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Minor Rules and Policies

Two important points related to minors:

Two important points related to minors:
  • Weinberg College students are not required to complete a minor.
  • A student’s total number of majors plus minors may not typically exceed three. Read more about this "Rule of Three."

Declaring a Minor

  1. Download the Declaration Of Minor form and fill out the student and major/minor information sections. 

    Mac users: Please fill out forms in Adobe Reader or Acrobat rather than Preview. Information filled out in Preview is not retained when the pdf is opened in other applications. 

    Adobe Reader is available as a free download: https://get.adobe.com/reader/

  2. Save the pdf named as: “<Your Last Name>_<Your Student ID>”.
  3. Follow the department/program instructions for the major/minor you would like to declare in making an advising appointment and submitting the form for their approval.
  4. The department/program approver should submit the completed and signed declaration form to: wcas-forms@northwestern.edu

Since minors are optional, there are no fixed deadlines for declaring them. However, certain departments and programs might have guidelines or a timetable for fulfilling certain minor requirements. Declaring a minor can get you on department or program mailing lists, it lets you develop a relationship with a minor adviser, and it may give you priority for registering for some courses. So, declaring earlier rather than later is generally wise.

Petitioning to Graduate

A year before you plan to graduate, when you fill out your Graduation Petition, be sure to include relevant information about any minor you plan to complete. Your minor adviser should sign the petition form and indicate any necessary approvals.

Limit on Total Number of Majors and Minors.

A student’s total number of majors plus minors may not typically exceed three. (This is called the "Rule of Three.") Exceptions require permission from the Weinberg College Advising Office and cannot be granted during the first year. A sophomore, junior, or senior considering exceeding this limit should meet with their College Adviser to discuss options and the application process.

Grades in Minor Courses

You must earn a grade of at least C- in all courses you count toward your minor, including prerequisites for the minor. No work passed with a grade of D or P may be used to fulfill a minor requirement.

What if you decide to do a minor in which you have already taken a course P/N and have earned a grade of P? Consult your minor adviser as soon as possible.

Special exceptions to how courses completed in Winter Quarter 2020 and Spring Quarter 2020 apply to minor requirements can be found in the addendum to the 2019-2020 Undergraduate Catalog.

Double Counting Minor Courses

Generally if a course is eligible to be applied towards a minor and towards some additional type of Weinberg College requirement (other than a major or a second minor) it may be double counted. The course, however, will earn you only one unit of credit, not two, toward the total number of courses you need for graduation.

You may not count any course toward more than one minor. If you take two minors that require one particular course, consult with your minor advisers about possible substitutions.

You generally may not count a course towards a minor and a major at the same time but there are some exceptions, outlined in Rules and Policies Related to Majors.

Modification of Minor Requirements

The standard requirements for each minor require the approval of the Weinberg College Curricular Review Committee, and department representatives are instructed to authorize waivers and substitutions only in very unusual situations.

Occasionally, modifications are made in the minor requirements of individual students. For example, if you cannot take a required course for your minor due to scheduling constraints, but you have taken a closely related course at the same or higher level, the Director of Undergraduate Studies (DUS) for your minor may agree to give you permission to substitute the course that was taken for the required course and notify the Registrar’s Office.

Changes to Minor Requirements in the Undergraduate Catalog

Departments and programs periodically update the requirements for their majors and/or minors. College guidelines stipulate that students can follow any set of requirements in effect during their undergraduate years. For example, if you entered Northwestern in Fall 2022 and the requirements for your minor changed the next year, you can choose to follow the requirements from the 2022-23 Undergraduate Catalog, or from the revised version in the 2023-24 Undergraduate Catalog—but you can’t pick and choose the requirements you like best from each. (If you are completing two minors, you may choose to follow different Undergraduate Catalogs for the different minors.)