University of Southern California

Undergraduate Education

The USC Core/General Education

General Education Course Lists

Category I. Western Cultures and Traditions

Classical Civilizations and Their Legacies
AHIS 120g Foundations of Western Art
AHIS 201g Digging into the Past: Material Culture and the Civilizations of the Ancient Mediterranean
COLT 101g Masterpieces and Masterminds: Literature and Thought of the West
CLAS 150g The Greeks and the West
CLAS 151g Civilization of Rome
CLAS 280g Classical Mythology
CLAS 320gm Diversity and the Classical Western Tradition
HIST 101g The Ancient World
PHIL 115g Ancient Greek Culture and Society
PHIL 225g Love and Its Representations in Literature, Philosophy and Film
Judeo-Christian Traditions and Their Legacies
AHIS 220g Medieval Visual Culture
HIST 102gm Medieval People: Early Europe and Its Neighbors, 400–1500
JS 100g Jewish History
JS 314g Holy War And History: Jews, Christians, Muslims
REL 111g The World of the Hebrew Bible
REL 121g The World of the New Testament
REL 125g Introduction to Christianity
REL 132g Religions of the West
The Making of the Modern World
AHIS 121g Art and Society: Renaissance to Modern
COLT 251g Modern Literature and Thought of the West Since 1800
COLT 374gm Women Writers in Europe and America
HIST 103g The Emergence of Modern Europe
HIST 104g Modern Europe
MDA 205g Cities and Civilization
PHIL 101g Philosophical Foundations of Modern Western Culture
PHIL 155g Modern Philosophy and the Meaning of Life
PHIL 220g Science, Religion and the Making of the Modern Mind
PHIL 262g Mind and Self: Modern Conceptions
Foundations of American Civilization
AMST 301g America, the Frontier, and the New West
HIST 100gm The American Experience
MDA 105g Cultural Forms and Values I

Category II. Global Cultures and Traditions

AHIS 125g Arts of Asia: Antiquity to 1300
AHIS 126g Introduction to Asian Art: 1300 to the Present
AHIS 127g Arts and Civilizations of Ancient Middle and South America
AHIS 128g Arts of Latin America
AHIS 284g Art in Context: Introduction to the Chinese Visual World
AMST 135gm Peoples and Cultures of the Americas
AMST 250gm The African Diaspora
ANTH 100g Principles of Human Organization: Non-Western Societies
ANTH 140g Native Peoples of Mexico and Central America
ANTH 235g The Changing Pacific: Culture, History and Politics in the New South Seas
ANTH 250g Race and Sexual Politics in Southeast Asia
ANTH 263g Exploring Culture Through Film
ANTH 273g Shamans, Spirits, and Ancestors: Non-Western Religious Traditions
ANTH 315g North American Indians
ANTH 316gm North American Indians in American Public Life
CLAS 349g Ancient Empires
COLT 102g On Location: The Place of Literature in Global Cultures
COLT 250g Cultures of Latin America
COLT 264g Asian Aesthetic and Literary Traditions
COLT 382g Zen and Taoism in Asian Literature
EALC 110g East Asian Humanities: The Great Tradition
EALC 125g Introduction to Contemporary East Asian Film and Culture
EALC 130g East Asian Ethical Thought
EALC 145g Introduction to Chinese Culture, Art and Literature
EALC 150g Global Chinese Cinemas and Cultural Studies
EALC 340g Japanese Civilization
EALC 342g Japanese Literature and Culture
EALC 344g Korean Literature and Culture
EALC 350g Chinese Civilization
EALC 352g Chinese Literature and Culture
EALC 354g Modern Chinese Literature in Translation
EALC 358g Transpacific Sinophone Literature and Culture: Taiwan, Hong Kong, Tibet, SE Asia, and North America
EASC 150g East Asian Societies
EASC 160gm China and the World
HIST 105g The Korean Past
HIST 106g Chinese Lives: An Introduction to Chinese History
HIST 107g Japanese History
HIST 180g The Middle East
HIST 266g Business and East Asian Culture, 1800 to the Present
HIST 271g Early Native American Stories
HIST 273g Colonial Latin America
HIST 275g The Worlds of the Silk Road
HIST 324g Islam in Russia and the Soviet Union
LING 295g The Ancient Near East: Culture, Archaeology, Texts
MDA 155g Cultural Forms and Values II
PORT 250g Cultures of Brazil and Lusophone Africa
POSC 255g Cultures, Civilizations and Ethnicities in World Politics
REL 112g Religions of Egypt and the Ancient Near East
REL 131g Religions of Asia
REL 133g Religions of Latin America
REL 134xg Introduction to Buddhist Literature
REL 135xg Religions of China
REL 136xg Sense and Sensuality in Indian Religious Literature
REL 137g Introduction to Islam
SLL 330g Russian Thought and Civilization

Category III. Scientific Inquiry

For Most General Education Students

The following courses are recommended for most students seeking to satisfy general education requirements.

ASTR 100Lxg The Universe
BISC 101Lxg Cellular and Molecular Biology
BISC 104Lxg How the Body Works: Topics in Human Physiology
CHEM 103Lxg General Chemistry for the Environment and Life
GEOL 105Lg Planet Earth
GEOL 107Lg Oceanography
GEOL 130Lg The Nature of Scientific Inquiry
GEOL 387abcg Undergraduate Team Research
MDA 125Lg Scientific Principles
PHYS 100Lxg The Physical World
For Specified Cohorts

The following courses will also satisfy this requirement, but they are intended for specific groups of students and are not usually appropriate for most general education students. Consult an academic adviser before enrolling in any of the following courses unless your major requires you to do so.

BISC 120Lxg General Biology: Organismal Biology and Evolution
BISC 121Lg Advanced General Biology: Organismal Biology and Evolution
CHEM 103Lxg General Chemistry for the Environment and Life
CHEM 105aLg General Chemistry
CHEM 115aLg Advanced General Chemistry
PHYS 125Lg Physics for Architects
PHYS 151Lg Fundamentals of Physics I: Mechanics and Thermodynamics

Category IV. Science and Its Significance

ANTH 200Lg The Origins of Humanity
ASTR 200Lxg Earth and Space
BISC 102Lxg Humans and Their Environment
BISC 150Lxg The Nature of Human Health and Disease
BISC 180Lxg Evolution
BISC 230Lxg Brain, Mind and Machines: Topics in Neuroscience
CHEM 201Lg Chemistry in the Environment, Energy, and Society
CHEM 203Lxg Chemistry in Life: AIDS Drug Discovery and Development
CHEM 205Lxg Chemical Forensics: The Science, and Its Impact
EXSC 205Lxg The Science of Human Performance
GEOL 108Lg Crises of a Planet
GEOL 125Lg Earth History: A Planet and Its Evolution
GEOL 150Lg Climate Change
GEOL 240Lg Earthquakes
GEOL 241Lg Energy Systems
LING 110Lg In a Word
LING 275Lg Language and Mind
LING 285Lg Human Language and Technology
MDA 175Lg Science and Technology
MDA 200Lg The Cutting Edge: From Basic Science to the Marketplace
PHIL 285Lg Knowledge, Explanation, and the Cosmos
PHIL 286Lg Issues in Space and Time
PHYS 200Lxg The Physics and Technology of Energy: Keeping the Motor Running
PSYC 165Lg Drugs, Behavior and Society
PSYC 200Lg Love and Attachment
PSYC 201Lg The Science of Happiness
PSYC 339Lg Origins of the Mind
SSCI 265Lg The Water Planet

Category V. Arts and Letters

ARLT 100g Arts and Letters
ARLT 101g Studies in Arts and Letters
ARLT 105g First Year Seminar: Arts and Letters

Category VI. Social Issues

The following courses require concurrent enrollment in WRIT 140 Writing and Critical Reasoning, unless the first course of the writing requirement has already been satisfied.

AHIS 255g Culture Wars: Art and Social Conflict in the Modern World
AMST 101gm Race and Class in Los Angeles
AMST 242gm Social Responses to Disaster
AMST 252gm Black Social Movements in the United States
AMST 274gm Exploring Ethnicity Through Film
ANTH 105g Culture, Medicine and Politics
ANTH 125g Social Issues in Human Sexuality and Reproduction
ANTH 240gm Collective Identity and Political Violence: Representing 9/11
ECON 238xg Political Economy and Social Issues
ENST 150xg Environmental Issues in Society
GEOG 257g Environment and Ethics
HIST 215g Business and Labor in America
HIST 225g Film, Power, and American History
HIST 235g War and the American Experience
HIST 240g The History of California
HIST 245gm Gender and Sexualities in American History
HIST 255g The Evolution Debates
HIST 265g Understanding Race and Sex Historically
IR 100xg The United States and World Affairs
IR 101xg International Relations
JS 211g The Holocaust
JS 258g Food, Faith and Conflict
LING 115g Language, Society, and Culture
MDA 165g Social Inquiry
MDA 167g Marginal Groups in America
MDA 170g La Frontera: The U.S.-Mexico Borderlands
PHIL 135g Legal Controversies and Ethical Principles
PHIL 137gm Social Ethics for Earthlings and Others
PHIL 140g Contemporary Moral and Social Issues
PHIL 141g The Professions and the Public Interest in American Life
POSC 130g Law, Politics and Public Policy
POSC 165g Modern Times
POSC 220g Critical Issues in American Politics
POSC 248g International Human Rights
POSC 265g Environmental Challenges
REL 140g Religion and Ethical Issues
REL 146g American Spirituality: Radicals, Rebels and Freethinkers
SOCI 100gm Los Angeles and the American Dream
SOCI 142gm Diversity and Racial Conflict
SOCI 150gm Social Problems
SOCI 155gm Immigrant America
SOCI 169gm Changing Family Forms
SOCI 210g Science, Technology, and Social Conflict
SOCI 220gm Questions of Intimacy
SOCI 225g Sociology of Health and the Body: Social Perspectives
SOCI 250gm Grassroots Participation in Global Perspective
SOCI 255g Sociology of Globalization
SWMS 210gm Social Issues in Gender
SWMS 215g Gender Conflict in Cultural Contexts