Minors & Certificates

Overview of Minors and Certificates

Georgia Tech offers over 40 minors and over 50 certificate options. A minor consists of a minimum of 15 credit hours in an area outside of your major.  A minor will appear on your transcript.  A certificate consists of a minimum of 12 semester hours in an area outside of your major.  A certificate will not appear on your transcript, but you will receive a certificate indicating that you have completed the program.

• Current List of Minors
• Current List of Certificates
• Click here to see how minor and certificate classes can be used in the curriculum.
• Minors and Certificates in the Woodruff School
• We offer a certificate and minor in Nuclear & Radiological Engineering.
• We do not offer a certificate or minor in Mechanical Engineering.
• Mechanical Engineering students are eligible to participate in the Energy Systems Minor.

Minors

• Minor Rules and Regulation
• A student can receive a maximum of two minors.
• Minor classes cannot be double counted as minor classes and humanities or social science electives.
• Minor classes can be used to satisfy Free Electives for ME students and Technical Electives for NRE students if the classes meet the requirements for the respective electives.
• Click here for additional minor rules.

• Declaring a Minor
• Minors are declared by filling out a minor declaration form.  Your ME/NRE advisor and the advisor in the department offering the minor must both sign it.
• Students who are not on campus can fill out the form, scan it and send it to your ME/NRE advisor through email.  We will sign it, scan it and send it back to you through email.
• Turn the signed form into the registrar’s office in the Tech Tower or email it to the registrar's office.
• When students apply to graduate, they must turn in a Minor Form (Minor Program of Study) to the Registrar's Office. Your ME/NRE academic advisor and the advisor in the department offering the minor must both sign it.
• Removing a Minor
• Minors can be removed by also filling out the minor declaration form.  Your ME/NRE advisor and the advisor in the department offering the minor must both sign it.
• Students who are not on campus can fill out the form, scan it and send it to your ME/NRE advisor through email.  We will sign it, scan it and send it back to you through email.
• Turn the signed form into the registrar’s office in the Tech Tower or email it to the registrar's office.
• Students who previously declared a minor and did not finish it, must remove the minor when they apply to graduate.  The minor can be removed by filling out the minor declaration form.

Certificates

• Certificate Rules and Regulations
• There is no limit to the number of certificates that a student can earn.
• Certificate classes can be double counted as certificate classes and humanities and/or social science electives as long as it is approved by the department offering the certificate.
• Certificate classes can be used to satisfy Free Electives for ME students and Technical Electives for NRE students if they meet the requirements for the respective electives.
• Click here for additional certificate rules.

• Declaring a Certificate
• The semester that you graduate, fill out the Certificate Form and turn it in to the department offering the certificate. You will need to talk to the department offering the certificate to find the form.  Once your certificate is approved the department offering the certificate will mail it to you.
• Certificates are not officially declared with a form.  Students need to work directly with the department offering the certificate to take the classes.

How Minor & Certificate Classes Can be Used in your Curriculum

• All Students
• Minor classes cannot be double counted as minor classes and humanities or social science electives. Click here for additional minor rules.
• Certificate classes can be double counted as certificate classes and humanities and/or social science electives as long as it is approved by the department offering the certificate. Click here for additional certificate rules.

• NRE Students: Minor and certificate classes can be double counted as minor/certificate classes and technical electives if the classes meet the NRE technical elective requirements.
• ME Students on the 2012-2013 Curriculum or Later Catalog Years

• Minor classes cannot be used for ME electives.
• Minor classes can be used to satisfy up to 15 hours of free electives if the classes meet the free elective requirements.

• ME Students on the 2011-2012 Curriculum or Earlier Catalog Years

• Minor and certificate classes can be used as free electives if the classes meet the ME free elective requirements. This is for all minors offered.
• Students who successfully complete a minor approved by the ME department are allowed to substitute courses required for the minor for up to six hours of ME elective credit. If a student does not complete the minor, then this substitution is disallowed and the student must complete six hours of ME elective credit. The list of minors that are approved by the ME department are:
  • Biomedical Engineering
  • Materials Science and Engineering
  • Aerospace Engineering
  • Computer Science
  • Mathematics
  • Biology
  • Earth and Atmospheric Sciences
  • Nuclear and Radiological Engineering