Other Requirements

Academic Divisions and Departments

Miami University has seven academic divisions: College of Arts and Science, Farmer School of Business; College of Creative Arts; College of Education, Health, and Society; College of Engineering and Computing; College of Liberal Arts and Applied Science; Graduate School.

Within the undergraduate divisions are the academic departments, offering major and minor programs. As an example, if your major is software engineering, you are in the College of Engineering and Computing. All majors, minors, degrees, and certificate programs are listed in the General Information chapter.

For a degree, you must fulfill three sets of requirements: the Miami Plan for Liberal Education, the requirements of your academic division, and the requirements of your major. If you have admission prerequisites to be met, those also must be completed. Often these requirements overlap; that is, one course may fulfill several requirements.

Majors

Your major is your primary field of study, such as architecture, geography, etc. Your major program requirements are described in your academic division chapter of this Bulletin. For example, requirements for a major in geography are listed in the College of Arts and Science section. All majors are listed in the General Information chapter.

Although you do not need to choose a major when you enroll, you are required to choose a division. In most cases, if you use your first year to take courses that fulfill a part of the Miami Plan and divisional requirements, you can still complete a major with no delay. To declare your major, after taking classes for a semester or more, contact the divisional or department office of the major you wish to declare and the office will assist you.

Co-Majors

A co-major is designed to provide a complementary perspective to a student’s primary major and carries at least 30 credit hours. There is no specific degree designation for the co-major; students receive the degree designation of their primary major with the co-major listed on the transcript. Some co-majors may have areas of concentration. 

Minors

A minor is a second field of study completed along with a major. Completing a minor is optional. This is a specific program that may widen your primary area of interest or increase your career opportunities. Most minors require fewer hours than majors—all require at least 18 semester hours in a specified program. Minors may be offered within one department or across several departments.

Minors are offered in many fields of study. A list of minors is in the General Information chapter; requirements for each minor are included in each division’s chapter.

To earn a minor, these are the minimum requirements (some minors require more):

• Contact the department of the minor in which you want to enroll.
• You must have a 2.00 grade point average (GPA) for all courses in a minor. Some minor programs may require a higher GPA.
• All courses taken for the minor must be for a grade, not for credit/no-credit, unless exceptions are stated.
• A minor can only be awarded with a bachelor’s degree.

You may earn more than one minor. All minors you complete are noted on your academic record. Courses used to satisfy the requirements for one minor may also be used to satisfy the requirements for another minor or major. Not all major programs allow students to declare certain minors, and some minors are open only to certain majors. Check with your advisor for more information.

Changing a Major or Minor

To change your major or minor, go to the divisional or department office or regional advising office (regional campus students only) offering that program.  Your program information is transferred to your academic record. Most majors in the College of Creative Arts require successful completion of an audition or portfolio review to complete the change of major.

Additional Major, Minor, or Degree

With careful planning, you can complete requirements for more than one major, minor, and/or more than one degree. Early in your program, notify your divisional office(s), and departments involved. Follow change of major process noted in Changing a Major or Minor above to have your program of study noted on your academic record and a program advisor assigned.

If you have already received a bachelor’s degree from another accredited college or university, you can qualify for a degree from Miami by earning an additional 32 semester hours and meeting all requirements for the additional degree.

Incoming students are expected to demonstrate a minimum proficiency with the use of a personal computer and basic software programs. These minimum proficiencies include:

1. The ability to use the Internet to find and retrieve information including: locating an Internet site given a URL; navigating between information sources; doing basic searches using a major Internet search service; and submitting information via on-line forms.
2. The ability to use electronic mail as a form of communication including: sending an e-mail when given an e-mail address; responding to an e-mail; sending e-mail to a group of individuals; and sending and receiving attachments as part of an e-mail.
3. The ability to use a word processing program to create and edit documents including: creating a new document; editing an existing document; changing the format of text; and changing margins, page orientation, and other elements of page layout.
4. The ability to use an operating system including copying or moving a file to or from removable media; finding files or folders on a local hard drive; and creating a sub-directory (folder).

Students who have not acquired these skills prior to entering the university will be provided with training opportunities during their first semester.

Physical education is optional. No more than 10 semester hours of physical education (sport leadership and management) courses numbered SLM 110-170 can count toward a bachelor’s degree; no more than five semester hours can count toward an associate’s degree.

Degrees/majors that have been eliminated for eight or more years may not be pursued or conferred.

Because requirements for academic programs can change substantially over time, the maximum time limit for completion of an undergraduate degree/major is eight academic years based on the student’s catalog year for the declared degree/major. Students who have earned credit that is more than 8 years prior to their planned graduation date must petition their divisional committee of advisors to have that coursework validated for application toward their major and are responsible for supplying course descriptions/catalogs for use in the validation process.

Students who leave the University and subsequently reenroll will be permitted to continue to follow the degree/major requirements in effect at the time they left the University except in cases where degree/major completion within the eight academic year time limit is not feasible.  In such cases, the student will be required to follow the requirements of the college catalog in effect at the time of reenrollment.

All majors, minors, and degrees are listed in the General Information chapter.

Associate’s Degree

An associate’s degree, generally offered only on the regional campuses, requires:

• At least 62 semester hours, including 15 hours from Hamilton or Middletown campuses (An exception to this is the Associate in Arts; see below.)
• Fulfillment of the Miami Plan for Liberal Education appropriate to your associate’s degree
• Nine of your last 20 hours must be taken at Miami University
• At least a 2.00 cumulative GPA
• Fulfillment of your program requirements
• Applying for graduation whether or not you plan to attend the ceremony

If you continue your education past 62 semester hours and your GPA falls below 2.00, you can still receive an associate’s degree if your GPA was 2.00 at the time you finished 62 semester hours and your degree requirements. Your academic record will show when you have completed the requirements, and your associate’s degree will be awarded at the next commencement.

Associate in Arts

The Associate in Arts in general studies is available to any Miami University student. For this degree, 30 of the required 62 semester hours must be from any Miami campus. See the program requirements in the Miami University Hamilton and Middletown section.

Bachelor’s Degree

For a bachelor’s degree, basic requirements for graduation include:

• Fulfillment of the Miami Plan:

  Course List

  Code	Title	Credit Hours
  Perspectives Areas		39
  Signature Inquiries (can double count with Perspectives Area)		9
  Senior Capstone		3 (minimum)
  Experiential Learning		0 (minimum)
  Field (major/minor, divisional requirements, electives)		73 (minimum)
  Total Credit Hours		124

• Of the total 124 semester hours, at least 30 must be from Miami University (any campus), including 12 of the final 30 hours required for the bachelor’s degree.
• At least a 2.00 cumulative GPA.
• Applying for graduation whether or not you plan to attend the ceremony.

Note: Some degree programs, due to professional accreditation requirements, may require additional credit hours.

Application for Graduation

To graduate, whether or not you plan to attend the ceremony, you must submit an application and pay a fee, if applicable. If you earn more than one degree, you must submit an application and pay any applicable graduation fee for each degree. Applications for graduation are available through Banner Self Service. After your application is processed, your account will be assessed the appropriate fee, if any, and you will be billed.

You are encouraged to apply for graduation at least a semester in advance so that routine checks can be made in time to inform you of any problems in meeting your degree requirements.

Applications should be received no later than 30 working days before commencement.

If you apply for graduation and then do not qualify for the degree, you must notify the University Registrar's Office of the date you intend to finish your requirements so the application for graduation can be removed. It will then be your responsibility to reapply for the correct graduation date through Banner Self Service. All deadlines applicable to first-time applications apply to re-applications.

Conferral of Degree

The conferral of the degree will be granted following the semester or term when all degree requirements have been met and after the student has applied for graduation. Backdating of degrees is not allowed unless in circumstances of administrative error.

A degree audit shows your completed course work and current registration matched with degree requirements of your declared major. It identifies deficiencies and lists courses to satisfy specific requirements. The report assists you, your advisor, and the university in determining your progress toward completion of your program requirements and serves as a graduation check.

Students are able to run an exploratory "What-If?" degree audit.

Your degree audit is available online (https://uachieve.miamioh.edu/selfservice/general/home.html).