Majors, Minors, and Concentrations Major Definition: A major is described as a comprehensive course of study in given discipline consisting of a minimum of 30 semester hours.   Rationale:  It is most useful to have a consensus on the amount of course work Marquette views as adequate in a major and to accurately reflect the amount of work in a major.  The Registrar completed a survey of fellow Jesuit and other peer institutions and found minimums ranging from 30 to 39 hours. Minors Definition: Minors consist of 18 or more credit hours in a discipline or interdisciplinary cluster other than the student’s major area of study.  Rationale:  The UBUS has encountered confusion when some departments have submitted proposals for a minor within a subject area that majors in the same area could complete.  It was seen as important to clearly state that a minor is study outside of the major.  The credit hours reflect national norms.  Concentration Definition:  A concentration is a sub-set of a discipline organized in clusters of focused courses taken within an undergraduate major. Concentrations consist of 9 or more semester credit hours. Rationale:  Currently many words are used interchangeably to describe a sub-set of a discipline such as track, focus area, specialization, and concentration.  There is no uniform credit hour minimum for these subsets.  Adopting a uniform term and minimum credit hour will provide integrity to the description of students work.  Concentration was seen as a more appropriate word at the undergraduate level than specialization.   Approved by the University Board of Undergraduate Studies, April 21, 2006.