Would it be a bad idea to get a double major in civil engineering and german?
I probably wouldn’t double major with civil engineering and German but would minor in German. It would be hard to manager double majors in Engineering.
You can become fluent in German with no expense and without compromising your engineering curriculum, something both a double or a minor would do. No employer will care if you have the paper or not. If they want you to speak German, fluency is all that will matter.
It would be MUCH better for you to take extra CE design classes than to double major or even minor in a language. As an employer, I would prefer the student who took the initiative to take extra classes in his/her field of study. For example, if you’re concentrating in structures, take a design class in wood or masonry.
Depends upon whether or not you have specific career plans/objectives that call for foreign language fluency.
@Publisher, even if they did, and they might very well, they only need to display fluency. That can be had without compromising their engineering curriculum. No employer will care about the paper,and the paper will come with far more than the financial cost.
Different schools have different polices/guidelines on double majors, dual degrees, second majors, etc. You should review your school’s (or targeted school) policies.
In general, Engineering has very little overlap with liberal art majors. It also requires a lot of time and effort. You’ll be shocked how much effort can be required for a 1 credit lab! For that reason engineering majors usually don’t have the bandwidth to pursue a double major (with some exceptions). It’s more common for them to earn minors and/or certificates.
They also get involved with design teams, research and other “engineering” related projects/ECs, all of which can be very time consuming.
Good Luck!