Spanish Minor Requirements

The Department of Spanish and Portuguese Studies cannot guarantee timely completion of a minor in Spanish. That said, students who take SPAN 301 or SPAN 314 no later than the beginning of their junior year, and are flexible regarding their selection of electives, are successful in completing the minor requirements. Students who begin the 300-level coursework during their senior year, or those who are admitted to majors with tightly-sequenced classes, may find it difficult to finish the requirements by their intended graduation date.

Declaring a Minor in Spanish:

  1. Students must meet with their major adviser (i.e., not the Spanish adviser) to sign off on minor declaration paperwork in order to ensure that they meet university satisfactory progress requirements.

  2. To declare a minor in Spanish, students must declare a major and have completed a minimum of 45 credits.

Minor Requirements:

Seven courses with a minimum total of 27 credits above Spanish 203 are required:

  • SPAN 301, 302, 303; or 314, 315, 316 for heritage students (5, 5, 5; total 15 credits). Effective WIN 2013: SPAN 301 and 302 may be taken concurrently.

  • Four 300-level electives - SPAN 392 is not a class, and does NOT count towards the minor; 400-level courses may be substituted for electives, provided their prerequisites have been met.

    - All 300- and 400-level SPAN courses are 5 credits each, with the exception of 300-level SPAN literature electives taught during the regular academic year (AUT-SPR). Most minors choose to take at least two 5-credit Spanish elective courses, and exceed the 27-credit minimum requirement. The only way to complete exactly 27 credits and finish minor requirements, is by taking all 3-credit 300-level literature electives [4 classes x 3 credits=12 credits+15 credits of language courses (i.e. 301/2/3; or 314/15/16) =27 credits].

    - SPAN 301 or SPAN 314 is the prerequisite for all 300-level SPAN electives. It is not necessary to complete the 300-level language series (302, 303 or 315, 316) before taking other 300-level SPAN courses.

Restrictions: Only one course whose instructional materials are primarily in English (usually courses cross-listed with other departments) may apply to the minor. SPAN 327 is not open to heritage/native speakers, and may not apply to the minor.

Important! 300-level major and minor requirements are different. Students who change from a minor to a major must take all required courses not taken previously (i.e. SPAN 321, 322, 323, and a 3XX literary studies course), most of which are offered only once or twice each academic year, and are prerequisites for 400-level coursework. Students considering declaring a major in the future should review the Spanish Major Requirements and take 300-level courses which fulfill major requirements. Any content course that fulfills a major requirement, can also be used as an elective toward the minor.  For questions or assistance with course planning, please contact Humanities Advising Services (HAS) at has-center@uw.edu.

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