Which Minor Should I Choose?

Hi! I’m entering college as a mechanical engineering major this Fall, and I’ve been considering what kind of minor I would like to do. Currently, I want to work in the entertainment industry as an automation engineer, so I would love to engineer sets for theatres, film, and musical performances and rides and attractions at theme parks. (I just wanted to use my engineering brain with my artistic side and passion for film and musical theatre). I’ve been looking at companies like Hudson Scenic and thinking about minoring in set design (theatre production) to get more experience/knowledge for the area I want to be in. Is this a good idea? Will it help me considerably? Are there any other suggestions for what I should do concerning minors, etc?

Read the other threads about Minors / double majors. There is not much benefit. It is probably a better / more flexible option to just pick your elective courses in areas of interest.

Normally I see minors as a distraction from one’s main goal and not worth the effort. But in your case, a minor would be worth it as it would provide knowledge in a area that you wish to work in. Check the actual classes and the content of those classes in the class descriptions to see if it is truly a match.

Does your college also have a theater group that you could join that would give you hands on experience in the area in which you want to work? That experience might really help when looking for employment and may even provide some nice networking contacts.

My son did a combination that seems perfect for you, sort of by happenstance. He did a ME concentration in Mechatronics and he works 12-20 hours a week for the campus entity that supports audio and video on campus. Mainly he does sound, but he’s done lighting, curtains, pretty much everything. Having hands on experience in how live plays, lectures, concerts, dances, etc. flow behind the scenes would be very helpful. It’s quire complex. He had no experience when he started and simply took it because it sounded the coolest relative to the other campus jobs available at the time.

@HPuck35 here’s the link to the courses required for the minor: https://catalog.ufl.edu/UGRD/colleges-schools/UGART/TPR_UMN/ I looked at the course descriptions. One course deals with actually helping in the production of something, and another one deals with the technical aspects in theatre. I think those would be useful. The other ones the minor requires seem to not be as relevant since it deals with painting, drawing, etc. I would just not minor in Set Design, but one of the courses I would like to take can only be taken by students majoring/minoring in theatre production.

Thinking about it, the lighting design track seems better suited for what I want to do… Any thoughts?

Anyways, I looked up any local theatre groups, and while my college doesn’t offer work/volunteer work in something like set construction (just ushering), I found a theatre that’s close by and offer that sort of experience. Thanks for telling me about it! It sounds like something I’ll be looking into more once I move in the Fall.

@eyemgh That sounds pretty cool. I’ll look into any job offerings like that. I don’t think my college offers ME concentrations unless you’re in graduate school, but what kind of courses did your son take for his Mechatronics concentration?

He took two courses in mechatronics, two controls courses, and the circuits class that all ME concentrations take. His senior project was also mechatronics based.

@eyemgh thanks for letting me know! I’ll definitely look into it.