Yes, however each course can only be used towards one minor and only two minors can be printed on your diploma. Go to the Registrar’s Office webpage for the rules regarding minors.
Yes, courses may count towards both your major and minor. Go to the Registrar’s Office webpage for the rules regarding minors.
Submit a request to drop the minor using the online curriculum change portlet on your MyMichiganTech webpage. No approval is needed to drop a minor. Directions for using the curriculum change portlet are available on the Registrar’s Office webpage.
There was an opinion piece in the New York Times in October 2018 that expresses one view of double majoring.
David Leonhardt
Op-Ed Columnist for the New York Times
24 October 2018
(an excerpt)
When I visit a college campus and ask the students what they’re studying, the response often starts with: “I’m double-majoring in … ” And then my heart sinks just a little bit.
I understand why many students are temped to double-major. They have more than one academic interest. When I was in college, I briefly thought about double-majoring in my two favorite subjects, math and history. (Instead, I spent much of my time at the college newspaper and barely completed one major — applied math.)
But the reality is that many students who double-major aren’t doing it out of intellectual curiosity. The number of double majors has soared in recent years mostly because students see it as a way to add one more credential to their résumé. What’s even better than one major? Two majors!
Except that it’s not. Most students would learn more by creatively mastering a single major — and leaving themselves time to take classes in multiple other fields. “Double majoring,” as Jacqueline Sanchez, a Wellesley College student, wrote in a recent op-ed for her campus paper, “ultimately prevents students from exploring many different disciplines.”
Unfortunately, double majoring is just one part of a credentials arms race among teenagers and college students. This arms race exacerbates inequality, because it can make upper-middle-class students seem more accomplished than working-class and poor students. And the arms race is also unpleasant and counterproductive for many of the well-off students. They’re loading up on extracurricular activities, Advanced Placement courses and college majors, rather than exploring, going deep into one or two areas and learning what they really enjoy. (see link for more)
Michigan Tech has a web form for giving feedback or registering a complaint. From the website:
The Dean of Students Office at Michigan Tech is committed to fostering a supportive environment where students are listened to, understood, and appreciated. When students have a complaint or concern about their campus experience, whether it is in or out of the classroom, the Dean of Students Office provides help and guidance in resolving the issue.
For more information, go to the Student Concerns and Complaints website. Working together, we can continuously improve Michigan Tech and the Michigan Tech experience.
Steve Patchin, Michigan Tech Director of Career Services, is very knowledgeable on this subject. He recently co-wrote a posting for NACE, the National Association of Colleges and Employers in which he cites the data. Here are the questions (and answers) they address:
- Company conversion rate co-op/intern to full-time employee: 61 percent (median – 80 percent )
- Will your company be increasing the number of internships it offers? 77 percent – YES!
- What does co-op/internship experience mean to companies? (read the posting)
- What do students see as their value? (read the posting)
- What do recruiters value most? Co-op or GPA? Co-op/Internship Experience – 51 percent | GPA – 13 percent | Both – 36 percent
- Will you make room for top talent? 88 percent – YES!
Check out the article!
The faculty have decided to merge the tech comm topics into transport lab to better help you with the communication of engineering topics.
Effective Fall 2018, CM 3410 Tech Comm will no longer be offered and CM 3215 Transport Lab will be changed to a 3 credit course. Because of this change you must now have UN 1015 Compositions done before taking CM 3215 Transport Lab, and you need to have CM 3215 Transport Lab done before taking CM 4110 Unit Operations Lab and CM 4855 ChE Design I.
If you have taken both CM 3410 and CM 3215 then you are unaffected by this change.
If you have taken CM 3410 and you take the 3-credit version of CM 3215 then you can use the additional credit towards your technical electives or free electives, if needed. Send an email to cmadvise@mtu.edu to have this change made to your degree audit.
For students who started at Michigan Tech prior to Fall 2018, if you have not taken CM 3410 then you have a choice. You can either take a technical elective or HU 3120, the Humanities tech comm course, as a substitute for CM 3410. Send an email to cmadvise@mtu.edu to have this change made to your degree audit. If you choose to take HU 3120 as a substitute for CM 3410 then it cannot be used towards your general education HASS requirements.
For students who start at Michigan Tech during Fall 2018 or later, you will be on the new curriculum that no longer requires CM 3410.
You can add a minor through MyMichiganTech. For instructions on how to do this, go to the Registrar’s Office (Google “registrar mtu”), select the Students menu, then Degree Services. The Change your Major/Minor/Concentration page is the top link.
The Chemical Engineering Department administers four minors: Polymer Science and Engineering, Mineral Processing, Bioprocess Engineering, and Alternative Energy Technology. For these minors all students will be granted permission to add the minor. You should come see the CM advisor to discuss how to fit the minor into your graduation plans. All of the minors administered by the CM Department include courses that run alternate years and that have prerequisites.
If you seek to add a minor administered by another department, you should email the advisor of that department to see what permission you need in order to add the minor.
Major add or change requests must be made by 5:00 pm on Wednesday of Week 2 to be effective that semester. Requests made after Wednesday of Week 2 will be effective the following semester. Major or minor drops become effective immediately in the current semester. Courses may be double counted between the major and the minor but may not be double counted between minors or between minors and graduate certificates.
The Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program, sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF), is a set of summer research programs hosted at at many universities, including Michigan Tech. These are competitive programs and an excellent way to check out if you are interested in graduate school. A good time to do an REU is the summer after you have completed the spring junior classes in chemical engineering. If you can get one earlier than that, that’s great too, but the best time is just before senior year.
The REU programs are the opportunity to participate in a funded research program at a research university. You will work with other REU undergraduates, graduate students, postdocs, and the professor in the program (0ften in a lab) on a real project that is aiming towards publication. They are looking for bright students who may be interested in going to graduate school. They will be showing you what graduate school and research is all about. You will make friends and gain colleagues and you will gain research experience and skills. You will get the opportunity to live in a new place and in general check out the scene. You may get to be on a publication. If you are not sure about going to graduate school the REU experience will likely give you the experience you need to come to a decision.
The REU fellowships are well funded–you will have enough to live on and to enjoy your summer and to save up for college. The deadlines for REU applications range from January to late March annually. There may be some with later deadlines, but they are accepting people in February and March so if they fill up they fill up.
You may obtain more information about the REU program from the NSF website. Undergraduate students sponsored with NSF funds must be a citizen or permanent resident of the United States or its possessions. NSF maintains a website that allows you to search by topic for REU programs throughout the country. A contact person and contact information is listed for each site.
I highly recommend this program to students who are interested in research and/or graduate school.
First interviews over the phone or internet are increasingly common. Here are some things to watch out for:
Content preparation:
- Develop good answers to the most common questions (google around to find a list of common questions).
- Have two questions prepared for when they ask if you have any questions (google around to see what questions folks suggest in your field).
- Know something about the organisation you’re interviewing with (do your homework).
Language and Image:
- Avoid minimising language in your answers (“I’d just like to say…” “Maybe this is wrong, but…” “I don’t know much about it but…“. If you practice you’ll see that you can give the same answer (what you know about the topic) and can deliver it without the preface of “All I know about that is ...” or some other minimising language.
- Speak clearly. If you tend to speak rapidly, slow down. Make sure your answers do not run on and on-they likely have more to ask you.
- Avoid simple yes/no answers. If you need time to think, say “Hmm, let me think about that for a minute.” to get yourself time and so they know why you’re not answering. Don’t take longer than a minute.
Preparation and Setting:
- Be on time. Don’t schedule any other appointment too close to the end of the interview; you do not want to have to cut it short.
- Be in a private space where you will not be interrupted.
- Have a paper and pen handy for taking notes; note down the name of your interviewer and address them formally until they invite you to do otherwise.
- Have your resume handy; they likey have it handy and are reading from it. Mark up your copy with other topics/interests that branch from your resume in case there is an opportunity to talk about these.
- Try to project confidence and good will. How to do this will depend on you, but give it some thought.
Technical advice:
- Use a land line for a phone interview to avoid technical problems; if this is not feasible think hard about how good your connection will be at the time of the interview. If it’s a video interview use a good connection.
- If it’s a video interview, look at your camera, not at the image of your interviewer on the screen. Dress professionally. Check out the background behind you and choose it wisely. Check out your technical connections early to avoid delays.
Good luck. If you have any advice to add to this post, please send it to cmadvise@mtu.edu.