Minors, Minors, Minors Galore!

Penn State offers TONS of minors.  A minor requires 18-21 credits in a certain classes that relate to the minor.  You could minor in a different type of engineering, a language, or something you are passionate about but you don’t have time to double major.  Language minors could be helpful if you want to work in foreign country one day or travel abroad.

Engineering Minors

When I first came to Penn State, I thought Environmental Engineering was really interesting but fell in love with Biological Engineering and the idea of working for a food processing company!  I still wanted to study Environmental Engineering even though I’m majoring in Food Processing.  With Biological Engineering, I can get an Environmental Engineering minor by only taking ONE additional class!  There are tons of other minors in engineering such as:

• Biological Engineering
• Biomedical Engineering
• Computer Science/Engineering
• Energy Engineering & More…

Language Minors

In high school, I took Spanish and wanted to continue taking Spanish classes at Penn State.  Penn State offers tons of different languages to minor in like Spanish, German, French, Chinese, Korean, and more… Language minors can be hard to fit in sometimes because they require taking 18 extra credits or more in something that isn’t related to engineering!  However, studying abroad is a great way to get some of the credits and travel at the same time!  If you want to study abroad, start talking to your academic advisor early because they will help you arrange your schedule so you can fit in studying abroad.  If you don’t think you will be able to go abroad for a full semester, think about studying abroad for 2-6 weeks during the summer.

Other Minors

Maybe you just want to minor in something because you are passionate about it… I know engineering majors who have minored in music performance or dance.  Minoring in something you are passionate about is a way to continue something you love but might not be able to major in completely.

Make sure to take time to look into and research different minors to see if you find anything that interests you!  I attached the course bulletin, which describes different minors and classes available.

http://bulletins.psu.edu/undergrad/programs/minors/

Katherine Adams is a senior majoring in Biological Engineering, and is a Mentor for WEPO'15!