UC Santa Barbara General Catalog

Academic Minors

Students may pursue an academic minor in addition to their major under a formal minor program offered by an individual department or program, or a multidisciplinary group of departments and/or programs. Completing a minor offers students a cohesive supplement to their major, reflecting well-rounded interests and course of study. In addition, a minor program often helps students to structure their choice of elective units as they fulfill the college’s unit requirements. A student may not pursue a minor within the same department as their major(s), with the exception of Theater and Dance, French and Italian, German and Slavic Studies, Spanish and Portuguese, and Chinese and Japanese within East Asian Languages & Cultural Studies. Some major departments have requested and received an exception to the overlapping major and minor restriction within their department. Consult the College of Letters and Science or your major department for clarification of acceptable major and minor combinations. To ensure appropriate advising and planning, students who are considering a minor should consult the sponsoring department as soon as possible. They must request that the department confirm completion of the minor no later than the second week of the quarter in which they announce candidacy to graduate.
Upon completion of the degree, the minor will be listed on the diploma and posted on the official transcript, provided the following conditions also are met:

• The sponsoring department reports the student’s completion of the minor prior to the posting of the degree.
• The student has completed at least 18 upper-division quarter units pertinent to the minor. Most minors require more than 18 upper-division units. (Waivers cannot reduce the requirement below 18 units.)
• Courses for the minor are all completed for a letter grade. (At its discretion, the sponsoring department may accept up to 5 units graded P.)
• The UC grade-point average in all applicable upper-division courses is 2.0 or higher.
• No more than 5 upper-division units overlap between this minor and the upper-division portion of each of the student’s major(s) or other minor(s). If overlap is greater with the student’s major(s), the completion of the minor will not be formally recognized; if overlap with other minor(s) is greater, only the first minor reported will be recognized.
• If you are pursuing a minor, please contact the sponsoring department before the end of the quarter in which you have declared candidacy. Minors will only be awarded after appropriate documentation from the sponsoring department has been received by the Office of the Registrar.