Minors allow students greater opportunity to add cross-disciplinary knowledge and competencies to their major program of study. There are currently over 25 minors at Pratt Institute.

A minor is a cluster of courses constituting a coherent program of study requiring depth in the subject, but not as extensive a program as the major. Minors enable students to supplement their work in their departmental concentrations with focused study in another field. Most minors include required courses and elective courses within concentrated menus. Because of the rigorous requirements, students should identify their interest in a minor early in their academic careers.

For some students, minor programs provide an opportunity to pursue a special area of interest that closely complements their departmental concentration. Two examples: a student concentrating in architecture pursues a minor in interior design; a student majoring in writing pursues a minor in philosophy. For other students, minor programs provide an opportunity to pursue intellectual passions unrelated to the departmental concentration. Two more examples: a student majoring in industrial design pursues a minor in photography; a student majoring in fine arts pursues a minor in sustainability.

Students do not need to take additional courses or pay more to pursue minors. They do, however, need to plan their studies judiciously so that they can take the courses required for their minors during their Pratt experience. Students should discuss their interests in minors with a) their undergraduate advisor, and b) the particular minor’s coordinator. They should also declare their minor as soon as they are sure they want to pursue the minor. If a student has declared a minor and no longer wishes to pursue it, they must notify the Registrar’s Office in a simple email. If the Registrar’s Office is not notified, the minor will continue to appear in the student’s degree audit which can cause other issues.

Most minors do not have a sequential course of study. Students need only take the required and elective courses within the minor’s curriculum table to meet the overall requirement of the minor during their undergraduate years. In some cases, however, because of the foundational competencies needed to pursue a minor, students must take certain courses before others and/or apply to the minor. All students should contact a particular minor’s coordinator to discuss their interests in pursuing the minor.

Note: Students interested in creating their own minor, the Customized Minor, should visit the Customized Minor page. The Customized Minor provides opportunities for students to pursue a field of interest in the form of a minor that is not provided by the established curriculum. The content of the Customized Minor must be sufficiently different from existing minors at Pratt and coherently propose a field of study that is adequately covered with the proposed courses.