MINOR REQUIREMENTS

The minor in physics consists of seven courses (twenty-eight units) of letter-graded physics coursework from the following list with at least five courses (twenty units) coming from upper-division coursework:

  • Physics 2C-2D or Physics 4D-4E
  • Physics 100–178

Lower-division courses (including transfer coursework) can overlap between a major and minor without restriction; however, no more than two upper-division courses (a maximum of eight units) may overlap between a major and a minor. Upper-division courses being applied to the minor must be taken at UC San Diego in the Department of Physics. Students must earn a grade of C– or above in all courses applied to the minor, including transfer coursework. The minimum overall GPA requirement for the minor is a 2.0. A petition is required for any waivers/substitutions to the minor requirements (e.g., applying a non–UC San Diego upper-division physics course).

Within the parameters outlined above, students will select the specific courses that will be applied to the minor. Students can declare the physics minor at any point prior to their graduating quarter. Minor proposals must be submitted via the major/minor tool on TritonLink (requests are typically processed within 7-10 business days).

Keep the following in mind:

  • Limit your minor proposal to the 7 courses actually applying to the minor from the options above (prereqs for minor courses such as PHYS 2AB/4ABC cannot be included in the minor proposal). 
  • Per campus policy, a max of 8.0 upper division units (2 courses) may be shared between a major and a minor. (There is no limit on the number of lower division units that may be shared between a major and minor.)
  • Although you must list specific upper-division courses on your minor proposal, the degree audit will automatically pick up any eligible upper-division physics course you take.
  • We strictly enforce prereqs for all courses in the department. You will need to look ahead to ensure your eligibility to enroll in the courses you want to have applied to the minor. 
  • We offer courses on core physics topics (eg. mechanics, E&M, thermodynamics, modern physics, quantum physics, etc.) and many non-core physics topics (eg. astrophysics, biophysics, particle physics, etc.). Courses in the core upper division physics program  (i.e. courses in the Physics 100, 105, 110, 120, 130, and 140 series) are restricted to students majoring in physics. Non-majors who are interested in taking a core UD physics course must complete the listed prereqs and then use EASy to request clearance to enroll. In rare cases, substitute prereqs may be used:
    • ECE 107 (B+ grade or higher) may be used in place of PHYS 100A and/or 100B (eg. for PHYS 130A/B requests, assuming PHYS 2A-B-C, MATH 18, and MATH 20A-B-C-D-E have already been completed)
    • Combo of ECE 35, 45, 65 (B+ grades or higher) may be used in place of PHYS 120 (eg. for PHYS 122, 124 requests)
    • Combo of MAE 105, 107 (B+ grades or higher) may be used in place of PHYS 105A (eg. for PHYS 105B requests, assuming PHYS 2A-B-C-D have already been completed
  • There is no priority seating/enrollment for students minoring in physics. Refer to the instructions above for requesting clearance to enroll in courses that list a major code restriction in the catalog.
  • Capped applicants are not permitted to pursue enrollment in core UD physics courses through WebReg, EASy, or by any other means unless/until their record has been updated to reflect a PY major code. Capped applicants who are not admitted into a physics major will not be approved to take core upper-division physics courses.

 

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Generally speaking, no. However, students who declared the physics minor ahead of SP24 and who included PHYS 163 and/or 164 in their minor proposal will be permitted to use ASTR 123 and/or 150, respectively, toward their physics minor. By May 2024, this population of students will have their degree audits updated to include the new course numbers. All others will need to take courses with the PHYS subject code for the minor requirements.

No, but you can select one/more courses from a subfield as part of your minor and apply those to your physics minor.

You can use PHYS 2C, PHYS 2D and then choose any five courses from below (the areas are listed just to give you a frame of reference, course descriptions can be found here):

  • Astrophysics - PHYS 160, 161, 162, 163 (through SP24), 164 (through SP24)
  • Biophysics - PHYS 177, 178 
  • Computational Physics - PHYS 141, 142
  • Earth Sciences - PHYS 111
  • Materials - PHYS 133
  • Other - PHYS 139 (topics vary and multiple 139s can apply as long as they're not the same topic), 151

Enrollment in proposed minor courses is not guaranteed. If you are unable to enroll in a proposed minor course you will need to enroll in some other course. Any/all eligible courses will automatically apply in the degree audit. For example, if you hoped to take PHYS 133 for your minor but could not enroll in that course and, instead, you took PHYS 141, PHYS 141 would automatically apply to the physics minor in your degree audit.

This is up to your college and not the Physics Department. Keep in mind that minors are not required to earn a degree at UCSD and so the campus may not approve a request to enroll beyond normative time in order to complete a minor.

No, as indicated above, only physics courses can apply to a physics minor.

Please see the Physics Courses section of the UCSD General Catalog.

PHYS 100-178 means physics courses found in the General Catalog from within PHYS 100 through 178. Note: PHYS 111 is crosslisted as SIO 111 and, depending on seating availability, PHYS minors may need to enroll on the SIO side of the class. If enrolled under the SIO side of the class, contact PHYSICS through VAC and we will manually update the degree audit to apply the course to your PHYS minor.

No, they cannot.