Undergraduate Minors

Undergraduate Minor Guidelines

An undergraduate minor is a defined program of study that enhances or complements a student’s undergraduate education. 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 or in fields that may be sub-fields of their major which covers a broad range of academic disciplines.

Minors are typically offered by Schools which also offer a major. It is expected that there will be depth of the program of study and that stated educational objectives will be met upon completion of the minor.

Some minors are offered where there is no undergraduate granting program at Georgia Tech. An academic unit could offer a minor in a field where it does not offer a major. Minors may also be offered collaboratively by multiple academic units.  Note that students from some majors may not be allowed to pursue certain minors when the major or minor program deems the overlap to be excessive or inappropriate. Students are strongly encouraged to check with their major advisor before choosing to pursue a minor.

Undergraduate Minors Offered

Click here for a list of minors offered at Georgia Tech. All undergraduate minor requirements are also available in DegreeWorks.

Program of Study

The program of study for each minor must satisfy the curricular requirements listed below. However, some minors, at the discretion of the offering academic unit(s) and approval from the Institute Undergraduate Curriculum Committee, may be exempt from some of these requirements, may exceed some requirements, and/or add additional requirements. Minor programs of study must be in compliance with the University System of Georgia requirements for the undergraduate minor (see items 1-3 below). The University System of Georgia parameters for Minors can be found on their website at: Academic & Student Affairs Handbook | 2.3 Academic Programs | University System of Georgia (usg.edu).

Students should consult the GT Catalog for the list of minors offered and their requirements. They should contact their academic advisor in their major with specific questions. The academic advisor in the major may refer the question to the Registrar’s Office for more information or direction.

Requirements for the Program of Study

  1. A minor program of study must contain 15 to 18 credit hours of coursework.
  2. A minor program of study must include at least 9 credit hours of courses numbered 3000 or above.
  3. Courses used to satisfy general education (Core) IMPACTS areas (formerly known as Core Areas A through E) in a student's major degree program cannot also be used to satisfy the course requirements for a minor. Courses in Field of Study (former Area F) courses may be counted as coursework in a minor.
  4. In some cases, coursework can be used to satisfy both major degree requirements and minor requirements.
  5. Minors must address possible overlap between major areas and minor areas. Minors may exclude students from some closely-aligned majors from the minor program.
  6. For students in some major areas, course substitutions may be established by either the major or the minor program to prevent inappropriate overlap. These exclusions and/or substitutions should be clearly detailed in the minor’s catalog description.
  7. Each minor program will decide how many credits of special-topics classes or project-oriented classes (Special Problems, Undergraduate Research, VIP, etc.) can be counted within the minor program. In general, it is expected that a minor program will only allow 6 or fewer credits of Special Topics courses in order to ensure the consistency and availability of elective classes within the minor.
  8. Each program will decide how many credit hours of transfer credit may be used to satisfy the course requirements for the minor. In general, it is expected that a minor program will only allow up to 3 hours of transfer credit. This includes coursework taken at another institution or credit earned through the AP or IB program, assuming the scores meet Georgia Tech minimum standards.
  9. A maximum of 3 credit hours can be shared with another minor.
  10. All courses counting toward the minor must be taken on a letter-grade basis.
  11. All courses used to satisfy the course requirements for a minor must be completed with a grade of C or above.

Other Guidelines

  1. A student should select a minor in consultation with an advisor in their major field of study.
  2. The student should also consult with an advisor in the minor field of study who can inform and advise the student about the specific requirements of the minor. Some of these may be different than the requirements listed above.
  3. Students can declare a minor at any time, although it must be done by the time or at the time the student applies to graduate. However, it is recommended that students declare a minor as soon as they have made the decision so that they can monitor their progress using the online degree audit and with their advisor. Declaration of the minor also provides information to the relevant academic units that is helpful in planning courses. The minor declaration form is on the Registrar's Office website at: http://www.registrar.gatech.edu/students/formlanding/changeminor.php.
  4. The minor is conferred at the same time the major degree is conferred. The major degree and minor will be recorded on the student's transcript. The minor will not appear on the student's diploma.
  5. Minors will not be conferred retroactively upon students who have graduated.

Administrative Guidelines

  1. All proposals for a minor must originate from the faculty of the academic unit(s) offering the minor. Minors may originate in several ways, such as:
    1. a minor in a field in which Georgia Tech offers a degree program through a single academic unit (College/School),
    2. a minor, in which the subject matter is covered by multiple degree granting academic programs in multiple academic units (Colleges/Schools),
    3. a minor in a coherent area of intellectual inquiry in which there is no undergraduate degree-granting program at Georgia Tech. In this case, the offering academic unit(s) must have in place sufficient courses, faculty, and facilities.
  2. All proposals for a minor must include a statement of the educational objectives of the minor and how the program of study is used to satisfy these objectives.
  3. The academic unit(s) offering the minor may choose to require an admission process, set admission standards, and/or set enrollment limits.
  4. The academic units(s) offering the minor may request to the Institute Undergraduate Curriculum Committee to be exempted from some of the curricular requirements applied to the program of study or add additional requirements if this is justified in order to meet the stated educational objectives of the minor.
  5. All proposals for a minor must include a plan for advising students pursuing the minor and for approving a student's completion of the required program of study.
  6. All proposals for a minor must be endorsed by the appropriate College Dean(s) and by the Provost.
  7. All undergraduate minors must be approved by the Institute Undergraduate Curriculum Committee and by the Academic Faculty Senate.
  8. All minor programs will be reviewed by the offering academic unit(s) on a regular basis (6 years is recommended) so that decisions can be made about the need for the minor or the need for it to be revised to meet academic content ensuring relevance, current standards, and up-to-date knowledge.
  9. Information and relevant documents for proposing a new minor can be found at http://www.icc.gatech.edu/submit/requirements.php?type=101