TL;DR
Should I major in computer science (CS) and minor in French or double major in the two?
Double Major: A double major is more marketable, and it would make me feel more “committed” to French (which I really enjoy and which I want to major in for pure pleasure) than if I only minored in it. However, it requires more credit hours, and, if I want to graduate within 4 years, I probably won’t be able to take all the CS classes I want that would be useful for my future career in CS.
Major + Minor: I would get to avoid some of the foreign language and literature major requisites that I don’t particularly care for, and, since the French minor requires fewer credit hours than the major, I would get to take more CS courses that could help with my career, so it’s more time- and cost-effective. However, a major + a minor is less marketable, and I would feel less “committed” to French and like I’m taking the “easy way out” with a minor.
DETAILS
French Major:
I’m a freshman just finishing my first semester at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). Since high school, I had always planned to double major in French and something else that I could actually pursue a career in, since my French major is really just for fun – I’m a very linguistic-based person, and I really and truly enjoy learning French, but I don’t want a career in the humanities or education, like as a French teacher or professor. (I’ve always seen myself as a science person, and, initially, I was actually on the pre-med track, so I didn’t really need another major because, technically speaking, you can major in whatever you want as an undergrad before med school, but I’ve decided that I don’t actually want to be a doctor, so now I do need another major to get a job.)
CS Major:
I decided to take an introductory CS class on somewhat of a whim this semester, and I’ve been enjoying it: I always get a sort of rush when I solve coding problems in lab and on homework (although, that could just be a natural human response to problem-solving rather than a sign that I enjoy CS, but I’m hoping for the latter). When I’m working on CS assignments, I can literally work nonstop without checking my phone, which is a big deal for me because, unfortunately, I’m one of those people who are always on their phone. Also, I don’t mean to boast, but I’m actually quite good at CS so far (albeit, I’ve only taken the one course), and other students actually ask me for help! Anyways, I decided to declare my second major in CS, since, like I said, I’m really enjoying it; plus, I know it’s a really good field to go into right now.
The Dilemma:
However, now I’m not sure if I should keep my French major or drop it to a minor. I had always heard that double majoring takes a lot of time, effort, and planning, but I guess I didn’t really take it that seriously until I decided on CS and tried to plot out the rest of my college curriculum and credit hours with a double major. At UAB’s College of Arts and Sciences (CAS), 120 credit hours is the minimum required for graduation. Technically, I could graduate in 67 hours, since I brought 53 hours from AP/IB credit in high school, but I want to take at least 120 hours because my scholarship covers 15 hours every semester for 4 years, and I want to get the most bang for my buck. Anyways, based on my calculations, if I took the bare minimum of classes for the French major, CS major, other CAS and honors requirements, I could graduate with exactly 120 credit hours (including the 17 that I’m getting from this semester). However, like I said, that’s the bare minimum, but, if I took all the courses that I want to take (namely, a French study abroad and some advanced CS courses that could help me with my future career) in addition to the bare minimum, **I’d need about 140 credit hours/b. I really want to graduate within 4 years, and I’m confident that I could still graduate in that time frame if I took a few summer classes and didn’t take all the classes I really want to. However, if I minored in French, I could do all that in about 120 hours instead of 140. I really love French, though, and I’d feel like I wasn’t making a full commitment if I pursued the minor instead of the major (although, the French major is technically a major in foreign languages and literatures with a concentration in French, so there are a few courses that aren’t related to French and that, honestly, I wouldn’t mind not taking). Plus, I feel like a double major is more marketable than a major and a minor (even though I’m not really sure how much CS employers will really care that my other major is in French – I guess there’s always the chance that I could work at a global company and get chosen to get relocated to France or some other francophone country because of my French major, which would be really cool, but that’s a huge “what if”).
OVERALL
Should I minor in French to make more room for courses in my CS major, which is technically more important for my future career, or should I double major in French and CS since I really enjoy both and since a double major is more marketable?