Academic minor
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An academic minor is a
Some students will prepare for their intended career with their major, while pursuing personal interests with a minor, for example, majoring in civil engineering while minoring in a foreign language or performing arts. Other students may pursue a minor to provide specific specialization and thus make themselves more attractive to employers. It is not infrequent for a physics major to minor in computer science, or an engineering or economics student to minor in mathematics. Students intending to become secondary education teachers often major in their teaching subject area (for example, history or chemistry) and minor in education.
Postgraduate minor
While academic minors are usually associated with undergraduate degrees as a student's secondary focus, academic minors also exist at the postgraduate level, particularly in US institutions. Sometimes this can refer to a student's minor or secondary field within their discipline, such as a political science PhD student pursuing a major field in American politics and a minor field in political theory, or a religious studies PhD student pursuing a major field in theology and a minor field in history of religion.
However, as in undergraduate courses of study, outside postgraduate study minors also exist at many universities – sometimes officially and sometimes unofficially. For example, at Oregon State University, master's and PhD students are able to pursue an official postgraduate minor in addition to the discipline of their degree. At Florida State University, postgraduate minors exist on an unofficial basis on the grounds that a master's or doctoral student takes at least 9 and at most 18 credit hours in a secondary field outside of his or her academic discipline. Typically, an outside minor at the maximum allowed credit hours or quarter credit units (typically 18 credit hours in many public universities, or 24 credit units at others) fulfills a qualifying requirement to teach the discipline as an
See also
- Academia
- British undergraduate degree classification
- Curriculum
- Double degree
- Higher education
References
- .
- ^ Claybourn, Cole (11 September 2023). "What a Minor Is and Why It May (or May Not) Matter". U.S. News & World Report. Retrieved 5 February 2024.