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Requirements for the A.B. Degree

For transfer students entering with more than 24 points, the Bachelor of Arts degree requires the satisfactory completion of 121 points (a minimum of 60 points at Barnard) including 1 point of Physical Education credit. As part of the 121-point requirement, students must fulfill the General Education and Major Requirements described below.

GENERAL EDUCATION REQUIREMENTS

These requirements are intended to provide direction and continuity while giving you opportunities to shape your own program of study. The requirements are as follows:

1. ENGLISH - one semester of a satisfactory course.

2. REASON AND VALUE
Requirement: One course that allows students to explore ways in which values shape thought, thought shapes values, and both guide human actions. Aim: To introduce ways of thinking, both past and present, about the formation of human values, their role in guiding action, and their susceptibility to rational reflection and critical discussion. This requirement allows students to discover how established disciplines in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences-as well as newer interdisciplinary fields-approach a wide range of value-related issues. Courses may address such questions as: What does it mean to follow "the way of reason"? What are the sources of human values? How do we arrive at our conceptions of virtue and obligation, and how do such conceptions shape our notions of a good life and a just society? How have questions about values emerged in different traditions at different times? Other possible subjects include the intersecting ethical dilemmas of private and public life, the relation between moral thought and moral action, and issues of human rights, cultural diversity, and global equity.

3. SOCIAL ANALYSIS
Requirement: One course that acquaints students with the central concepts and methods of the social sciences, while also critically examining social structures and processes, and the roles of groups and individuals within them. Aim: To introduce various ways of analyzing social structures and processes, and to explore how these institutions and processes both shape and are shaped by group and individual behavior. Courses will focus on a variety of institutions and processes, from the family, to the nation-state, to the international economy. All courses will address fundamental questions such as: How are individual and collective human behavior linked to the cultural, economic, and political context in which they occur? How is power distributed across different groups and among individuals? How do social systems develop and change? How can we come to better understand societal dynamics through a variety of quantitative and qualitative methods?

4. HISTORICAL STUDIES
Requirement: One course enabling students to study times and traditions of the past, to learn theories and methods of historical analysis, and to discover how different concepts of history shape our understanding of both past and present. Aim: To emphasize the importance of historical knowledge for understanding various aspects of human experience and activity, and to develop the skills necessary to conduct or evaluate historical research. Coursework will demonstrate how history is not a simple record of past events, but an interpretation of the past shaped by the theories, methods, and data used to construct it. Among the questions to be raised are: Whose past is remembered? How is it remembered? To serve what purposes?

5. CULTURES IN COMPARISON
Requirement: One course that compares two or more cultures from the perspectives of the humanities and/or social sciences.
Aim: To study the diversity and the commonality of human experience, and to examine and question personal cultural assumptions and values in relation to others'. Through comparative methods, courses will explore the beliefs, ideologies, and practices of different peoples in different parts of the world, across time, and through migrations. Courses may include comparison of cultures from two or more geographical areas or from two or more cultures within one area, and may approach the subject matter using anthropological, historical, social, and/or humanistic perspectives.

6. LABORATORY SCIENCE
Requirement: Two courses with laboratory in one science chosen from among: astronomy, biology, chemistry, environmental science, physics, or psychology. Aim: To develop intellectual curiosity about the natural world and the processes of scientific experimentation; to convey an understanding of what is known or can be known about the natural world; to introduce basic methods of analyzing and synthesizing the sources of scientific information; and to create scientifically literate citizens who can engage productively in problem solving. Students are expected to master the tools of science and current understanding in one area, and are encouraged to explore the limitations of existing theories and to learn how to ask strategic questions. Laboratory exercises introduce students to techniques of scientific investigation, as they make observations, carry out experimental procedures, and learn how results and analyses are communicated in specific visual, quantitative, and written forms.

Note: Students may fulfill part of this requirement with scores of 4 or 5 on Advanced Placement Examinations in biology, chemistry, environmental science, and physics (or their International Baccalaureate equivalents).

7. QUANTITATIVE AND DEDUCTIVE REASONING
Requirement: One course in which students learn methods and approaches used in mathematics and related fields involving quantitative expression and logical reasoning.
Aim: To provide a productive acquaintance with at least one means of quantitative and deductive reasoning and to develop an ability to apply this knowledge to the analysis of new problems. Coursework will emphasize how quantitative analysis and deductive reasoning function as creative, elegant, and powerful ways of thinking and as effective sets of conceptual tools and procedures with widespread applications.

Note: Students may fulfill this requirement by securing Advanced Placement Credit in mathematics, chemistry, computer science, physics, or statistics (or their International Baccalaureate equivalents).

8. LANGUAGE
Requirement: Competence in one ancient or modern language other than English, demonstrated by completion of, minimally, the fourth sequential semester of college-level study, and preferably, a more advanced course with greater emphasis on literary and cultural traditions.
Aim: To provide basic linguistic competence in at least one language other than English, in order to familiarize students with the language, literature, and culture of at least one non-English speaking people. Students are encouraged to develop their language skills to a level that permits them to live and function in another country; to enable them to conduct research, whatever their field; and to prepare them to work effectively in an increasingly global and multicultural society. In becoming familiar with the form and structure of another language, students consider how languages function as tools for communication. Students are encouraged to apply their language skills in courses that fulfill other general education requirement areas.

Note: Students may fulfill this requirement by securing Advanced Placement Credit or by earning qualifying SAT II scores (or their International Baccalaureate equivalents) in a language other than English.

9. LITERATURE
Requirement: One course in literature in any language, in the original or in translation; or in comparative literature.
Aim: To develop the skills needed for an informed and aesthetically rewarding reading of literary texts from various times, places, and traditions. Coursework will address the methods and theories by which readers produce meanings and interpretations, and will investigate the pertinence of material such as the authors' biographies or their cultural contexts to literary analysis. Students will study rhetorical strategies employed in literature, becoming more adept at grasping the underlying assumptions and appeal of various forms of discourse.

10. THE VISUAL AND PERFORMING ARTS
Requirement: One course in architecture, art history, studio art, graphic design, dance, music, film, or theatre.
Aim: To build an understanding and appreciation of creative processes and forms of artistic expression. Courses will provide insight into the ways art is used to explore and enrich the world and the human condition. The requirement will enable students to cultivate their skills, to develop an understanding of the ways various arts communicate and are discussed, and to consider works of art in their complex social and historical contexts.

11. PHYSICAL EDUCATION REQUIREMENT
Transfer students entering with 24 points or more are required to take at least one semester of physical education, to be completed by the end of the junior year, unless they have already completed two semesters of physical education at their previous school. Courses in physical education are taken in addition to the 120 academic points required for the degree. A dance course taken after the satisfaction of the physical education requirement receives one point of academic credit, with a maximum of six points for non-dance majors. See "Majors and Electives" in "The Curriculum" section of the Barnard Course Catalogue.

Note: Transfer students who enter with fewer than 24 points are classified as first-year students and must take a First-Year Seminar and two semesters of physical education.

MAJOR REQUIREMENTS

Transfer students who enter as juniors should declare their majors immediately. Sophomores must choose their majors in the second semester of the sophomore year. Requirements for the major are described in the individual department and program sections of the Barnard Course Catalogue. Students should also consult a member of the faculty in their chosen department.

Transfer students must complete a minimum of six courses for the major while registered at Barnard. There are often prerequisites for major courses which should be completed early. This is especially the case with majors in music, architecture, computer science, economics, mathematics, and the natural sciences, in which courses are often strictly sequential.

ELECTIVES

Apart from the General Education and Major Requirements, students complete the remaining 121 points with elective courses.

MINOR - a student may elect a minor field of study. The selection of a minor is optional. For further information, consult the departmental descriptions in the Barnard Course Catalogue. A student may elect a minor to be designated on her transcript only after she has completed three of the required courses in the minor field. Like courses in the major field, courses for the minor cannot be elected for P/D/F grading. Transfers must complete a minimum of three courses for the minor while registered at Barnard.