As computer science education continues to evolve, minors in Computer Science represent an important, but understudied pathway for students to develop computational thinking skills and interdisciplinary expertise. This study examines 104 Computer Science minor programs from the top 120 universities by graduation rates to understand their current structure, requirements, and accessibility.

Our analysis reveals significant challenges in Computer Science minor accessibility, with the actual credits to obtain a minor being significantly higher than advertised credits, imposed entry requirements, hidden requirements, unrealistic math requirements, and the majority requiring more than two years to complete. An analysis of open elective credits for science majors (Biology, Chemistry, Math, Physics, Psychology) shows that most cannot complete a Computer Science minor without exceeding standard degree requirements, despite these fields increasingly requiring computational skills.

In addition to the Minor in Computer Science, we present information about other minors offered by the 120 Computer Science departments to better understand the landscape of minors offered by Computer Science and if interdisciplinary minors such as Bioinformatics or Human Computer Interaction are being offered.

We provide recommendations for improving minor accessibility including reducing prerequisite complexity, eliminating hidden requirements, reconsidering entry barriers, and developing interdisciplinary pathways. These findings call for a systematic reevaluation of Computer Science minors to better serve students seeking computational literacy across disciplines.