I wanted to know is it possible to use the credits i earn doing a minor and put them towards a major in the same field. Lets say i do a Minor in EE can i use those credits to turn it into a BS?
If you’re asking if you can get a minor in EE and a BS in EE the answer is probably a universal “No”. It wouldn’t matter if you could anyways if the classes for the minor were already included in the major because then it would appear the same as the major without the minor. What you could do is start with a minor and then if you finish it quickly you could think about getting a major in the subject.
Yes thank you thats what i wanted to know if the credits i earned lets say doing a minor in CS could be used towards a major in CS later on.
Up until the point when you graduate, credits are credits - it is only at graduation that they are applied definitively towards a major or minor. If you are progressing in a minor and decide to instead double major then you could use any credits acceptable by the major to fulfill the requirements.
Note, however, that some minors include courses that the equivalent major will not accept - minors are often mean to give a survey of a field rather than provide the kind of depth that the major needs, and this can result in introductory or otherwise non-professional courses in the minor that will not even count as electives for the major.
So lets says I get a BS in EE and a minor in CS all of the classes i take to get the minor are also required to get a Major in CS and once i graduate i will have to take those classes again?
First, no. Schools rarely ask you to retake courses that you have passed with an acceptable grade. But when considering singular degrees they do not generally vary the total credit load - what this means is that if you double majored you could certainly apply one course to both degrees (indeed, this is the point of double majoring!), but if you graduated and then pursued a second bachelors degree you would be required to take some replacement classes to make up the credits that would normally be spent on the classes you have already completed.
Second, this is a terrible plan. Going for a double major is almost always a wash professionally, as few employers need the breadth and many are wary of your divided interest. Going for a second bachelors is much, much worse, as you spend a lot of time taking unnecessary and unwanted classes, delaying your career in a program without financial assistance.
Let me illustrate. Assume that the BS in either EE or CS is 140 credits, that the CS minor is 20 credits (of which 10 overlap with the BSEE requirements), and that adding a second major in CS would add at 40-60 credits* to the BSEE.
Option A: BSEE with a CS minor, would take 150 credits, which would be 4 years with a heavy load or five years with a medium load.
Option B: BS EE/CS (double major, with no graduation until both degrees are complete). would take 180-200 credits, which would be five years with a heavy load or six and a half years with a medium load**.
Option C: BS EE with a CS minor, followed (after graduation) by a second BS in CS, would take 150 credits… followed by 140 credits more. Your second BS would not be able to reuse any credits from your first degree, so you would have to find replacement courses sufficient to get 140 new credits. That’s eight years with a heavy load, nine and a half years with a medium load… and for the last half you would be ineligible for almost all financial aid.
Bear in mind that there are relatively few jobs that combine EE and CS (and those that exist are in small companies), so the extra time is not getting you anything for all this extra time and money spent on your education. But if you really want it, the best way to go is:
Option D: BSEE with a CS minor, followed by a MS in CS, which would take about two years past the BS, would qualify you for a higher salary, and would have funding available all the way through - indeed, the last two years may have you drawing a salary!
**: The range is because it depends on how hard you are trying to minimize credit load - if you double count as many course as possible, you keep your total course load down, but you also minimize your professional skill development in one or both fields.
**: Assuming 180 credits, longer otherwise. *
Im leaning towards option D. I did not know i could get a MS in CS without having a BS in CS.
You can a graduate degree in any field, it just gets more difficult the farther the new field is from your undergraduate degree. CS is already pretty close to EE, and with a few select courses (less than a minor) you could be positioned with a decent chance of admission to most CS programs.
What is your end goal? It sounds like you are early in your academic career, and I am not sure if your academic plan matches with your career goals.
Im trying to get into Robotics is EE and CS a good starting point?
Depending on which aspect of robotics interests you, yes. ME can also be a good starting point. Regardless, it is worthwhile to understand that the reason engineering degrees typically include technical electives is to allow you to pursue specialties like robotics without having to take minors or second majors, and most people working in such fields do NOT have anything other than a single base degree.
Honestly, if you are really interested in robotics, I would find schools with professors doing research in that area (assuming you are not already enrolled). Find the department where those professors work and enroll in that major. Then talk to them about the best way to pursue robotics at that school - more likely than not the suggestion will be to simply supplement your degree (probably in EE) with a handful of courses in other departments, while simultaneously participating in clubs or research focused on robotics. If you want to go more into it, then pursue a grad degree - if you have the right experience as an undergrad, it won’t matter if your grad program is in a different department than what it says on your undergrad diploma.
School has a Graduate Certificate for Robotics and the CS dept is doing research in Robotics and AI
And What about physics?
Then I would suggest talking to them about their requirements and/or expectations for getting that certificate and working with those researchers!
What about it? Honestly, I would be surprised if robotics required more than the standard “engineering minimum” of physics.