorant? Do you really believe graduating 1-2 years late for a history degree is a good idea? If the OP likes history he will be better off just taking some history classes as liberal art requirement. I still recommend economics or psychology as electives over history(fully covered in HS)</p>
<p>You don’t NEED to combine your interests into one career. Major in engineering and MINOR in history. You will need to take a certain number of humanities/arts/social sciences anyway so you would already be part-way to a minor (*the specifics vary from college to college). If you have enough free electives or want to take courses during the summer to earn extra credits towards a history major then do so.
I see lots of students at my son’s engineering school minor (and some double-major) in non-engineering subjects such as a foreign language, drama, art, music etc.</p>
<p>For someone with a primary career interest in engineering, generalized knowledge of H/SS subjects can be indirectly career enhancing in terms of being able to understand the behavior of other people and organizations in the context of career decisions that you will make. The H/SS subjects with the most obvious applicability would be economics, psychology, and sociology, though an understanding of history can help in understanding how people in the past made good or bad decisions in similar situations.</p>
<p>History itself has few direct career paths in the field – primarily historical research and teaching history, both of which are quite competitive to get into. A historian with an engineering background may go into the niche area of history of engineering.</p>
<p>As a practical matter, it may be difficult to fit in a second major in history alongside an engineering major, although it can be possible if you enter with lots of AP/IB/college credit. But you can certainly use your required H/SS breadth courses and any free electives for history courses.</p>
<p>Let’s look at this some more. Let’s assume 1 year late. Many engineering programs require you to take 4 technical classes at the same time. That’s often very difficult. Some might be better off taking 3 technical classes and a history class and stretching over 5 years. You might end up learning more engineering, have a higher GPA and you might find yourself with a social life.</p>
<p>There is certainly a financial cost, but as an engineer, you’re going to earn roughly $4M dollars in your career. Another $100K (40K for another year and 60K loss of your salary that year) might not really change your life. It might be worth it for something that you really want. </p>
<p>Personally, I’d rather be more educated than have more “stuff”.</p>
<p>lightnin, you are still in high school, I do not think you are in any place to define what history is learnt in HS and College. A year or two doing something you enjoy is not “wasted”. But what would I know, I am in HS too.</p>
<p>I read the thread of this title and instantly thought of myself. I absolutely love history, particularly American history and European history. My hobby of sorts is studying the American Civil War. I double majored for a while in engineering and history but ended up dropping the major in history to a minor instead. I ended up doing this because I could not find an efficient way to fit the history courses in around my optical engineering courses. Do what you want to do and do what you love. If I was not studying engineering, I would definitely be studying history. Not for the money, but for the pure enjoyment that I get out of it. Good luck!</p>
I’d like to say that your opinion is very much a financially dangerous (and generally irresponsible) one. </p>
<p>First of all, $100k is a lot of money. The amount of “stuff” that could be purchased for that much money is quite large. For children who are never taught at 20 years to appreciate the value of large sums of money, it is hard to understand what $100k is worth. Perhaps that is why credit card companies expend a massive effort to giving 20 year olds a credit card - because they will spend recklessly. They might even throw away $100k on a few classes!</p>
<p>Furthermore, I’d argue it’s not just $100k that they’re wasting. There’s also interest. The interest payment on their previous semesters of debt compounds - no $40k loan will be subsidized. The 40k for year 5 also compounds. At best, you’ll have 3.4% interest; probably double that. You will pay interest on that for maybe 20-30 years. The opportunity cost also has an interest attached - the money you lose from getting raises later (earlier raise = more money for your entire life). That’s harder to quantify, but it’s also a substantial sum of money. That will eat away maybe 20% of your after-tax career income - not so irrelevant, is it?</p>
<p>Lastly, this is a false dilemma. You do not need to go to school to study history. Books are a thousand times cheaper than a college education, and just as good (perhaps better because you don’t get graded on self-study and you don’t have to learn what you don’t want to learn).</p>
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A quick comparison of university history courses and AP history courses suggests that beyond the specialty topics, they are pretty similar.</p>
<p>The specialty courses aren’t exactly nontrivial, but honestly I’d usually recommend just reading a book on something as specific as “US-Mexican Borders” etc. Much more pleasant and effective than a class.</p>
<p>I am not in high school. I am a senior majoring in CS. I just used arbitrary info for my profile. I prefer not to talk about my background here but I’m not 19 either. It is waste because you will lose BOTH tuition and the salary you could be earning for an interest that you can learn with books in the library. It isn’t worth at all</p>
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<p>100k is too much money. You can be educated in history without losing that amount of money</p>
<p>I have to disagree. A history degree still has worth. Maybe not the worth that an engineering degree has but it would still be an accomplishment to get a history degree if you wanted to. I went for it and stopped because I could not find a way to fit history classes around my engineering classes. If I had found a way to do it, I would have gone for it. If you are really worried about finances if you go for a history degree, then you can always minor in it. If you find that you love it and you think that you would really enjoy going for an actual degree, I say go for it. Finances are important, but if your heart is telling you to do it, do it.</p>
<p>I think about taking up a history degree again. I may even go back to school someday and get it done.</p>
<p>With all due respect, that sounds like engineering arrogance talking. </p>
<p>If just reading books works for you, fantastic! But as someone who has been on both sides of the fence, history classes are not a waste of time by any means. So if you have someone who truly wants to pursue a history degree, can find a way to make it fit around their classes, and can afford to do it, why not?</p>
<p>@Cedricium - Engineering is not the be all end all. I commend you for taking an interest in a field that is so different from engineering.</p>
Only because you want it to be so. I say the same thing to anyone where appropriate, regardless of major. </p>
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Oh they’re not useless or a waste of time, they’re just very much NOT worth the cost if you have to delay graduation to fit them in. There is a significant difference there. Also, “can afford to do it” is a hell of an assumption - I’m guessing most people here don’t come from families that can afford fully fund their child’s education.</p>