When you look at a description of majors, you will notice that different schools use slightly different terminology to specify these four areas. Choose a balanced selection of courses from arts and humanities, social and behavioral studies, and natural and mathematical sciences. Electives are courses that do not fulfill any particular requirement for your degree but count in the total credits you need for graduation. Different majors classify different courses as electives. You take this kind of course to satisfy your own personal interests, enhance your major, and develop additional skills.
Some majors allow a very limited number of electives to count toward graduation hours.
Discuss with your adviser how elective hours will count in your academic program.