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 degrees, majors, minors, 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, these also must be completed. It is possible that some of these requirements might overlap and a course is allowed to be applied to multiple requirements.  Consulting with your academic advisor regarding this is strongly encouraged. 

A list of majors, co-majors, minors, and certificates can be found in the General Information chapter; their requirements are included in each division’s chapter. 

Majors

A major is your primary field of study and is comprised of a combination of courses including introductory, intermediate, and advanced coursework.  A major must have at least 30 semester hours, of which 15 semester hours should be distinct from other majors. A student must have a declared major in order to graduate with a degree.  However, students are not required to choose a major when they first enroll and may start as being undeclared within a specific academic division or as Exploratory Studies, which has no academic division affiliation.  In most cases, undeclared and Exploratory Studies students use their first year to take courses to explore potential majors while also fulfilling Miami Plan and/or divisional requirements.  It is recommended that students declare a major in their third semester to remain on track for a four-year graduation.

Co-Majors

A co-major is typically career-oriented, applied, professionally-oriented, or focusing on an interdisciplinary/pioneering field.  It is designed to provide a complementary perspective to a student’s primary major or show diversity in academic interest, but it should not duplicate their existing major or minor.  A co-major must be at least 27 semester hours. There is no specific degree designation for a co-major, as it aligns with the designation of a student's primary major, but it is listed on the transcript.  

Minors

A minor is an optional, smaller field of study completed along with a major. A minor may widen your primary area of focus, dive into another area of interest, or increase your career opportunities. Most minors are fewer hours than a major but require at least 15 semester hours. Other requirements for a minor include: it must be declared, can only be awarded with a bachelor's degree, must have a 2.00 grade point average (GPA) for all courses in the minor, and all courses must be taken for a letter grade and not credit/no-credit.  Some minors may require more/higher requirements. You may earn more than one minor; however, at least 9 semester hours must be unique to a minor and may not be applied to requirements in your major, co-major, another minor, or an undergraduate certificate. Some major programs limit what minors their students can declare and other minors are only open to certain majors. Consult with your academic advisor for more information.

Certificates

Certificates come in a variety of forms like: credit bearing, non-credit bearing, undergraduate level, graduate level, available only to current Miami degree-seeking students, and open to non-degree seeking students.  They are designed to either supplement another degree program by providing professional/technical competencies or serve as a building block toward a future degree program. Credit-bearing certificates at the undergraduate level carry at least 12 semester hours; credit-bearing certificates at the graduate level carry at least 9 semester hours. Students pursuing a full degree at Miami must apply for the certificate and, upon completion, it will be added to their transcript.  Non-degree seeking students pursuing a certificate will have it designated on their transcripts upon completion.

Changing a Major or Minor

To declare or change a program (major, co-major, or minor), consult with the divisional or department office of the program you wish to declare. Regional students should consult with the regional advising office. Some majors have specific entrance requirements, primarily in the College of Creative Arts, the Farmer School of Business, and the Nursing program, that might require additional steps. Once the change is made, your academic record will be updated.

Multiple Majors, Minors, or Degrees

With careful planning, you may be able to complete the requirements for more than one major, minor, and/or degree. If this is your intent, then early in your time with Miami you should start working with the divisional office(s) and department(s) where those programs are housed to create a full program of study plan to ensure you are meeting all of your requirements.  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 at least 30 semester hours of additional coursework at Miami and meeting all requirements for the additional degree.  The Miami major cannot be the same as the major on your prior bachelor's 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 5 semester hours can count toward an associate’s degree.

Degrees/majors that have been eliminated for 8 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 8 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.

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).