<p>I'm an EE major, and I was considering minoring in either math or computer science. My concentration is robotics and automation, but I would not get as much reinforcement in that area just within my major electives, and minoring in computer science would open up a vast number of robotics and automation classes for me (since most of the minor is electives anyway). </p>
<p>I was wondering if I could get some opinions on the matter.</p>
<p>I think many people get caught up in the titles that are given to certain things, like minors. Just look at courses in CS and MA and see which ones you are most interested in, or which ones will help you the most with EE. I don’t think that a minor really matters in the long run, whether you are planning on applying to graduate school or enter directly into industry. Plus there are many courses that you are required to take in order to receive a minor, but they may be completely useless.</p>
<p>It’s not the minor that counts, it’s your specialization. Besides, while majors can be similar across colleges…minors?..ummm not so much. Your specialization in Robotics could be a minor at some schools so I personally would not get hung up on minors.</p>
<p>Globaltraveler, this is very true… However, my question is mostly trying to address the fact that with the minor, I would get more robotics classes to reinforce the ones within my major electives for specialization. I was only wondering if this would be more helpful in the long run than a math minor.</p>
<p>A set of courses that will prepare you for Robotics is more helpful than a Math minor. Not saying that I am an expert but I was a Math major and pretty much knows what goes into a Math minor. A minor in Math is about 21 semester credits. Well…Calculus I, II & III will be 12 credits. Linear Algebra will be 3 or 4 credits and Differential Equations will be 3 credits. That probably leaves one more course and let’s say that course is Probability & Statistics.</p>
<p>What you have just completed is the usual minimum requirements for most engineering majors…and none of those courses goes into any industry uses. You will probably need some Partial Differential Equations, Stochastic Processes, Discrete Mathematics, Algebra/Ring Theory and some Numerical “Whatever” courses (With “Whatever” = Diff Eqs, Linear Algebra, Optimization, Approximation, Analysis) to actually use it in real work.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>pick your major/specialization/classes.</p></li>
<li><p>if you see classes outside your department (cs/math) that are useful to you, take them. i you end up fulfilling the requirements for a minor, WONDERFUL! you now have a minor.
otherwise, dont bother. dont force a minor.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Do a minor if you want. it doesnt hurt. everything is useful in some way or another</p>