NOTE: This information only applies to students who entered the College of Arts & Sciences before Fall 2020 and are already enrolled in the Traditional Curriculum.
All undergraduate students in the Traditional Curriculum fulfill Area Requirements by earning the proper number of credits from courses taken in each of five different academic subject areas. The list of subject areas and their related credit requirement is:
- Social Sciences - 6 credits from two different departments
- Humanities - 6 credits from two different categories
- Historical Studies - one 3 or more credit course
- Non-western Perspectives - one 3 or more credit course
- Natural Science and Mathematics - 12 credits from two different departments
Transfer credit earned before matriculation may be applied toward fulfillment of area requirements.
It is strongly recommended that all area requirements be completed by the end of the fourth semester.
Courses taken to fulfill an area requirement may count toward a major and also satisfy the Second Writing Requirement.
All courses must be taken for credit and for a grade.
Classes that qualify for area requirements:
- Cannot simultaneously meet more than two area requirements, even if cross-listed
- Cannot be taken for Audit (AU)
- Cannot be taken Credit/No Credit (CR/NC)
- Cannot be a Liberal Arts Seminar (LASE)
- Cannot be a University Seminar (USEM)
Social Sciences (6 credits)
You must pass at least one course worth 3 credits or more from two of the following departments and programs:
-
AAS courses; except AAS literature courses
- AMEL 3001, AMEL 3002
- AMST Classes (except AMST 2300)
- ANTH; except some foreign language courses offered as ANTH
- ECON (except ECON 3720, 4720)
- ETP 3860 and ETP 4810
- EVSC 2030 and EVSC 4030
- GDS 2020
- Linguistics; 2000-level or above
- MDST 3406
- Politics; except Political Theory
- PSYC (except PSYC 2200, PSYC 3210 and PSYC 4200)
- SAST 2700
- SOC (except SOC 2600)
- Women, Gender and Sexuality (WGS; formerly SWAG)
Humanities (6 credits)
You must pass at least one course worth 3 credits or more from two of the following groups of departments and programs:
- Literature
- AMST 2300
- Classics (CLAS)
- Comparative Literature (CPLT)
- East Asian Language and Cultures (EALC)
- East Asian Studies (EAST)
- English (except ENWR classes and ENGL 1910)
- Foreign Literature [East Asian Languages, Literatures and Cultures (except CHIN 1010-2060, JAPN 1010-2020, KOR 1010-2020, and TBTN 1010-2020), French, German, Middle Eastern and South Asian Languages and Cultures (except ARAB 1010-2020, 2250, 2260, 3230/5230, and 3240/5240), Slavic Languages and Literatures, and Spanish (except SPAN 3040, 4705, 4050 and 4713), Italian, and Portuguese courses in translation, and all foreign language courses above the 2020 level (except PORT 2120, which satisfies the foreign language requirement)].
- Middle Eastern Studies (MESA)
- MDST 3000
- South Asian Studies (SAST; except SAST 2700)
- South Asian Literature in Translation (SATR)
- Fine Arts
- ANTH 2370
- Art History (ARTH)
- Studio Art (ARTS; not ARTS 2070)
- Drama (DRAM)
- DANC 1400 and DANC 3400 (only)
- Music (MUSI ONLY, except MUSI 16##, MUSI 26##, and MUSI 36##; MUBN, MUEN AND MUPF courses do NOT fill this requirement)
- MDST 3100
- Architectural History (AR H) 1000, 1010, 1020, 1700, 3102, 3701, and 3203
- Architecture (ARCH) 1010
- Moral, Philosophical, and Religious Perspectives
- Political Theory (PLPT)
- Philosophy (PHIL)
- Religious Studies
- MDST 4000
Courses taken for this requirement may also count toward one other Area Requirement.
Historical Studies (3 credits)
You must pass at least one course worth 3 credits or more either from the History Department or from a class determined by the faculty to be substantially historical. Classes that meet this requirement change each semester. Qualifying courses can be found in the SIS Course Catalog by searching under "requirement designation".
Courses taken to fulfill the Historical Studies Area Requirement may also count toward fulfilling one other Area Requirement.
Non-Western Perspectives (3 credits)
You must pass at least one course worth 3 or more credits which the faculty recognizes as dealing substantially with a culture other than Western. Classes that meet this requirement change each semester. Qualifying courses can be found in the SIS Course Catalog by searching under "requirement designation".
Courses taken to fulfill the Non-Western Perspectives Area Requirement may count also toward fulfilling one other Area Requirement.
Natural Science and Mathematics (12 credits)
Students must pass 12 hours of natural science and/or mathematics courses from at least two departments. Courses that count toward this requirement may be chosen from:
- The Departments of Astronomy, Biology, Chemistry, Environmental Sciences, Mathematics, Physics and Statistics
- ECON 3720 and ECON 4720
- PSYC 2200, PSYC 3210 and PSYC 4200
Important Notes:
1. Exceptions include:
- EVSC 2030, EVSC 4040, EVSC 4650 (Water Sustainability)
- MATH 1000T, MATH 1030
The above classes do NOT count toward the math/science requirement.
2. For this requirement, statistics, mathematics and the above three economics courses are considered to come from one department. This means you cannot satisfy this requirement with just these courses.
3. Courses designated as 1000T are equivalencies determined by the College of Arts & Sciences. These courses are considered elective credit and do not satisfy this requirement.
4. Students are strongly encouraged to include courses in mathematics, the physical sciences and the biological sciences.
Courses taken to fulfill the area requirements may be counted toward a first or second major or toward a minor, with the exception of foreign language courses through the 2020 level (2320 for French, 2060 for Chinese, and 2120 for Portuguese).
The information contained on this website is for informational purposes only. The Undergraduate Record and Graduate Record represent the official repository for academic program requirements. These publications may be found here.