Undergraduate Minor Guidelines

An undergraduate minor is a defined program of study outside the student's major field. Minors are intended to broaden the student's education by encouraging and officially recognizing knowledge obtained by the student in fields other than their major.

Minors are typically offered by Schools which also offer a major. A program of study for the minor is outlined and it may include more than one option or “track”. Tracks allow students to focus on an aspect of the academic field that is of particular interest to them. It is expected that there will be depth of the program of study and that specific educational objectives will be met upon completion of the minor.

Other minors are offered where there is no undergraduate degree granting program at Georgia Tech. These minors cover fields which are inherently multidisciplinary; i.e., ones that are covered in part by multiple degree granting academic programs. Multidisciplinary minors require particularly broad programs of study which include courses from multiple Schools and/or Colleges.

  1. Ordinarily a minor may be offered only in a field in which Georgia Tech offers a degree program. Exceptions may be made if (a) the proposed minor is in a recognized academic field or discipline, and (b) the schools or departments have in place sufficient courses, faculty, and facilities to offer the minor.
  2. All proposals for a minor must originate from the faculty of the academic unit offering the minor or, in the case of a multidisciplinary minor, from the faculty of each participating academic unit. Proposals must be endorsed by the appropriate College Dean(s) and by the Provost.
  3. A minor program of study must comprise at least fifteen semester hours, of which at least nine semester hours are upper-division coursework i.e., courses numbered 3000 or above. The depth of the program of study should ensure that upon completion the student will have met the educational objectives established for the minor.
  4. No more than 3 semester hours of Special Topics courses may be included in a minor program. No more than a total of 3 semester hours of Special Problems or Undergraduate Research courses may be included in the minimum 15 hours of a minor program.
  5. Courses required by name and number and/or used to satisfy Core Areas A through E in a student's major degree program may not be used to satisfy the course requirements for a minor. However, courses used in a minor may be used to fulfill electives (free electives, technical electives, etc.) required by the student's major degree program.
  6. Ordinarily, courses in a student's major cannot be used to fulfill the requirements of a minor. See also #7.
  7. An exception to #6 may be made in the case of a multidisciplinary minor where the Institute Undergraduate Curriculum Committee may approve the inclusion of up to 6 semester hours of courses in a student's major when their inclusion is justified as essential to meeting the stated educational objectives of the multidisciplinary minor. However, these courses cannot also be used to fulfill the requirements of the student's major.
  8. All proposed minors should include a plan for advising students pursuing the minor and for approving a student's completion of the required program of study.
  9. All undergraduate minors must be approved by the Institute Undergraduate Curriculum Committee and by the Academic Senate. Multidisciplinary minors must also be approved by the Chancellor of the Board of Regents.
  10. All minor programs are to be reviewed by one of the sponsoring units at least once every six years, as part of the regular program review in the sponsoring unit(s).
  11. A student may select a minor in consultation with the advisor in the major field. The minor selected must be outside the student's major field. The student should then consult an advisor in the minor field, who can inform the student of any remaining requirements.
  12. A course may not be used to fulfill the requirements of more than one minor or certificate.
  13. All courses counting toward the minor must be taken on a letter-grade basis and completed with an overall grade point average of at least 2.00.
  14. When the student petitions for a degree, he/she should complete a petition for a minor and have it approved by the minor advisor. The petition for a minor will accompany the petition for the major degree when reviewed and approved by the major school. The two forms are then submitted to the Registrar. The minor will be conferred at the same time the degree is conferred and the degree and minor will be recorded on the student's transcript. The minor will not be on the diploma. Minors may not be conferred retroactively upon students who have graduated.