<p>If I were you, I would concentrate on my engineering studies and take as many history classes as I could for electives. If you can fit in a major or minor without needing extra time, that would be a bonus. But remember, you can always have history as a hobby when you have a job as an engineer.</p>
<p>I can’t think of any job that combines history and engineering, except for maybe a professor of engineering history.</p>
<p>NeoD, the OP didn’t mention any debt. </p>
<p>I would have no problem paying for my child to go 5 years at a public because she wanted to study engineering and history with history scholars instead of paying for 4 years at a private to just study engineering. </p>
<p>I’ve taken philosophy, economics and political science courses at Harvard Extension just for fun. </p>
<p>I’ve had a great career, and education is worth more than stuff to me. My kids’ education is worth more than stuff to me also. Maybe the OP’s parents feel the same way.</p>
<p>“I can’t think of any job that combines history and engineering”</p>
<p>Here’s one: engineering, with an understanding of society, people, culture and their past. Depending on what one’s doing, studying e.g. history might work as an eye opener for considering, what one’s doing and why and in what kind of society and world we live today.</p>
<p>Reactor: i think working with real people in the real world would go a lot farther towards satisfying that end</p>
<p>Strange assumption people make that to understand a topic, you have to have a degree in it.
A degree is proof, more than anything else.</p>
<p>Patent lawyer.</p>
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<p>Agreed. Just take 5 years and study with scholars. If you don’t finish the history degree, who cares.</p>
<p>Growing up with a library full of WW2 history books (military history, tactics, etc) I took an unusual interest in WW1/WW2 history. I then combined my knowledge of history with my love of aviation, learning far more than I ever needed to know. This knowledge and interest almost made me go into a BS Aerospace Engineering, until sanity prevailed (1980’s Europe) and I studied computer science instead. </p>
<p>I still love history and one of my children is very much into history herself (she has yet to stump me - let’s see if AP Euro History is as interesting as AP World History). She will take all 3 AP History classes, she made state finals in NHD last year… Will it be useful in college? yes and no. At the high level college class we’re talking about, you aren’t learning what happened. That’s easy. You’re learning why, what was the impact, interpretations, and so on. You develop more critical thinking without relying on absolutes of math or science. You make judgements, form opinions, write arguments, etc. All very valuable skills for the workplace.</p>
<p>If you can pull a minor in history, go for it. Double major adding an extra year and can afford it, go for it. Aero especially, but any engineering discipline really. I mean, if you’re an Aero student and you can read books on structures and efficiency and materials all you want, but visit the Seattle Museum of Flight or the Smithsonian Annex (at the airport) where they have WW2 Pacific theater US planes and realize exactly how overbuilt they were, with their double and triple radial engines, lots of armor plating, etc. You can’t understand the engineering behind such planes without understanding the historical situations these planes were designed for…</p>
<p>I took one history class in college, and even I realize that there’s a lot of value to be had from an expert’s guidance through the subject + in-class discussion + writing papers in the context of a class. Books are a poor substitute.</p>
<p>Life is short enough that you should pursue the things you’re interested in if you can. If it’s not too much of a burden, then do the degree/minor/smattering of classes.</p>