Broadening Participation in Computing via Ubiquitous Combined Majors (CS plus X)

In 2001, Khoury College of Computer Sciences at Northeastern University created their first combined majors with cognitive psychology, mathematics and physics. This type of degree has often been referred to as "CS+X" in the literature and is increasingly relevant as the need for interdisciplinary computer scientists grows. As of 2021, students at Northeastern can choose among three computing majors (computer science, data science or cybersecurity) and 42 combined majors, which combine one of the three computing degrees with one of 29 distinct majors in other fields. Prior to 2014, combined majors were with the sciences, business and design. Over the last seven years, we created 29 new combined majors, explicitly creating combinations with fields where there has traditionally been greater gender diversity. The resulting increase in student interest and gender diversity over the last seven years is compelling. As of Fall 2020, 44.6% of the 2,800+ computing majors at Northeastern are pursuing combined majors, 39% of whom are women. This is substantially higher than the 21.5% reported in IPEDS for 2019 women computing graduates in the U.S. We did not observe any significant differences in racial and ethnic diversity between combined and computing only degrees. In this experience paper, we describe how we create and manage combined majors, and we present results on enrollments, admissions, graduation, internship placements, and how students discover combined majors.