PDF version of this chapterGeneral Education Program
Other Requirements
In addition, all students at USC must complete a two-course writing requirement and a diversity requirement. All students in the College of Letters, Arts and Sciences and some in the professional schools (see listing for each school's requirements) must also satisfy the foreign language requirement.
Writing Requirement
In their writing classes students learn to think critically, to build sound arguments and to express their ideas with clarity. The writing requirement comprises two courses (which cannot be taken on a pass/no pass basis). The first, taken during the freshman year, is linked to a course in the Social Issues category of the General Education program. The second, an advanced writing course taken in the junior year, is geared toward students' areas of special interest, such as the arts and humanities, science, law, engineering or business. In this course, students learn to integrate more complex information and construct more sophisticated arguments.Lower Division Writing Requirement
Most undergraduates take WRIT 140 Writing and Critical Reasoning as their first writing course. WRIT 140 is offered in affiliation with courses from the Social Issues category of the General Education Program (Category VI). Students enroll in this writing course either in the fall or spring of their freshman year.Certain groups of students from the Schools of Architecture, Engineering, and Music whose schedules do not permit them to register in an affiliated writing class satisfy their first writing requirement by taking WRIT 130 Analytical Writing. Students may not enroll in this alternative course unless expressly permitted to do so by the academic advisors in the specified schools. Students in the Thematic Option program satisfy this requirement with CORE 111.
Some students are better served by taking a preparatory course before they enroll in WRIT 140. Entering freshmen who score below a specified level on the verbal portion of the SAT take the University Writing Examination. Based on the result of this examination, certain students enroll in WRIT 120 Introduction to College Writing or WRIT 121 Introduction to College Writing in a Second Language during their first semester at USC. Clearance to register for these preparatory courses may be obtained at the Writing Program Office.
International students take the University Writing Examination after having completed any course work required by the American Language Institute.
Advanced Writing Requirement
All students at USC (with the exception of Thematic Option students who satisfy the second writing requirement with CORE 112), must complete WRIT 340, a course that will help them write on topics related to their disciplinary or professional interests. Students usually enroll in WRIT 340 Advanced Writing in their junior year and may not take the course earlier than their sophomore year. Different schools at the university offer sections of this course. Students should consult their major department to learn which section of WRIT 340 best complements their program of study.All sections of WRIT 340 teach students to write clear, grammatical, well-structured prose; to discover and convey complex ideas critically; and to appreciate the nuances of effective argumentation. The principal aim of the requirement is to develop a student's capacity to formulate thoughtful, informed arguments for specific academic, professional and public audiences.
Diversity Requirement
The diversity requirement is designed to provide undergraduate students with the background knowledge and analytical skills to enable them to understand and respect differences between groups of people and to understand the potential resources and conflicts arising from human differences on the contemporary American and international scene. Students will increasingly need to grapple with issues arising from different dimensions of human diversity such as age, disability, ethnicity, gender, language, race, religion, sexual orientation and social class. These dimensions and their social and cultural consequences will have important ramifications for students' personal, professional and intellectual lives, both for the time they are students and in later life. Students will gain exposure to analytical frameworks within which these issues are to be understood and addressed, including social, political, cultural, ethical and public policy analysis. It is the university's goal to prepare students through the study of human differences for responsible citizenship in an increasingly pluralistic and diverse society.Course Requirement
The diversity requirement must be met by all students who began college at USC or elsewhere fall 1993 or later. It can be met by passing any one course from the following list of courses carrying the designation "m" for multiculturalism. In addition to fulfilling the diversity requirement, some of the courses on the list also meet general education requirements; others also meet major requirements; still others meet only the diversity requirement but count for elective unit credit.Foreign Language Requirement
The foreign language requirement may be satisfied only by (1) earning a passing grade in Course III of a foreign language sequence at USC or its equivalent elsewhere or (2) scoring on the placement examination at a level considered by the department as equivalent to the completion of Course III or (3) scoring on a national or statewide examination at a level set by the department and approved by the College of Letters, Arts and Sciences. Students who can supply proof of at least two years of full-time secondary schooling beyond the age of 14 taught in a foreign language may request exemption from the foreign language requirement.All students earning degrees granted by or under the jurisdiction of the College of Letters, Arts and Sciences or earning degrees in programs of other schools that require three semesters of foreign language who do not meet the criteria of (1) must take a placement examination to determine their level of language proficiency. Placement in elementary and intermediate foreign language courses is made by the appropriate placement examination. Transfer courses equivalent to a USC elementary or intermediate language course fulfill the prerequisite for the next course in the sequence, but students may be advised, although not required, to repeat without additional credit a semester or semesters of instruction if their skills are judged insufficient at the time of testing.
It is strongly recommended that all students who as freshmen are enrolled in degree programs that have a language requirement fulfill that requirement by the time they have completed 64 units. All other students for whom it is a requirement should fulfill it before they have completed 96 units.
International students whose native language is not English are exempt from the foreign language requirement. Students with advanced skills in languages other than those taught at USC may request exemption from the foreign language requirement if (1) they can supply proof of at least two years of full-time secondary schooling taught in a foreign language beyond the age of 14, or (2) if they can pass a competency exam testing for advanced language skills and administered at USC subject to the availability of suitable academic examiners; the competency exam will test proficiency in speaking, reading and writing skills. Students with documented learning disabilities or physical impairments inhibiting language acquisition may petition for substitution.