Minors

ACADEMIC PROGRAMS

Academic Programs Home

Who We Are

What's New

Academic Policies

Accreditation & Program Review

Instructionally Related Activities (IRA)

Special Initiatives

If you are having trouble viewing any of the documents on this page, download the necessary viewer from the links below.

Download Word Viewer

Download Excel Viewer

MINORS

Definition: A minor is defined as a coherent group of courses which stands alone and provides a student with broad knowledge of and competency in an area outside the student's major.

Majors/Minors

A major and a minor may not be taken in the same degree program (e.g., a student majoring in history may not complete a minor in history, whereas a student majoring in crop science may complete a minor in plant protection).
The minor will be completed along with the requirements for the bachelor's degree. Courses in the minor may be used to satisfy major, support and general education requirements.

Requirements

Students who wish to complete a minor are to contact the department offering the academic minor as early as possible in the program and fill out the appropriate agreement form.
A minor consists of 24 to 30 units with at least half of the units must be from upper-division courses (300- or 400-level) and at least half of the units must be taken at Cal Poly.
Not more than one-third of the courses in a minor can be graded Credit/No Credit (CR/NC), except for courses which have mandatory CR/NC grading.
A minimum 2.0 GPA is required in all units counted for completion of the minor (French, German and Spanish language minors must have a 2.75 GPA).

Minors/Graduation

The minor is declared when the student requests a graduation evaluation in the Academic Records Office.
The completion of the minor will be noted on the student's transcript but will not be shown on the diploma. In no case will a diploma be awarded for the minor.

Download the "Outline for Request for Approval of a New Minor" (Word document)