Minor Area Requirements

The requirements for minors are established by university departments or by interdisciplinary committees. No minor program may consist of less than 18 semester credits in the minor field or more than 24 semester credits. At least six credits must be completed at the upper-division course level for all minor studies. Students are advised that an aggregation of courses that totals 18 or more credits may not constitute a minor field. Specific options for minor programs depend on the major field which a student has elected to pursue and the collateral course requirements specified by major departments.

Individuals interested in electing a minor program should consult the relevant section for curriculum requirements and prerequisites.

For minors

  1. A course which is specified as a requirement for both a student’s major and an interdisciplinary minor will satisfy both requirements, but credits for the course are counted only once in the total number of credits presented for graduation.
  2. For any interdisciplinary minor, a student must present at least 9 credits of coursework that come from outside of all the student’s majors.
  3. An individual course may be applied only to one minor, even if the course is accepted in more than one. For students who elect to do more than one minor, separate and distinct coursework must be presented for each.
  4. Collateral courses that fall outside the discipline of a student’s major field may be applied toward a minor. For example, a physics major who takes Chemistry I and II may apply those courses toward a minor in Chemistry.
  5. Students may “share” up to two courses from a minor with the Breadth of Knowledge (distribution) requirements in the Core Curriculum. The limit of two courses from the same department directed to any one category of Core Curriculum (AH, SS, SC) still applies.
  6. Students who direct coursework from the major field to an interdisciplinary minor must still meet College requirements regarding credits outside the major field.
  7. At least 6 credits towards a specific minor must be taken at UMass Lowell.

See our list of approved minors.