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Minor Requirements
Students who wish to minor in Symbolic Systems should review the requirements and steps to declare below.
Requirements
[Updated September 16, 2025]
Students may minor in Symbolic Systems by completing either Option 1 or Option 2 below, subject to the University Policy on Minors. See also the Introductory Skill Requirements course list.
Option 1: One in each
One course in each of the following core areas (please note that several of these courses have prerequisites):
Logic and Computation
Computer Programming
Philosophical Foundations
Linguistic Theory
One of the following:
- LINGUIST 110: Introduction to Phonology
- LINGUIST 116A: Introduction to Word Formation
- LINGUIST 121A: The Syntax of English
- LINGUIST 121B: Crosslinguistic Syntax
- LINGUIST 130A: Introduction to Semantics and Pragmatics (LINGUIST 230A)
- LINGUIST 130B: Introduction to Lexical Semantics
- LINGUIST 134A: The Structure of Discourse: Theory and Applications (LINGUIST 234)
- LINGUIST 145: Introduction to Psycholinguistics (LINGUIST 245A, PSYCH 140)
- LINGUIST 160: Historical Linguistics
Computation and Cognition
One of the following:
- CS 131. Computer Vision: Foundations and Applications
- CS 221. Artificial Intelligence: Principles and Techniques
- CS 228. Probabilistic Graphical Models: Principles and Techniques
- CS 229. Machine Learning
- CS 230. Deep Learning
- CS 231A. Computer Vision: From 3-D Reconstruction to Recognition
- CS 234. Reinforcement Learning
- CS 379C. Computational Models of the Neocortex
- EE 104. Introduction to Machine Learning
- LINGUIST 180. From Languages to Information (same as CS 124, LINGUIST 280)
- LINGUIST 182. Computational Theories of Syntax (same as LINGUIST 282)
- NENS 220. Computational Neuroscience
- PHIL 356C. Logic and Artificial Intelligence (same as CS 257)
- PSYCH 109. An Introduction to Computation and Cognition
- PSYCH 164. Brain Decoding
- PSYCH 204. Computation and Cognition: the Probabilistic Approach
- PSYCH 209. Neural Network and Deep Learning Models for Cognition and Cognitive Neuroscience
- PSYCH 240A: Curiosity in Artificial Intelligence (EDUC 234)
- PSYCH 242. Theoretical Neuroscience (same as APPPHYS 293)
- PSYCH 249. Large-Scale Neural Network Modeling for Neuroscience (same as CS 375)
- PSYCH 263: Cognitive Neuroscience: Vision
- PSYCH 279: Measuring Learning in the Brain (EDUC 464, NEPR 464, SYMSYS 195M)
Option 2: Both of the following
SYMSYS 1. Minds and Machines (same as LINGUIST 35, PHIL 99, PSYCH 35)
An interdisciplinary pre-Approved Concentration
- The Individually Designed Concentration option is not available for a minor.
- The selection of courses used for the minor must be interdisciplinary; i.e., it must include courses from at least three departments or include more than one course from each of two departments.
- Contingent Electives, which are available when Symbolic Systems major Core courses are cross-applied to Concentration requirements, are not applicable to a minor in Symbolic Systems.
- The "Junior year or later" stipulation for SymSys majors completing the Integrative Requirement does not apply if the Concentration is being completed for a Minor.
How to Declare the Minor
- Declare via Axess.
- After declaring in Axess, please email symsys-sso [at] stanford.edu (symsys-sso[at]stanford[dot]edu) with your course planning guide for completing the minor.
- On approval of the course planning guide, your declaration will be processed and completed.