Patrick Devaney
What are Minors and Certificates?
Minors and certificates are both academic programs with coursework that allows students to gain additional expertise in areas of study beyond their major. At the completion of a minor or a certificate, it will be recognized on your university transcript. A full list of minors and certificates offered at UT can be found here.
Graduate schools and jobs will generally not care about minors and certificates, so only do them if you are genuinely interested in them. There may be some exceptions, but by and large, the new skills learned are the most valued part of earning minors and certificates.
Minor vs. Certificate
The difference between minors and certificates can be very subtle. The below table notes some general trends that differentiate between minors and certificates. These are not hard-and-fast rules but tend to be loosely true.
| Minor | Certificate |
| Tend to focus on a single academic discipline | Tend to be more interdisciplinary |
| Course requirements more fixed | More course choice |
| 15 hours (generally) | 18 hours (generally) |
| Recognized on transcript | Recognized on transcript |
| Must be earned simultaneously with the major degree | May be completed within a year following the completion of the undergraduate major |
From an administrative perspective, students are generally allowed one minor, while there are no limits to the number of certificates a student may earn. There are possible exceptions for the minor limit, but it’s best to talk to your advisor if you are interested. Official CNS policy is one minor or one certificate (meaning not both), but this is usually not enforced, and your advisor will likely offer no pushback to a suggestion of adding another certificate.
Applying for Minors and Certificates
In order to add a minor or certificate, it is often necessary to submit a short application. Generally, most minors and certificates require a minimum GPA of 3.0 to apply, but there may be exceptions. When in doubt, ask the minor/certificate advisor! The application process is mostly painless, serving mostly to check if a student has enough time to be able to complete it.
Minor and Certificate Completion
Many minors and certificates interesting to physics students may already overlap with their existing degree plan. Take advantage of this!
In general, after completing the requirements of a certificate, there are still a few extra administrative steps left, which vary depending on the minor or certificate. I recommend checking with your major and minor/certificate advisor when you are close to completing it to make sure you do not miss anything.
Notable Minors and Certificates
Below are some commonly taken minors and certificates. Please consider other minors and/or certificates as well.
Materials Science and Engineering Minor
The minor in Materials Science and Engineering is offered jointly by the College of Natural Sciences and the Cockrell School of Engineering through the Texas Materials Institute. It consists of upper-division courses from many different departments focused on materials. A particular advantage is the ability to take certain courses in other engineering and science fields that would otherwise be restricted.
The Elements of Computing Program Certificate
This very popular certificate is offered by the Department of Computer Science, and consists of two introductory courses in programming taught in Python, then with four electives. This is probably the closest analog to a computer science minor that UT has. Two electives can be substituted for equivalent courses from other departments, which makes attaining this certificate fairly straightforward within the computational physics degree plan. Please note that being part of this certificate program gives no further privileges to take majors-level courses in computer science.
Computational Science and Engineering Certificate
Administered jointly by the College of Natural Sciences, the Cockrell School of Engineering, and the Jackson School of Geosciences, the Computational Science and Engineering Certificate can be a good choice for students interested in applying computation to solving problems in science and engineering. Many of the same courses used for other computational certificates can be used here, but one of the main differentiators is the requirement of an independent research capstone project with a member of UT faculty associated with the Oden Institute for Computational Engineering and Sciences. This is a great way to get a foothold in more computational research.
