Minors that are most useful for Mechanical Engineers? Internship advice?

Career Opportunities & Internships
1

I am a sophomore in Mechanical Engineering. I was looking at my course requirements and I have free electives. If I plan those electives accordingly I can definitely get a minor! I don’t know exactly what I want to do when I graduate, which makes this selection harder. My school offers pretty basic minors. I’ve read some places that things like psychology, business, etc might be beneficial because they set you apart from other engineers. I feel like I am most interested in Computer Science though. Math and Physics are also options. I just don’t know what would be most useful.

Do employers care about minors remotely?
I have constant anxiety because I feel that no one will want to hire me due to my GPA (~3.0)
I heard that a minor will kind of improve your resume if you have a less than amazing GPA.

I also heard that internships are really crucial because they provide work experience. The idea of internships scares me so much because I’m not super confident in my abilities and I don’t want the company I intern at to think I’m braindead or unqualified to be an engineer. Have you done an internship? What was it like? Was it hard?

Sorry for millions of questions. I appreciate your help in advance!

2

Re: internships – companies are aware that students don’t know anything yet. You may be challenged, or you may be doing easier work, but either way they want you to succeed and learn.

3

Don’t be afraid to choose a minor in something that interests you but does not complement your ME degree. If it does, great, but a future employer will likely use it only as an indication of your interests and willingness to challenge yourself. Dual majors, however, are probably best to have some connection.

Think of an internship as an extended job interview. I agree with @bodangles - companies are not expecting you to step in and be a high contributor. Their objective is to get you interested in the company and see if you would be a good fit for a full-time position.

4

Business would be good, many engineers lack skills in that area.

5

I’d post this on the engineering forum. You’ll find most engineers there won’t recommend a minor, but rather deepening or broadening your engineering education with additional tech classes.

6

Don’t worry about a minor…just take electives in an area that interests you if you have time.