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Applying Outside Courses

Transfer Credits & Course Substitutions

Courses from the following categories may also be applied to the MENAS minor.

  • Transfer Courses/Courses taken at another institution (3 courses)
  • Education Abroad Program (no limit)
  • Course Substitutions/Related courses not currently on the pre-approved MENAS course list (no limit)
  • Independent and Field Studies (2 courses)

Transfer Coursework

Students may petition up to three courses taken from another college or university for use towards their MENAS minor requirements. Courses must appear on your UCSC Transfer Credit Summary Report before they will be approved for use towards your MENAS minor requirements.

Applying Transfer Courses 

  1. Complete the MENAS Outside Course Approval Form. Email the completed form to the MENAS Faculty Director (Jennifer Derr jderr@ucsc.edu). In that email please include the following: this form (be sure to share it with the faculty director’s email), all relevant course materials (e.g., syllabi, course description from general catalog, reading lists, written assignments, etc.) and a screenshot/PDF copy of your MyUCSC student portal showing that the courses under review have been posted to your UCSC academic record. Be prepared to justify why these courses should qualify as part of your minor. Obtain the director's digital signature on the form.
  2. Share your completed form with the MENAS Advisor (humadvising@ucsc.edu) for final approval and inclusion in your student record. Make sure the "Notify people" box is checked! 

Education Abroad Program (EAP)

All students planning on participating in EAP must take the following information into consideration:

The MENAS program does not pre-approve EAP courses. To obtain credit towards the MENAS minor requirements, students must submit all courses taken abroad to the program for review. Courses offered at EAP campuses can vary significantly from year to year, and whether or not a particular course is appropriate often depends on a student's chosen area of study and the other courses he or she has already taken. In addition, the campus admissions office must first determine whether an EAP course will count toward graduation, whether it is upper- or lower-division, and for how many units it will be counted. Only with all of this information in hand can the program determine which minor requirements a course might satisfy.

When choosing your classes while on EAP, keep in mind that courses most likely to be counted towards degree requirements are those that are standard course offerings in MENAS. Courses in other fields of study will be assessed in terms of whether the preponderance of the readings, lectures, and course requirements are clearly applicable to your area of study.

Applying EAP Courses to the MENAS Minor

To apply EAP courses toward the MENAS minor, all students must do the following upon their return:

  1. Determine that the desired EAP classes have been posted to your UCSC academic record; this is best done by checking your MyUCSC portal periodically. Most EAP classes are given a designation of XHIS, XCHIN, XJAPN etc. This process may take up to one quarter.
  2. Complete the MENAS Outside Course Approval Form. Email the completed form to the MENAS Faculty Director (Jennifer Derr jderr@ucsc.edu). In that email please include the following: this form (be sure to share it with the faculty director’s email), all relevant course materials (e.g., syllabi, course description from general catalog, reading lists, written assignments, etc.) and a screenshot/PDF copy of your MyUCSC student portal showing that the courses under review have been posted to your UCSC academic record. Be prepared to justify why these courses should qualify as part of your minor. Obtain the director's digital signature on the form.
  3. Share your completed form with the MENAS Advisor (humadvising@ucsc.edu) for final approval and inclusion in your student record. Make sure the "Notify people" box is checked! 

Be prepared to justify why these courses should qualify as part of your minor. Only courses passed with the equivalent of a letter grade of C or better may be applied to MENAS minor requirements.

Course Substitutions

The purpose of a course substitution is to allow students to use “related” regularly scheduled UCSC courses from another discipline toward their degree requirements. MENAS minors may substitute upper-division “related” courses towards their upper-division elective course requirements. There is no limit to the number of course substitutions. 

Applying Course Substitutions

  1. Complete the MENAS Outside Course Approval Form. Email the completed form to the MENAS Faculty Director (Jennifer Derr jderr@ucsc.edu). In that email please include the following: this form (be sure to share it with the faculty director’s email), all relevant course materials (e.g., syllabi, course description from general catalog, reading lists, written assignments, etc.) and a screenshot/PDF copy of your MyUCSC student portal showing that the courses under review have been posted to your UCSC academic record. Be prepared to justify why these courses should qualify as part of your minor. Obtain the director's digital signature on the form.
  2. Share your completed form with the MENAS Advisor (humadvising@ucsc.edu) for final approval and inclusion in your student record. Make sure the "Notify people" box is checked! 

Independent and Field Studies

MENAS minors may substitute two upper-division individual study courses for their Upper-Division Electives requirements.

Applying Independent and Field Studies

  1. Download a UCSC Petition for Undergraduate Individual Studies Course (pdf). It is best to initiate this process during the quarter before the one in which you plan to do the study. Outline your proposed course of study and obtain the approval of an instructor who is willing to supervise your study; Students are expected to initiate a discussion with and independently acquire faculty sponsors.
  2. Complete the MENAS Outside Course Approval Form. Email the completed form to the MENAS Faculty Director (Jennifer Derr jderr@ucsc.edu). In that email please include the following: this form (be sure to share it with the faculty director’s email), all relevant course materials (e.g., syllabi, course description from general catalog, reading lists, written assignments, etc.) and a screenshot/PDF copy of your MyUCSC student portal showing that the courses under review have been posted to your UCSC academic record. Be prepared to justify why these courses should qualify as part of your minor. Obtain the director's digital signature on the form.
  3. Share your completed form with the MENAS Advisor (humadvising@ucsc.edu) for final approval and inclusion in your student record. Make sure the "Notify people" box is checked! 
  4. The MENAS Advisor will review your petition and will issue you a class number. Use this class number when you enroll via the Student Portal. Make sure to enroll with the grade option approved on the petition.