<p>So I am planning to major in communication studies going transferring to UCLA. ( just graduated hs and recently started community college right now) I keep hearing people that they are double majors or majoring this and minoring that at the same time. What does it all mean?</p>
<p>To graduate university you need ~120 units and the completion of your general education along with a specific major track. A lot of times people can finish these requirements with units to spare. So they can either take a bunch of random classes from random departments or take a lot of courses all from the same department. Most people chose the later option. Depending on how many classes they take and what requirements they fulfill they can either get a minor, or complete a full on second (dual) major. </p>
<p>A lot of universities have restrictions on what types of double majors are allowed. For instance, a double major in physics and history would be a bit uncommon, and generally discouraged. A double major in physics and math would be very common though, as would a double major in history and anthropology. </p>
<p>Minors are a little different. Someone could do a physics major, with a history minor if they chose to do so. However, most schools would encourage students to pick a minor that was more relevant to their major. A physics major might be encouraged to minor in math or chemistry. The history major might be encouraged to minor in sociology. </p>
<p>In most cases though, a choice in minor is usually wide open, assuming that the free elective credits are there. The policies will vary quite a bit from school to school. </p>
<p>Okay but I am still in community college when should I start picking classes if I want to minor in something?</p>
<p>How many credits total to minor?</p>
<p>Most community colleges don’t offer minors. I’m actually not aware of any that do. </p>
<p>The required credits for a minor will vary from school to school. It’s generally somewhere in the neighborhood of 18 credits, or roughly 5 classes. Depending on how the minor requirements work at your transfer institution though, you may be unable to complete the credits elsewhere. </p>
<p>Community colleges only offer lower level classes. I’m a physics major at a community college. I want to minor in math, but my transfer institution, UIUC, requires mostly upper level courses to complete the minor. The only course to fulfill my minor that I could even possibly take here would be Calculus III. I am taking it this spring, and it will count toward my minor. I’m taking differential equations, and linear algebra this coming semester. Those are both requirements for the math minor at UIUC, but the differential equations and linear algebra courses offered at my CC are lower level courses. The UIUC minor requires upper level courses in those subjects. So I’ll actually have to retake the courses, albeit with much greater depth. </p>
<p>You need to look into the requirements for the specific minor at the specific transfer institution you’re interested in. Then you can line the courses up and see if there are any that you can take at your CC.</p>
<p>So I am majoring in communication studies and I’m hoping to transfer into UCLA. I want to minor in something with nature because I want to work for like discovery channel or national geographics. But my cc is only able to meet the lower division requirements since they don’t have the major requirements…so I don’t know… </p>