Degrees, Multiple
Combined Studies
[Minors, Second Majors, Second degrees]
Undergraduate students in the School have the opportunity to pursue minors and/or additional majors in the School and/or in other divisions of Washington University. These opportunities are discussed below.
Minors
Policy:
Undergraduate students in the School are allowed to pursue minors offered by any undergraduate division of the University. A minor usually requires 5-6 courses. The minor’s home division sets the requirements for admission to a minor and for completion of the minor.
Comments:
The requirement for a minor in a “humanity and/or social science” (i.e., Arts and Sciences minor) often overlaps with our humanities/social sciences requirement. So many students find it possible to earn a minor if they carefully select which course to complete to satisfy the School’s humanities/social science requirement.
Second Majors
Policy:
A student pursuing a bachelor’s degree in engineering may also pursue second majors offered by all undergraduate divisions. Upon completion, the student’s transcript would show an engineering degree and all earned second majors.
Comments:
Currently, the only second major offered by the School of Engineering is in Computer Science. Computer Science degree seeking students are not eligible to receive this second major, but all other undergraduate engineering students are eligible to pursue this second major.
Second Degrees
Policy:
In general, a student in any undergraduate division of the University may be allowed by another division to pursue a second bachelor's degree. For this, the student must satisfactorily complete all of the degree requirements for both degrees. These requirements may include a “residency” requirement.
Comments:
In general, double counting of all courses is allowed. This means that a single course may be used to partially satisfy the requirements for both degrees. When a student's record is checked for completion of degree requirements, each division looks at the student's records as if the student were only pursuing their single degree.
Exception: The College of Arts and Sciences has a rule that requires students pursuing their Bachelor of Arts degree and ANY other bachelor's degree from the University to complete a minimum of 150 units. Arts & Sciences awards degree credit for courses which engineering does not: ECMP 100, and all physical education courses.
School of Engineering students may pursue more than one engineering undergraduate degree (see residency requirement). However, our faculty have specifically forbidden any engineering student from earning all three of the following degrees: B.S. in Computer Science, B.S. in Computer Engineering, and B.S. in Electrical Engineering.
School of Engineering students may not earn both the "professional" engineering degree and "applied science" engineering degree in the same field.