Is a minor necessary for an undergrad degree?

alexander77

Just curious of some opinions as to whether it's beneficial to go for a minor to add to my degree or not? I'm going to go for a information systems degree with a security focus.

DissonantData

Having a minor in Computer Science would be a good idea since you can gain some useful programming skills. Just make sure you can finish it, otherwise just go for the Information Systems degree with no minor.

RoyalRaven

I would only add if it doesn't delay your path to the original undergrad degree you're pursuing. In the end, it won't matter all that much vs. your primary subject/primary degree. BTW - security is a very good grad-level subject to work on above and beyond the core IT/IS subjects, so I would save any of the extra work for graduate-level...especially if you want to go that far in your education. Still work on security as much as you can if you enjoy the subject material though....and if you can pick your courses where you end up with some type of minor in security/IA...that's good. The sooner you can do this in your class planning the less *extra* courses you'll probably need to take.

ptilsen

DissonantData wrote: »

Having a minor in Computer Science would be a good idea since you can gain some useful programming skills. Just make sure you can finish it, otherwise just go for the Information Systems degree with no minor.

That depends on the degree. Most of the schools that offer CS and CIS or CIT typically have enough overlap that they either discourage or disallow double-majoring or minoring between them. Mine does. However, it really depends on your school. CS could be a great pick if your CIS program is pure business IT/infrastructure/MIS type stuff. It's just that most I've seen are just a variant of CS. One TE member joked that CIS stood for "Calculus impaired students" as it's often CS without calculus (again, what it is at my school).

I would agree with RoyalRaven that it probably doesn't make any sense to delay even one semester for a minor. It can be a nice positive, but it's going to be a very small factor in being considered for any job. And as per my above comment, typically when you minor you want to go for a complimentary field, but not necessarily a variant (like CS/CIS). For IT, that can be business/management, technical writing or communication, even math or economics.

Gorby

I actually just debating this question myself...good advice. I was going to do Computer Science and Business but I don't believe it would benefit me in job hunting much to go for the business minor.

brentw722

I actually never went for a minor due to classes that had been transferred over from community college not really going towards anything. I think with an IT degree it isn't needed. If you really want to get a minor I've always heard getting one in Business Administration is the way to go.

blargoe

Generally I wouldn't recommend the minor.

I wouldn't bother with a minor unless 1) it doesn't add or add much to your required course load for your major; or 2) there is just some other area of study that fascinates/interests you and you really really want it. I don't think a minor is going to be given special consideration unless perhaps it were in some foreign language or foreign cultrual studies... some global corporations do consider things like that, from my experience it isn't usually a requirement, just something that might get you called in for an interview first.