Graduate Minors

Enrich your graduate experience with cross-disciplinary study. The New School is the only university that houses a world-renowned design school, a legendary graduate school of social research, a performing arts college, and diverse graduate professional programs. In keeping with our commitment to interdisciplinary scholarship and collaboration, The New School now offers graduate minors. These structured study pathways immerse you in disciplines outside of your primary field and expose you to new ideas and alternative modes of research and practice, broadening your skills and expanding your career options.

Graduate minors are made up of three courses, for a total of 9 credits. You can choose to acquire foundational knowledge in a single discipline, such as economics or design studies; investigate emerging interdisciplinary issues, such as migration and capitalism; or develop professional capacities in areas including entrepreneurship and digital storytelling. 

Eligibility

Graduate minors are available to all graduate students at The New School, although some minors are closed to students in specific programs. Some programs allow you to use graduate minor credits to meet elective credit requirements. If your program does not include 9 open elective credits, you can pursue a graduate minor by earning elective credits beyond the number permitted by the program.

Your academic advisors can help you select and declare a graduate minor and chart a curriculum that satisfies your degree and minor requirements.

Students in the following Parsons master’s programs have the most curriculum flexibility to devote three elective courses toward completing a graduate minor: 

• Architecture and Lighting Design (MArch/MFA)
• Design and Urban Ecologies (MS)
• Fashion Studies (MA)
• Fine Arts (MFA)
• History of Design and Curatorial Studies (MA)
• Photography (MFA)
• Textiles (MFA)
• Theories of Urban Practice (MA)