The Minor

Students who wish to elect a minor must officially sign up for it no later than the end of the first week of the last term in residence prior to graduation (and after they have an approved major on their record.)

A student cannot exceed two additional majors or minors beyond the required major (for a total of three). If the minor has been completed at the time of graduation, it will then be noted on the student’s transcript, but the fact that a student is working toward a minor will not appear on the transcript prior to graduation. It will, however, appear on the student's degree audit.

Minors may be offered by departments, programs, or groups of faculty, and must be approved by the Faculty. A minor consists of at least six courses, no more than two of which may be designated as prerequisites (although more than two prerequisites may be required). The courses beyond prerequisite must be suitable for the major in those departments and programs offering a major, or of similar level in other departments and programs. The entire program for each minor is to form a unified and coherent intellectual whole. One or more faculty members will be designated as advisers for each minor.

A student enrolls in a minor by declaring the minor and submitting a plan, similar to declaring a major, indicating the courses constituting the minor program along with the terms in which the courses will be taken. See the Registrar's Office website for procedures on declaring a minor. In general, a minor may not be in the same department or program as the student’s major. There are some exceptions to this; examples include: French with Italian, Physics with Astronomy, and Computer Science with Digital Arts. For a complete list of invalid major/minor and modifier combinations see the Invalid Combinations page of the DartWorks Guide. Departments/Programs may petition the Committee on Instruction for any additional combinations. As with Dual Majors, no course may count toward both a major and a minor or toward both of two minors (although a course may be part of one of these and prerequisite to the other, or prerequisite to both, subject to the approval of both departments or programs). At most one course in the minor, including prerequisite courses, in which the standing of NR is received may be used toward satisfying the minor. Individual departments or programs may disallow courses with NR standing to count toward their minors; see the individual department or program information in this Catalog to determine whether courses with NR standing are allowed to count toward their minors.

No more than half of all courses required for the minor, including prerequisites, may be satisfied by transfer.

A student may develop a special interdisciplinary minor working directly with two or more faculty advisors. A proposal for a special minor, including a written rationale, must be approved by the Council for Interdisciplinary Departments and Programs. A special minor normally shall include no more than one course taken prior to petition and approval.

After consultation with appropriate faculty member(s), the student wishing to pursue a special minor should submit in writing the proposed individualized program of study to the Assistant Dean of the Faculty for Academic Advising Programs.