University  
Requirements 

Department  
Requirements

General Requirements 

Units 

Quite simply, you must complete at least 120 units or you will not get a degree. There is absolutely no debate on this issue. Don't even ask for an exception. You will be laughed at. If you want to graduate in 4 years, you need to take an average of 15 units per semester (I'm sure an engineering student like you has figured that out already). Unlike what you might hear about the national trend of more and more people taking five years to get their BS, a sizable chunk of Cal CEE students do get it done four years. You can too, if you try hard enough. 

Residency 

The final 30 units and last two consecutive semesters you count toward your degree must be taken at Cal. This means you probably shouldn't decide to go on a semester abroad your senior year. Well, you can, but all the hard work you complete during your extended European vacation will be for naught. If you want to study somewhere else for awhile, do it earlier. 

Grades 

A minimum overall GPA of 2.0 and a minimum 2.0 GPA in upper division technical electives is required to earn a BS 

Limitations of the BS 

There are several limitations on the number of units that can be used toward your BS These are summarized below: 
 

Humanities and Social Studies 

For some reasons, most students have more difficulty understanding these requirements than any other part of their degree. But these are actually pretty simple. The basic requirement is: 

        6 courses of at least 3 units each must be completed. 

But you can't just take any 6 courses. You must follow some rules. All units must come from at least one of the college's current list of approved humanities courses. These are broken down into 4 lists, each of which can be viewed by clicking on the links or moving down the page: 

• List E (Reading and Composition)
• List A (History and Cultures)
• List B (Literature and Values)
• List C (Comprehensive List)

• At least one course from List E. This course must be taken for a letter grade.
• At least one course from List A. This course and/or the course from List B must be taken for a letter grade.
• At least one course from List B. This course and/or the course from List A must be taken for a letter grade.
• Two courses must be upper division (from Lists B and/or C).

Two courses must be taken from the same department, at least one of which must be an upper division course. This is known as the "series requirement." The purpose of this requirement is to provide depth in one area of knowledge. Therefore, a two course sequence not in the same department may be approved, by petition, in cases in which there is a clear and logical connection between the courses. Also, a course and its prerequisite will satisfy this requirement, even if they are not in the same department. If you are planning on using two courses not in the same department to satisfy the series requirement, see your Student Affairs Officers BEFORE taking the classes!

If you are planning on asking for any kind of exception to the course requirements, always see your advisor as soon as possible, before you take any of the classes in question. You will have to file a petition that must be approved by the Dean. If your petition is denied and you have already taken the classes in questions, you've just burned some of your free electives, and you still have to meet the original requirement. 

Sometimes the requirements for getting your degree will change while you are in school (in fact, it's pretty much guaranteed). Generally, you must complete the requirements that were in effect during your first semester of attendance at Berkeley. If you return to Cal after an absence, you must complete the requirements that are in effect when you return. 
 

The following is the current list of courses that can be used to satisfy the humanities and social studies requirements. Always check with the COE advising office for changes to the list. The general rule is, if it's on the official list (which the following ISN'T, always get the current list from the COE advising office) at the time you take the course, it will count (even if it is taken off the list in the future). 
 

List E: Reading and Composition 
 

• African American Studies 1A (Freshman Composition)
• Asian American Studies 2A (Reading and Composition)
• Chicano Studies 1A (English Reading and Composition for Native Speakers of Spanish)
• College Writing 1A (Accelerated Reading and Composition)
• Comparative Literature 1A, H1A (English Composition in Connection with the Reading of World Literature)
• Comparative Literature 2A (English Composition in Connection with Reading World and French Literature)
• Dramatic Art 1A (Introduction to Dramatic Literature)
• English 1A (First-Year Reading and Composition)
• German 5A (Reading and Composition)
• Native American Studies 1A (Native American Studies Reading and Composition)
• Rhetoric 1A (The Craft of Writing)
• Scandinavian 5A (In and About Scandinavia)
• South Asian 5A (Great Books of India)
• Undergraduate and Interdisciplinary Studies 44A, 44B, or 44C (Topics in Western Civilization)
• Undergraduate and Interdisciplinary Studies 55A or 55B (The Development of World Civilization)
• Women's Studies 1A (Freshman Composition)

List A: History and Cultures 
 

• African American Studies 5A or 5B (African American Life and Culture in the United States)
• African American Studies 150A or 150B (African American Literature)
• Anthropology 3 (Introduction to Social and Cultural Anthropology)
• Geography 4 (Introduction to Cultural Geography)
• History 4A or 4B (Origins of Western Civilization)
• History 5 (European Civilization from the Renaissance to the Present)
• History 7A or 7B (Introduction to the History of the United States)
• Peace and Conflict Studies 10 (Introduction to Peace and Conflict Studies)
• Political Science 1 (Introduction to American Politics)
• Political Science 2 (Introduction to Comparative Politics)
• Political Science 4 (Introduction to Political Theory)
• Psychology 1 (General Psychology)
• Psychology 2 (General Psychology)
• Sociology 3 (Principles of Sociology)
• Undergraduate and Interdisciplinary Studies 44A, 44B, or 44C (Topics in Western Civilization)

Undergraduate and Interdisciplinary Studies 55A or 55B (The Development of World Civilization) 
 

List B: Literature and Values 
 

• Chicano Studies 142, 143 (Major Chicano Writers)
• Classics 10A (The Golden Age of Greece)
• Classics 10B (The Golden Age of Rome)
• Classics 28 (The Classic Myths)
• Classics 34 (Epic Poetry: Homer and Virgil)
• Classics 35 (Greek Tragedy)
• Classics 36 (Ancient Philosophy)
• Comparative Literature 40 (Women and Literature)
• Comparative Literature 41A, 41B, 41C, or 41D (Introduction to Literary Forms)
• Dramatic Art 20A or 20B (Survey of World Drama)
• English 17 (Shakespeare)
• English 20 (Modern British and American Literature)
• English 26 (Introduction to the Study of Poetry)
• English 30B (American Literature Since 1865)
• English 44A or 44B (Masterpieces of Literature)
• Italian 90, 130, 150, 175
• Philosophy 2 (Individual Morality and Social Justice)
• Philosophy 3 (The Nature of the Mind)
• Philosophy 4 (Knowledge and Its Limits)
• Philosophy 5 (Science and Human Understanding)
• Philosophy 6 (Man, God, and Society in Western Literature)
• Philosophy 25A (Ancient Philosophy)
• Philosophy 25B (Modern Philosophy)
• Religious Studies 90A or 90B (Introduction to Religious Studies)
• Rhetoric 125, 126, 128, 156, 176
• Scandinavian 50
• Slavic 133

List C: Comprehensive List of Humanities and Social Studies 

Course numbers separated by a hyphen (12-118, for example) indicate all courses listed in the current General Catalog between and including those numbers (in this case, courses 12 through 118). Variable unit courses must be taken for at least 3 units in order to satisfy this requirement. The Student Affairs Office, in 308 McLaughlin Hall, maintains an up-to-date list of acceptable courses. Courses not appearing on this list will not be accepted.  
 

• African American Studies 1A-39, 107-161
• Agricultural and Resource Economics 1, 2, 100-102, 141, 151-162
• Anthropology 1-74, 94, 100, 101, 105-130, 136-166, 170-188
• Arabic 105-111B
• Architecture 100A, 105, 110, 120, 122, 170A-179
• Asian American Studies 2A-151, 166-192C
• Business Administration 110-112, 150-159, 160, 170-172, 188
• Catalan 102, 103
• Celtic Studies 70, 106A-169
• Chicano Studies 1AB, 20-80, 135-180
• Chinese 101-158, 165, 181A
• City and Regional Planning 110-112B, 113A-191F
• Classics 10A-36, 100A-180
• Comparative Literature 1A-190
• Czech 160-162
• Development Studies 10, 100, 150
• Dramatic Art 1AB, 20AB, 49, 50AB, 120-127, 139, 150A-151B, 178, 181, 189
• Dutch 140-180
• Economics 1-75, 100A-102, 105-137, 151-190
• Education 101, 114A, 114C, 121A, 122, 140-143, 180-189
• Energy and Resources 100, 151
• English 1A-80K, 101-180Z
• Environmental Design 1, 4, 71, 101, 105, 169AB
• Environmental Science, Policy, and Management 10, 100, 151-155, 160-163, 165-168, 190
• Ethnic Studies 20-30, 41, 100-190
• Film 25A-151, 153
• French 41, 43, 102-184B
• Geography 1-7, 100-136, 138, 149, 150, 153-159, 162-169, 181, 189
• German 45, 100, 110-127B, 130, 131A-175B
• Greek 100-123
• Hebrew 101A-105B, 111
• History 4-39, 100, 101-185B
• History of Art 10-190E
• Human Biodynamics 39, 121, 130
• Interdepartmental Studies 1, 100, 118, 121AB, 133, 135, 167-173
• Italian 40A-90, 103A-175
• Japanese 120-146, 155, 159, 182AB, 184, 186
• Journalism 39, 100, 101, 140-180
• Korean 150, 155
• Landscape Architecture 140, 170
• Latin 100-155B
• Legal Studies 100A-190
• Library and Information Studies 128
• Linguistics 11-71, 123-131, 150, 155AB, 185
• Malay/Indonesian 132, 134
• Mass Communications 10-103
• Medieval Studies 150
• Military Affairs 1, 2, 20-124, 145A-171
• Music 26, 27, 70, 71, 127, 128, 130-134, 171-174, 176
• Native American Studies 1A-190
• Near Eastern Studies 10-172
• Peace and Conflict Studies 10, 100, 101, 119-174
• Persian and Iranian 101A-104B
• Philosophy 2-8, 25AB, 100-135, 151-154, 160-189
• Polish 150-154
• Political Economy of Industrial Societies 100, 101, 135, 150
• Political Science 1, 2, 4-41, 100-131, 135A-178, 181-189
• Population Studies 100
• Portuguese 102, 104-144
• Psychology 1, 14, 107-109, 115, 120-182, 192, 193
• Public Health 14, 105, 106, 114
• Public Policy 6-176, 178-189
• Religious Studies 90A-190
• Rhetoric 1AB, 10-177
• Russian Literature 39-188
• Scandinavian 50, 75, 107-144, 150-165, 170
• Serbian/Croatian 170-179
• Slavic 37, 37(R,W), 38, 39, 45, 46, 130, 133, 134 (A,B,C,D,E,N), 135, 138, 148-188
• Social Welfare 100, 101
• Sociology 1, 3, 101A-102B, 110-190
• South Asian 1A-142, 155-165
• Southeast Asian 1A-142
• Spanish 25, 39, 104A-123B, 126-130, 133, 135, 142, 147
• Turkish 101A-102B
• Undergraduate and Interdisciplinary Studies 44AD, 55AB
• Women's Studies 1A-40, 101-141, 197

 
 
Let's move towards Davis Hall.  

• Department Requirements