What's the difference between a (university) major and minor?

Answer 1

the amount of courses you have to take--a major has many more classes.

Answer 2

I am a double major and a minor. A minor in some cases only requires about 18 credits of the core courses/subjects appropriate to the minor. Since I am a spanish minor,all the classes I can take for the 18 hrs my school requires have to be Spanish classes.Core curriculum courses don't count towards it. Like someone said,you cannot graduate with a minor since most schools require 120 hrs which if you take that much you might as well declare a major.
That's my understanding of it. One more thing:For a minor,the dept usually selects the courses not the student AND in some cases,if you decide to pursue a major in the minor you have, it makes it easier to have those classes you already took .Really when you look at it that way,the classes you took won't be a complete waste. At least that's why I'm still in the blasted Spanish minor

Answer 3

A major is usually the field you go into and requires more specialized classes. A minor is something you're interested in or will complement your major, but it's less classes. For example, I am an editor and have a degree in English. My minor was Professional Writing and Editing. A lot of business students will major in Business, then minor in Communications or Marketing. A minor just ups your chances of getting the job you want by allowing you to specialize.

Answer 4

I read somewhere that a minor does not necassarily get you to a degree, only your major does. A minor is just a compliment to that major. If you're wanting to have two choices just incase (like me), I suggest Double Majoring. I heard this is hard, but hey! It's probably really worth it.

Answer 5

it's usually the number of hours required. when i was in college, you had to have at least 18 hours in your major and 12 hours in a minor, plus all the general education classes. overall, not that different.