Pursuing a Double Major or Major/Minor – Baskin Engineering Undergraduate Experience

Campus Policy on “Double-Counting” of Program Requirements

A student becomes eligible for additional majors or minors by fulfilling the requirements of the declared majors or minors. Courses used to satisfy the requirements for each major must include a minimum of 40 upper-division credits (as per 10.4.3) not used to satisfy the minimum credits of any other major or minor. Courses used to satisfy the requirements for each minor must include a minimum of 25 upper-division credits (as per 10.4.4) not used to satisfy minimum credits of any other major or minor. Courses taken beyond these minimums to satisfy upper-division requirements for a major or minor may be applied toward another major or minor. Departments may approve substitution of appropriate upper-division courses to satisfy the requirements of this section. Lower division courses may always simultaneously satisfy the requirements of different majors and/or minors. (UCSC Academic Senate Regulation 10.4.7 Additional major or minors)

Counting Credits

A major must have a minimum of 40 upper division credits, and a minor must have a minimum of 25 upper division credits. There is no limit to the number of lower-division credits that can be shared between majors and minors.

When counting credits for double majors you must have a minimum of 40 upper-division credits in your first major not being used toward the minimum 40 upper-division credits for the second major. Once you reach the 40 minimum upper-division credits for each, any other upper-division credits can be shared.

When counting credits for a major and minor, you must have a minimum of 40 upper-division credits in your major not being used toward the minimum 25 upper-division credits for the minor. Once you reach the 40 minimum upper-division credits for the major, and 25 upper-division toward the minor, any other upper-division credits can be shared.

Requirement fulfillment is unrelated to credit counting in the case of double majors and minors. A class that is shared between two programs and is being used towards the minimum credits of a major or minor can still be used to satisfy the requirements of the other major or minor.

Senior Comprehensive Requirements (Capstone Courses and Thesis)

To complete multiple majors and minors, students must fulfill all of the requirements for all majors and minors declared, including the comprehensive requirement for each major. In general, a single thesis or capstone may not be used for more than one major.

However, students who are declared the following School of Engineering majors may be able to use the same capstone or thesis:

Computer Engineering and Electrical Engineering
Bioengineering and Computer Engineering
Bioengineering and Electrical Engineering

The School of Engineering requires students pursuing these double major combinations to receive approval from the non-hosting department, which is at the discretion of the undergraduate director.

For example: A student pursuing a double major in Bioengineering and Computer Engineering would like to take the Bioengineering capstone and use it to double count for both majors. In this case, the student is required to receive approval from the Computer Engineering Department.

To receive approval from the non-hosting department, students must fill out and submit a course substitution petition to the Undergraduate Director. If approved, the student must then return the petition to the Baskin School of Engineering Undergraduate Advising Office, Baskin Engineering Room 225.

Strategy for Counting Credits

Fold a piece of paper into three columns. At the top of the first two columns, write the name of each major or minor you are pursuing. At the top of the third column, write “Shared Courses”.

Start by writing the course numbers (for example CMPS 101) of all of the classes that do not overlap between your majors (or major/minor) in each major’s or minor’s column. Write the number of credits each course is worth next to the course number.

Once you have completed writing these courses, count the number of credits in each major’s (or minor’s) column. If you have already reached 40 credits for each major (or 25 credits for minors), you do not need to do any further counting, as you meet the minimum campus policy for double counting of program requirements.

If you have not reached 40 credits for each major, or 25 credits for a minor, write the course numbers of the shared courses, as well as the number of credits each is worth in the “Shared Courses” column.

Move courses (and credits) from the Shared Courses column into each major’s or minor’s column until you reach the minimum number of credits in each.

Dropping a Minor

To drop a minor, please fill out the Request for Drop of a Major/Minor form and bring it to the Advising Office during our open hours. If this is your final quarter at UCSC, please wait until you’ve submitted this form to the Advising Office, and your minor has been dropped from your student portal, before applying to graduate.