Does anyone know the course overlap restrictions for multiple minors? (say you get one minor, but you only need to take 2 more classes to get another minor due to similar requirements)

3/14/2007 11:01:37 AM

I did something similar with English and Journalism minors and it wasn't a problem.
They were just very serious that no more than one of my classes from my major could be used for a minor.

3/14/2007 11:26:43 AM

I know from past experiences that you'll get different answers depending on who in the university you talk to. Talk to someone at Registration and Records and talk to the relevent minor corrdinators for your programs. If you get a favorable answer, get it in writing.

3/14/2007 12:38:42 PM

^^ mvriley, did you get Dr. Setzer to sign off on this or someone else?

3/14/2007 1:12:04 PM

Depends on the individual minors and ultimately, whether your advisors will sign off on it. As said, get it in writing, even if just by an email.

3/14/2007 5:08:33 PM

Along these lines, can you transfer in a minor? I was a polisci major at my previous university and am in management now - can I use all those polisci electives as a minor? Thanks in advance.

3/14/2007 8:35:03 PM

No. You might be able to transfer one course, but in order for it to be a NC State minor, the majority of the course work has to be completed here.

Check the requirements for the minor http://www.ncsu.edu/advising_central/minors.html
here.

3/14/2007 9:14:51 PM

^ wolfee, can you comment on my question as well?

3/14/2007 9:54:12 PM

^^
Might = is possible ... it REALLY depends on the minor and advisor. IIRC, I think I had two courses transferred in for my minor, one from UNCC, the other from UNC-CH. The "majority" work, >50% as said, was still at NC State.

Edit: Ok, correction, they weren't technically transferred in, they showed up as credit for NCSU equivalent courses. But still, the courses I didn't take at NCSU.

[Edited on March 14, 2007 at 10:42 PM. Reason : .]

3/14/2007 10:40:48 PM

In general, minors have a limit on how many courses you can transfer from other schools. Sometimes you can transfer 3 hours or 6 hours. The issue with transferring courses toward a minor is that (just like a degree) a greater percentage of the course work must be completed in residenceat the college that confers the minor (so that they can actually verify the knowledge you received. While no college is going to take all courses from a previous school toward a minor, usually 1-2 can transfer depending on the size of the minor. Talk to the adviser for the minor.

In terms of minor course work counting/overlapping with a major, most of the time this can happen. If there is a limit, it is usually stated in the minor information itself. When the course work for a minor is built into a degree, or there is SO much flexibility in the major that just taking courses would result in a minor, then significant overlap is not allowed. This is because a minor should mean stretching yourself and going above and beyond the regular course work for the degree. For example, the Accounting degree has enough Business Management courses in it such that every student would get the minor but they do not because they are such a significant part of the degree. CHASS majors and minors are usually where you see restrictions on overlapping of courses due to the flexibility of the degrees. For example, there is a limit in the number of non-profit minor courses that could overlap with a communication major.

Most of the time, when the overlap is allowed, it is in these areas: free electives, department electives, advised electives or general education requirements. For example, if planned well, it is possible to get a foreign language minor while completing the Business Degree without any extra course work. This is because the courses are very different than the major and they can fit in the areas mentioned above.

The idea behind limiting overlap is to protect the major- and the minor too- to have two distinct areas of academic emphasis.

If you have questions about overlapping courses, I will be glad to answer them, or you can take the minor requirements and show them to your major/degree adviser or Coordinator of Advising http://www.ncsu.edu/advising_central/advisers.html and he/she can tell you how they would fit in the degree.

Hope this helps.

[Edited on March 15, 2007 at 7:11 AM. Reason : shortened]

3/15/2007 7:08:36 AM

Thanks, wolfeee, appreciate the insight. That makes sense.

3/15/2007 9:43:20 AM

wolfee, i think you misunderstood me. The problem has nothing to do with a major/minor overlapping. It's with a minor/minor overlapping.

3/15/2007 9:34:51 PM