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More about the Minor

Definition of minors:

• A minor may be offered cooperatively by more than one unit or include courses from more than one unit.

• Minors are structured to provide students with a coherent field of study and a carefully considered intellectual justification. A random choice of courses from current offerings in a major may not constitute a minor.

• Students who wish to pursue a minor should inform both their college and the unit in charge of the minor in order to ensure appropriate advising. When the student completes a minor, the unit offering the minor shall notify the student's college, which shall verify that the student has met all requirements (grades, credits, etc) and forward the student's name, minor, and date of completion to the Registrar's Office. The posting of a minor on a student's official transcript is done concurrently with the posting of the bachelor's degree.

• Minors will be posted on a student's academic transcript but not on the diploma. Minor designations on the transcript may carry general discipline or field designation.

• A minor has no fewer than 15 and no more than 24 academic credits, with at least nine credits at the upper level. A unit may apply for an exception to these criteria. Such applications may particularly apply in situtations in which students have taken the prerequisites to the minor as part of another degree program.

• A student may use a maximum of six credits (or two courses) to satisfy the requirements of both a major and a minor. A unit may place additional limits on the allowed overlap. Courses completed in one minor may not be used to staisfy the requirements in another minor.

• No more than six of the required credits (or two courses) may be taken at an institution other then the University of Maryland, College Park. However, at least six upper division credits applied to the minor must be taken at this university.

• No course with an earned grade below C may count towards a minor

• In some cases, departments requiring majors to have supporting courses may wish to allow students to substitute an appropriate minor for the supporting course requirement.

• No student may initiate a program leading to a citation after the semester in which the citation was converted or after the deadline for conversion, whichever is earlier. Students who have begun a citation program before conversion and who complete it after conversion will have the option of having either the citation or the minor recorded on their transcript, if they satisfy the requirements for the one they choose to list.

• The Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science does not grant permission for courses offered by the department to be taken off campus.