Minors and Certificates
Every student in Weinberg College must complete a major in order to graduate, as well as other degree requirements. Unless you transferred late into Weinberg College or took a long time to choose a major (or you're doing an adjunct major that requires completion of another major too), you will probably have several slots left over for elective courses.
How should you select your elective courses? One possibility is to use some of them to complete a minor or certificate. These options offer you an organized way to pursue a secondary interest without taking on the burdens of a second major.
Options for Weinberg College students are available within Weinberg College and in several other schools at Northwestern. Ready to declare a minor? Here's how.
Minors in Weinberg College
Weinberg College offers minors in more than 40 departments and programs; each requires between six and nine courses.
- Review all Weinberg College minors
- Rules and policies for minors
- Minor worksheets list specific requirements
Minors and certificates at other Northwestern schools
School of Communication
- The School of Communication offers several minors open to Weinberg students including:
- Dance
- Film and media studies
- Human communication sciences
- Performance studies
- Sound design
- Theatre
- Additionally, the School of Communication offers several modules open to Weinberg students.
School of Education and Social Policy
- Opportunities through the School of Education and Social Policy are described in the Undergraduate Catalog. These include:
- Certificate in civic engagement.
- State teaching certification through the secondary teaching program.
McCormick School of Engineering
- The McCormick School of Engineering offers certificates in Human-computer interaction, and in Design.
- All minors in the McCormick School of Engineering are open to Weinberg College students, though students interested in computer science as a minor should follow the Weinberg College computer science minor, and students interested in data science may find the Weinberg College data science minor (offered by the Department of Statistics and Data Science) easier to integrate with their other degree requirements. Other McCormick minors include:
- Architectural engineering and design
- Biotechnology and biochemical engineering
- Entrepreneurship
- Environmental engineering
Kellogg School of Management
- Kellogg School of Management offers two certificate programs for undergraduates with strong analytic skills, one in financial economics and one in managerial analytics.
Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications
- Medill offers an undergraduate certificate in integrated marketing communications.
Bienen School of Music
- Bienen offers several minors open to Weinberg students:
- Commercial music
- General music
- Music cognition
- Music composition
- Music technology
- Musicology
- See also other opportunities for nonmajors offered by Bienen.
Interschool options
- A certificate in Leadership, and a certificate in Sustainability and Energy (ISEN certificate) are offered by programs and centers at Northwestern.
- The interschool Transportation and Logistics Program offers a minor in transportation and logistics.
Before you decide to complete a minor or certificate, you should carefully consider your options; while you may choose that option, you may decide instead to use your electives to take courses in multiple fields so that you can go deeper into more areas of interest. Consult with your College Adviser and an adviser in the particular program you are considering to weigh your options.