CS with a Journalism minor: worth it?

<p>Hi all!</p>

<p>So I have been weighing my career options (my whole life) this past year and I was wondering if it would be too difficult to pursue a minor in journalism or creative writing with a computer science major. Some of my friends have said how they are such widely different fields and they require opposite mindsets, but I have a proclivity for both subjects and would like to further my knowledge in both fields. </p>

<p>However, I know CS majors, especially engineering-oriented ones, are highly time-consuming. In sum: would I have the time to pursue an unrelated minor if I came in with college credits, would it be worth it, and do you think it's a decent idea or completely unnecessary?</p>

<p>It depends on how you define ‘worth’. Do you mean financial payback, a satisfying career, a secure career, something you enjoy studying, something you’d regret not studying years down the line?</p>

<p>There are plenty of people who do arts and science joint majors or minors. You’re an all-rounder. Some people are this naturally. Some people enjoy exercising both halves of their brain. In my art course, our math class became a looked forward to change as we actually felt like our brains had a workout we didn’t get in our beloved art classes. </p>

<p>Others will tell you about the reality of the time constraints. But journalism could sit really well with computer science. There’s a market for technical writers as well as people to write articles for newspapers and magazines on computing/wider technology themes.</p>

<p>A CS major will not consume all of your schedule space, so you can use the rest of your schedule space to take electives of interest in other subjects. Chasing a formal minor or second major, however, may not be as worthwhile, compared to just taking the courses of interest in the other subjects.</p>

<p>I did a CS major with an Econ minor. Mostly I did it because I liked econ and got all As. I would say from a return on investment perspective it did nothing. </p>

<p>If your major is X, thats what you are. Dont expect the minor to redefine that. </p>

<p>Some very good CS programs, like Carnegie Mellon, require a minor so Im sure they would argue for it.</p>

<p>Thanks everyone for your feedback! </p>

<p>It seems like minoring in something doesn’t necessarily alter job prospects. I am pretty certain I would like to pursue a computer science job, and I wasn’t sure if an interest in writing and journalism should constitute giving up extra schedule time to pursue a minor. At this point it seems like I should just take elective classes in the subjects I enjoy and if a minor comes out of it, great. I guess I was nervous of going into CS and not really having many opportunities to take classes in other subjects, but I suppose that isn’t the case at most colleges. :)</p>