Details about Minor courses..and some FAQ's about them!!

Hi folks!! Hope your midsems went fine. Till now you have probably got a feel of what its like to give exams and score a CPI in IIT.

Many of you must be confused about what are minor courses and how are the helpful? While there must be some of you who do not know anything about them. So this post is to help you to guide through your confusions so that you can clarify your doubts.

What is exactly a minor course?

 A minor course gives you an extra course per semester (till 7th sem). In your bachelor's degree, it will be mentioned as - " Bachelor of Technology in XXX(your department)XXX with an specialization in XXX(your minor course)XXX". These have efficently designed course structures which provides you an insight and some fundamental concepts of the branch in which you have taken your minor.

Is there any criteria for getting desired minor?

Yes...basically only for CSE minor. For it, you need at least a cpi of 8.4+. While other minor courses are easy to get.

What is the course structure and routine?

For course structure go to intranet>>sections>>academic>>minor course structure and syllabi

You will be having classes for minor from 12 to 1 pm on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Each sem's minor course will be of 6 credits (in maths minor, 5th sem is of 8 credits), so they also add up quite efficiently to your cpi.

Which minor is best for me?

Note that you cannot take an audit course in minor. If you have interest in any particular stream, the do choose that minor. Otherwise general trend is that  - 

CSE minor: Mostly students form all branches who have interest in coding can take it.

EE minor: Generally mechanical students prefer EE minor.

Design Minor: Truly speaking, an efficient way to improve your grades as minimum grade you can get is 9. So either students who want to improve their grades or machanical students interested design.

Maths and other Minor: Quite an interesting deal if you really love maths.Generally take by mixed students. 

 Is minor helpful in placements?

Now comes the big question!! You see, minor course concept was started in year 2010. So our now graduating seniors are the first breed of with minor courses. So this time, companies didn't know that what is the significance of minor. So the situation still remains dubious over the question.

Can i drop the minor course ?

No doubt minor course load will be heavy as it is actually one extra course per sem. But here is the sunshine - you can drop a minor course in any sem you want to. Now this has some consequences - 

1. You can drop a minor course only before its last date, which is around 2nd week after midsems. So say if you like your 3nd sem minor course and wish to continue, but when you come to 4th sem and you find it pretty hard to continue, the you can drop it in the fourth sem also. Basically you can drop it in any sem before the last date.

2. If you wish to drop it, then there wont be any mention of specialization in minor field or courses in the degree....even if you drop it in you last sem!!

3. Suppose your cpi gets effected due to your minor grades for 2 sems, and you wish to drop it now in 3rd sem, then the damage done by the minor grades in your previous sems will NOT revert back.

Hope the above info has cleared many of your doubts. If  you want to get more info on this topic, then do comment under this post.