<p>I am rising sophomore at University of Maryland in the engineering school currently declared aerospace engineering major which so far i am enjoying. I have completed all of the core studies requirements with AP credit which has left me with a decent amount of free space in my next few years(given the aero 4 year plans have room for one core per semester which is the norm for a student without any AP credits) so have decided to work on a minor. All my work in undergraduate is aimed at getting into grad school.
The 2 i am most interested in are atmospheric science and nuclear engineering.
both are identical in credit requirements and amount of classes. looking at the course descriptions nuclear engineering is a bit more challenging. I think nuclear would look more impressive and i am evenly interested in both. On the other hand if nuclear is indeed more challenging it might be detrimental to my GPA as a whole which is currently a 3.8. Any advice would be nice.</p>
<p>A minor would not help you get into grad school (unless you are going to grad school in the field of that minor).</p>
<p>What I would do is just take a bunch of elective classes that interest you. In other words, take however many atmospheric science classes you find interesting, however many nucE classes you find interesting, take some humanities classes that are interesting, etc…</p>
<p>It always helps to improve your writing and communication skills…</p>
<p>From my advisory and other sources ive heard that getting a minor will just help overall with setting u apart from all applicants.</p>
<p>You should ask them how much of a boost that minor gives. They will be hard-pressed to quantify any sort of boost other than that it “sets you apart” (whatever that means, I have no idea). I mean, being President of the Underwater Basket Weaving Club will set you apart (to stretch the analogy).</p>
<p>But that is not to say a minor is entirely useless. If you actually are going to use or are interested in, for example nucE or atmospheric science in your career, then by all means minor in it. But if you’re minoring just to get the minor on the resume, it’s useless.</p>
<p>nuclear engineering is something that interests me. It was on my lists of potential majors before i commuted to aero. atmos on the other hand could be of some use give i plan to pursue the aero(as opposed to astro) track of aerospace engineering.</p>