Minor Feedbacks from Students

Unsure of what your mandatory minor should be? Having double thoughts about the one you chose? Or do you just need some more first hand information from students who have already taken your route? Then you're in the right place! Below are a few minors along with advices from current students and alumni.

Click on each college logo below to see the feedbacks for the minors from that college.

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School of Computer Science

Robotics "A lot of the classes put good use of linear algebra."

"A lot of cool work and almost all of it is hands on."

"Very interesting minor and pretty easy to finish since there's a lot of overlap with the CS degree. A lot of the classes put good use of linear algebra, so if you didn't do too well in Matrix Algebra...might wanna consider other options."

"Robotics has cool areas and applications but it can be very stressful due to their inconsistency."

Likes	Dislikes
Interesting topics, cool subject matter Got to work with lots of robots Only 5 classes for the minor, 2 of those are electives from any courses offered by the Robotics Institute RI is one of the premier robotic research facilities in the world Good complement for CS (if you like math and/or robots)	A LOT of work Time consuming and work-intensive Intro course offered only on Spring doesn't stop for anything and you have a lot of work through spring break and carnival Robots are very non-deterministic.

Software Engineering "I was able to say 'Oh, actually, I took a class on that!'"

"The director is a very nice guy and understanding as a professor. If you are interested in connecting what you learn in CS with working in a company, it might be useful to take SE."

"A lot of times, when a co-worker would say 'you probably didn't learn this in school, but..', I was able to say 'Oh, actually, I took a class on that!'"

"We learn about designing a software system, about techniques for designing and debugging, about techniques more managing and monitoring the entire development process, and more."

Likes	Dislikes
Related to theoretical CS With what goes on in the real world (software processes, etc) Useful for internships and working in the industries General but practical applications 15-214 is a good new course to get to know about software engineering	Very bureaucratic in a way: lots of diagrams and reports Not enough experiences working on large systems or in a large group with sub-teams Focus should be split between traditional OOP and web-based applications, but it seems to have different paradigms

Language Technologies "Start research early."

Likes	Dislikes
require research helps making the first step towards being a researcher and getting a graduate degree only need to take 4 classes some overlap with CS requirements Alan Black (advisor for LTI majors) is very nice Good for linguistically inclined	Hard research Alan Black tends to be a bit busy (but still a nice guy) Lots of statical analysis (can be plus or minus)

Mellon College of Science

Mathematics "Takes a little more effort than most other minors and is a more rewarding experience."

"The Math minor is the easiest to get. So if you enjoy math, go all the way and try to get the double major. It only takes a little more effort than most other minors and is a more rewarding experience."

"I chose the Math Studies route to complete this major, and it is fairly difficult but rewarding if you can do it. I also became a TA for the duration of the class, which added to the level of stress I had, and now after my full eight semesters I have just barely completed all my requirements for both majors.

"Additional major is additional stress, but can be worth it. However, more classes required will mean that you might not have time to take some interesting courses with any free electives you have."

"Do either discrete math or statistics, not general math if you want to weigh CS more than math!"

"Make sure you look in the course catalog or talk to Mark or Mackey about what's required because Academic Audit is wrong!"

Likes

Dislikes

John Mackey
Well taught
Can get lots of requirements out of way just through CS
Enough fun classes
Wide variety of theoretical subjects
Less courses to take than other double majors
Helps a lot when doing proofs or thinking logically when properly learned
Easier (or less work load) than CS courses
Computational finance courses are fun: interesting topic and one of the best program in CMU
If you are not interested in real analysis or algebraic structures, do a minor in computational finance because it deals more with probability

Some requirements are not enjoyable (take them early)
Feel like I didn't learn that much math after a double major
Not many application courses (no real hands-on experience)
Sometimes Academic Audit messes up (thought I could get a math double major instead of a minor)
Not enough TAs as you go to higher courses
Teaching is less interactive (one-directional compare to CS courses)
Still need to compete with lots of smart CS people

Computational/Applied Math "If you want to sit around for 4 years doing problem sets, go for it."

Likes	Dislikes
Same workflow as all the CS theory classes	Same workflow as all the CS theory classes

Discrete Mathematics/Logic "A great complement to computer science"

"The catalog for DML is out of date; there are many additional classes that can count for discrete math electives (e.g. 21-604 Recursion Theory, 80-413 Category Theory, 15-859 Spectral Graph Theory). Take grad classes early!"

"Great for someone who loves the theoretical parts (algorithms, computability, 15251, 15451, etc), and thinks coding is tedious and less fun than devising algorithms."

"If you decide you are not interested in the electives from this minor, you can just switch to a regular math minor and all of your classes will count for it."

Likes	Dislikes
Great complement to CS Knowledge from the courses are extremely beneficial Powerful combination especially for grad school Awesome, competitive faculty (Mackey, Pikhurko, Tartar, Loh...) Lots of courses double count with CS Helps for competitions (ACM-ICPC, Putnam) Loves graph theory and linear algebra Nice choices of elective classes	Difficult courses are required for the degree Mathematical Logic I (21-600) was hard but it is worth for Mathematical Logic II

Humanities and Social Sciences

Philosophy "Probably the easiest double major to get"

"Take grad classes early!"

Likes

Dislikes

only 45 units (for double major) after making the following selections:
- 80-180 for category 1 (or any other 80-x8x)
- 80-135 for category 2 (or any other 80-x3x)
- 80-25x for category 3
- 80-311 or 21-300 (cognate for 80-310 for the purposes for philosophy major) for logic elective
If you are doing a math major, analytical philosophy classes like Game Theory and discrete math classes such as Math Logic I and II, or Recursion Theory can count toward both a math major and a philosophy major.
With above selections, the ONLY thing left for the philosophy major is ONE 9-unit history of philosophy course (80-x5x).

Lots of analytical philosophy classes approach the mathematical requirements too informally

Hispanic Studies "Thinking in a different way from my CS classes"

"If you do a language/culture minor or double major, studying abroad is definitely a great way to apply what you have learned and deepen your learning (plus finish up a lot of classes, which might be harder to get at CMU). I decided to go to Ecuador and it's been an amazing experience; although CMU is awesome I think the marginal benefit of a semester abroad is greater than the marginal benefit of that 8th semester at CMU -- don't be afraid to leave for a semester!"

Likes	Dislikes
Learning about other cultures Improving my language skills Thinking in a different way from my CS classes	Lots of reading, writing papers, etc Sometimes students do not have advanced enough language skills to understand the readings, which makes class discussions difficult

Gender Studies "an interesting way to spend your humanities credits"

"It's an interesting way to spend your humanities credits but it's definitely not the easiest minor to get through. Not because the classes are themselves difficult but because it's so difficult to get enough classes out of the department."

Likes	Dislikes
an unique route from CS, not a lot of overlap above can be negative, but can get out of the CS mode top notch professors high quality discussions	not a strong program limited number of professors limited number of classes some classes may only be offered once in your entire time here

Cognitive Science "if you came in with at least 60 units, do a dual degree"

"Take a bunch of psychology of cognitive science classes that double counts with humanities requirements from CS: talk to your advisor on what counts and what not"

"Psychology department requires at least 6 non-double counted psychology classes to qualify you as a double major."

Likes	Dislikes
Overlaps with a lot of CS humanities electives and CS major requirements Only have to take 6 classes to do a double major

Tepper School of Business

Business Administration "Having a business minor suggests that you also have interpersonal skills"

"So hard to get into classes"

"Need to be able to register for business minor sooner (before taking 2 BA classes), since they're so hard to get in."

"If you know you are going to minor in business, you might as well declare it as soon as possible: you will have an easier time getting into the classes you need."

Likes	Dislikes
Most classes are easy Some classes overlap with breadth requirements Improves your interpersonal skills Very practical: covers networking, leadership, and even how to become an entrepreneur if that is what you are interested in	Very hard to get into classes Some things they teach are just common sense (decision-making process, for example)

Carnegie Institute of Technology

Engineering Studies "There's a lot of flexibility in what you take"

"If you like taking random CIT courses, this is a really good path to take. You can mostly take the classes you want and not have to take extra classes for a double major. I took mostly ECE courses and did a lot of really cool things (lasers woo hoo!). I was able to complete this in 2 years taking 1 class every semester except for the one semester where I took 2. If you start taking classes as a freshman this minor can fit into your schedule really easily."

Likes	Dislikes
flexibility in courses good way to get a sample of CIT courses if you do not want to pursue as an entire double major	two intro courses are annoying, busy work pre-req chains for some courses can be pretty deep

College of Fine Arts

Communication Design "Interesting and lets you understand all sides of building products for users"

"The design program and professors at CMU is incredible, and you can learn practical design skills as well as fuzzy skills like design thinking. It's great if you want to build things as a programmer and designer. The minor is fairly unstructured, so you can concentrate on a particular area of communication design. It's pretty hard to get into many of the classes, though. If you can't get into a class, sometimes it's easier talking to the professor to see if you can slide in or do an independent study."

Likes	Dislikes
Great if you're interested in web design and web applications Interesting minor core classes (CDF and Design History) Loose minor requirements	Need to submit a portfolio to apply for the minor Difficult to get into studio classes (no registration preference to minors) Hard to schedule—many design classes are only fall or spring

Drama "Satisfies my desire for fine arts and creative outlets"

Likes	Dislikes
completely separate from CS curriculum experience in fine arts creativity	very difficult to become accepted as an outsider very difficult to schedule classes different times that schedules being offered long classes