Humanities and Social Sciences

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To promote a rich and varied educational experience outside of the technical requirements for each major, the College of Engineering has a Humanities and Social Sciences (H/SS) breadth requirement built into all of the programs of study. Follow these guidelines to fulfill this requirement:

• Complete a minimum of 6 approved H/SS courses.
• Courses must be a minimum of 3 semester units (or 4 quarter units).
• 2 of the 6 courses must fulfill the College’s Reading and Composition (R&C) requirement.
  • These courses must be taken for a letter grade (C- or better required).
  • The first half (R&C Part A) must be completed by the end of your freshman year (before your 3rd semester); the second half (R&C Part B) must be completed by no later than the end of the sophomore year (before your 5th semester).
  • Students can use the Class Schedule to view R&C courses offered in a given semester.
  • Only R&C Part A can be fulfilled with an AP, IB, or A-Level exam score. Test scores do not fulfill R&C Part B for College of Engineering students.
• The 4 additional courses must be chosen from the following lists in the Class Schedule using the filters in the left sidebar, and can be taken on a pass/no pass basis (see restrictions below):
  • UC requirements:
    • American History
    • American Institutions
  • UC campus requirement
    • American Cultures (must be at least 3 units and you must achieve a grade of P or C- or better)
  • L&S Breadth Lists:
    • Arts & Literature
    • Historical Studies
    • International Studies
    • Philosophy & Values
    • Social & Behavioral Science
  • Approved foreign language courses
• A maximum of 2 of the 6 H/SS courses may be met by AP, IB, or A-Level exam scores. View the list of exams that can be applied toward H/SS requirements for reference.
• At least 2 of the 6 H/SS courses must be upper-division (courses numbered 100-196).
• Courses may fulfill multiple categories across University, Campus, and College requirements. For example, taking HISTORY 127AC will satisfy the American Cultures requirement and one of the upper-division H/SS course requirements.
• Courses that fulfill the six H/SS requirements must be unique and cannot overlap with other H/SS requirements. For example, AGRS R44 can fulfill either R&C Part A, or R&C Part B, or a different lower-division H/SS requirement.

Restrictions:

• No courses offered by an Engineering department may be used to complete an H/SS requirement other than: BIOENG 100, COMPSCI C79, ENGIN 125, ENGIN 157AC, ENGIN 185, or MECENG 191K.
• Special topics courses of 3 semester units or more will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.
• Courses numbered 97, 98, 99, or above 196 cannot be used to complete the H/SS requirement.