If you love your major but want to know more about how to apply data, information and technology to solve problems in your chosen field, then the Informatics minor might be for you. 

The Informatics minor includes required components in data, design, policy and ethics, and code. It allows you the opportunity to take additional courses at the 300 level or above in Informatics or within your own discipline related to technology. 

Requirements: A minimum of 32 credits. 

• Required courses (25 credits)
  • INFO 200 Intellectual Foundations of Informatics
  • INFO 201 Technical Foundations
  • INFO 330 (formerly 340) Databases & Data Modeling
  • INFO 350 (formerly 450) Information Ethics & Policy
  • INFO 360 Design Methods
• Electives (2 courses, 7 credits minimum)
  • Students select two existing INFO 300/400 level classes.
  • Students can request to substitute ONE class from their major that is technology related, OR may use CSE 142 as a minor elective.
    • CSE 142 is a recommended elective for all minors as it provides additional exposure to code/programming and helps minors meet a prerequisite for many other INFO classes.
    • Students may use up to 3 credits of INFO 495, 496, or 499 towards their minor elective requirements. 
    • Students may review this page for a list of preapproved out-of-department courses that can count toward the minor, or can use this petition form to petition for a course from their major to count as an Informatics minor elective.

The Informatics minor is open (not competitive or capacity-constrained). In order to declare the Informatics minor, students need to have declared a major and should contact the advising staff of their major for the appropriate procedures. Additional information about declaring a minor at the UW is provided here.

The process for declaring the minor is outlined above. Because the minor is open, but our classes have capacity limits, it can be quite difficult to find seats. We encourage students to enroll in courses that have open space rather than waiting for preferred courses, which are in high demand.

We often get questions from students and advisors about the likelihood of a student being able to get into the necessary classes. Our advising staff is not able to provide academic planning for minors or those planning to declare the minor. Students should work with their major advisor to create an academic plan for completing their major and the INFO minor. As noted above, the major advisor will also fill out the paperwork to declare the minor. (By declaring the minor, students will get registration priority for select classes – see below.) However, INFO minors who are not able to enroll in the required classes may need to drop the minor in order to graduate.

Informatics minors receive priority registration via add code into INFO 330 (formerly 340), 360, and 350 (formerly 450) during Period 2 registration, and may register for INFO 200 and 201 during whichever registration period is appropriate for their class level. More information on Informatics registration policies can be found here.

Questions can be directed to informatics@uw.edu.