"Transitional" General Education Requirements

The university understands full well that students who entered USC before fall 1997 and those who began their college careers elsewhere before that date have already begun to satisfy their general education requirements on the basis of earlier plans. To allow these students to graduate in a timely manner, the university has set forth a transitional set of general education requirements. These requirements are not as fully integrated as those of the new general education program, and all students who can do so are encouraged to follow the new program. For those students whose schedules will not permit them to do so, the following requirements are permissible, if they were enrolled at USC before summer 1997, or began college elsewhere before summer 1997 and enter USC before summer 2000.

I. Cultures and Civilizations I	II. Cultures and Civilizations II	III. Scientific Principles	IV. Investigations in Science and Technology	V. Studies in Literature, Thought, & Arts	VI. Social Issues	New Writing Requirement
Western Culture I	Non-Western Cultures	Natural World Earth Sciences	Natural World Earth Sciences	Literature	American Public Life	Students who began college before Fall '97 will be considered to have met the new writing requirement when they have satisfied their original writing requirement.
		Natural World Life Sciences	Natural World Life Sciences		Empirical Approaches
Western Culture II		Natural World Physical Sciences	Natural World Physical Sciences	The Arts	Ethical Approaches

The "transitional" requirements call for six courses in at least five of the six categories identified by Roman numerals on the chart above. Each course must come from a different Area of Study (such as "Ethical Approaches" or "Empirical Approaches"). Of these, at least two courses must be in the natural sciences for all students in the College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, the School of Engineering and students earning Bachelor of Arts degrees in other schools. Diversity and foreign language requirements remain the same, as they do for students under the new general education program.

Beyond the category requirements, students following the transitional general education plan must observe the rules which governed the general education program under which they began college, including two limits: students may count no more than two courses from any one academic department toward their general education requirements; and each natural science course must come from a different department or a different Area of Study.

There is one further exception: as of fall 1997, these students, like those who will begin the new general education program, may take no more than four units (one course) counting toward the general education categories on a Pass/No Pass basis. Students who exceeded that number before fall 1997 will be permitted to count for general education credit up to 12 units on a Pass/No Pass basis, but no additional course work may be undertaken beyond the four-unit limit during or after fall 1997.

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