Double major to complement Computer Science at UMN - Twin Cities?

Student Lounge College Life
1

Hi there,

Although I am international student , I have plenty of credits coming (60+)in that will allow me to comfortably double major in any two given majors in four years (i.e. without taking an insane amount of classes per semester). As a result, I want to double major in two subjects that will be the best for me career-wise. But of course, I still want to major in something that I somewhat enjoy like engineering, science, math (not business).
I have decided that Computer Science has to be one of the majors (specifically Machine Learning and AI), but I am confused of what other major I should choose.

My first choice was Aerospace Engineering - I really love Aerospace Engineering and want to work in the space industry, but I have come to realize that most jobs in US and Europe are only accessible to US citizens and EU citizens respectively. My home country doesn’t really have a good space program, so I can’t really go back. This was my initial choice, but now I am not so confident anymore. I realize that Aerospace Engineering and CS are completely different, but I just wanted to have options after I graduate (and I love both subjects).

So the other choices I have are: Math, Physics and Electrical Engineering. A Math major by itself might not be the best move career-wise, but I think in conjunction with CS (specifically AI and ML), it would be very useful. (I know that I won’t really be getting a job as a ML practitioner right after college, but it still might be useful when I eventually go to grad school)

Physics is another option only because I absolutely love Physics and would have been my first choice if only it was more employable. I am also really interested in Quantum Computing, although I would probably need to go to grad school for that.

EE is another option, although a combination of EE and CS would be more difficult than Math + CS or Physics + CS. I am not really sure if it would be worth it and what kind of job opportunities I would get in the future.

So my question is which of these three majors would be the best choice for me in your opinion. Of course I just end up becoming another software engineer, I probably wouldn’t matter I have majored in Aerospace Engineering or Physics. But I would still like to hear what other people have to say

PS: I know I could just major in CS and get a decent job/go to grad school after that, but I have an excellent scholarship at UMN right now and I want to take full advantage of that.

2

It typically is easier to double major within your college than across colleges as colleges might each have their own set of requirements for what other courses are required outside of the major. CS is offered as a major in two colleges at UMN, so it might depend what college your CS major will be in.

3

My CS major is in College of Science and Engineering, not College of Liberal Arts.

4

Double majors to me only represent a true lack of passion for either major and I’d just skip that resume. I wanted to hire someone who was really passionate about the job I was offering. The exception would be if the job I had was a combination of the two majors, which wasn’t typically the case.

Choose a career path and take classes to be the best prepared you can for that career. The double major is just a title on your diploma. It is the classes that you took that would interest me as a hiring manager.

Since you are an international, do you know the rules for getting a full time job after graduation in the US? It can be quite difficult if you are here on a student visa. You need to look at what is involved in getting a green card. Many companies won’t sponsor internationals.

5

CS and Math majors have a pretty big overlap in course requirements, and there were a lot of CS majors at my college who double majored in math. I was also told by a software developer that companies especially like CS majors who double major in math because it shows that they have excellent critical thinking skills. And some CS fields (ex. data science) might require an especially strong math background. So I agree double majoring in math could be useful.

There is some overlap between EE and CS (not as much as the overlap between CS and CMPE or CS and math though), and depending on your EE program, you might be able to use CS classes to fullfill technical elective requirements for the EE major (and possibly technical elective requirements for Aerospace engineering major as well). You might also be able to use EE elective requirements to take EE classes that are more physics-heavy (ex. EE classes in fields & waves) if you are a person who loves physics. So EE+CS might be a good way of combining your interests in EE, CS, and physics. Doing EE+CS might give you more flexibility on what jobs you can do as well. And I don’t know much about the space industry, but I think you might also be able to work in the space industry with an EE major.

Physics and CS might be the hardest to double major in, but if you have a passion for physics and can still graduate in 4 years with that double major, it may be worth it.