Minors
A minor is an additional area of specialization (25-35 credits). You are not required to have a minor, but you may complete up to three in addition to a major. See if there is a minor you are interested in on our list of minors.
Earning a minor
Minors offer you a way to explore a department or interdisciplinary theme with less commitment of time than a major. Where a major requires at least 50 credits, most minors require only 25 to 35 credits. Courses in your minor can also count toward general education requirements.
Minors are optional. You may complete as many as three minors per degree, or none at all.
What should I minor in?
You may choose to complete a minor related to your major. For example, if you major in chemistry, you will already have a head start on a math minor, because the chemistry degree requires a lot of math.
Alternatively, you might choose to minor in an area that, combined with your major, gives you insight into an area you’d like to explore further in your career or in graduate or professional school. For instance, at UW Bothell, you might choose to major in Environmental Studies and minor in Policy Studies, which could prepare you for a career in environmental policy or advocacy. Alternatively, if you’re interested in technology, you could major in Computer Science & Software Engineering and minor in Data Science, opening doors to various roles in the tech industry. If you are passionate about health, you could major in Health Studies and minor in Global Health to pursue a career in the healthcare sector and beyond.
Or you might choose to minor in a subject completely unrelated to your major. For example, if you major in Mechanical Engineering but are fascinated by the visual arts, you might decide to minor in Visual & Media Arts.
Does a minor look good on my transcript?
The value of a minor is difficult to quantify. Minors will not necessarily make you more attractive to graduate or professional programs or employers. You may find that many employers are not particularly interested in your major, much less your minor. Although you may complete a minor related to the career you hope to pursue after graduation, minors are mainly opportunities for you to explore in depth some of the vast resources of the University.
What are the admission requirements for minors?
Any undergraduate student with at least sophomore standing (45 credits completed) who is declared in a major may declare a minor. There are no departmental admission requirements for minors at UW-Bothell.
How do I declare a minor?
To declare a minor, meet with your advisor. There are no deadlines for declaring minors, except that you cannot declare a minor after the deadline for applying to graduate. In other words, you cannot declare a minor after the third week of the quarter in which you intend to graduate.
Rules & regulations
Minors are optional. You may earn up to three minors as part of each degree completed. Postbaccalaureate students (students who have already earned a bachelor’s degree) may not be awarded a minor.
Credits required to earn a minor
Most minors require 25-35 credits. In some cases, background requirements will increase this total.
Most minors require a minimum of 50% or 15 credits (whichever is greater) must be completed in residence at the UW campus granting the minor.
Grades
Most minors require a minimum 2.00 GPA for the courses taken to complete a minor.
Some minors may require a minimum grade in each course taken for the minor. In such cases, the course-grade minimum is specified as part of the minor requirements, as listed in the General Catalog.
If a course-grade minimum and GPA minimum is not specified, any passing numerical grade and minor GPA is acceptable.
Courses taken S/NS may not be counted toward a minor.
Majors & minors
You may not complete a major and a minor in the same program at the same time.
Any undergraduate may declare any minor at UW-Bothell. Declaring a minor, however, is not a backdoor route toward entering a major. If a department has admission requirements for the major, you must apply and meet those requirements even if you have already declared a minor in that field.
You may have a major in one college and a minor in another. You will complete the general education requirements of the college of your major; you are not required to meet the general education requirements of the college of your minor.
You may combine a major on one UW campus (Seattle, Bothell, Tacoma) with a minor from another campus. Cross-campus minors are declared via the Change of Major/Minor form, submitted to your home campus (not the campus offering the minor). You must be careful, however, to meet UW’s residence requirement: at least 45 of the final 60 credits must be completed at the campus granting the degree. For more information see Cross-Campus Registration.
Overlaps
Although you cannot major and minor in the same program at the same time, some majors and minors include courses from more than one department. In such cases you may overlap, but the amount of overlap might be restricted. Be sure to check the minor requirements to determine how much overlap with your major is allowed.
Courses in your minor may also count, as appropriate, toward foreign language, Q/SR, writing, and Areas of Knowledge requirements, without restriction.
Postbaccalaureate students
Postbaccalaureate students (students who have already earned a bachelor’s degree) may not be awarded a minor.
Advising
General questions about minors can be answered by your academic advisor, but you are strongly encouraged to research your minor on the various UW webpages to learn about the subject matter of the minor and your plans for competing the minor.
Applying to graduate
Your degree application must list any minors you plan to complete. Your academic advisor will run a DARS audit for your minor and include it with your graduation application.
Once you have declared a minor and have included it on your degree application, you must complete that minor or drop it officially, or you will not graduate.