Bachelor of Arts, Plan I
The requirements for the Bachelor of Arts under Plan I are designed to give each student flexibility in the selection of courses to meet individual needs.
A total of 120 semester hours is required. Thirty-six hours must be in upper-division courses. At least sixty hours, including twenty-one hours of upper-division coursework, must be completed in residence at the University; at least twenty-four of the last thirty hours must be completed in residence at the University. Provided residence rules are met, credit may be earned by examination, by extension, by correspondence (up to 30 percent of the hours required for the degree), or, with the approval of the dean, by work transferred from another institution. Up to sixteen semester hours of classroom and/or correspondence coursework may be taken on the pass/fail basis; this coursework may be counted only as electives.
All students must complete the University’s Core Curriculum . In the process of fulfilling the core curriculum and other degree requirements, all students are expected to complete courses with content in the following three areas:
- Writing: two flagged courses beyond Rhetoric and Writing 306 or its equivalent
- Global cultures: one flagged course
- Cultural diversity in the United States: one flagged course
Courses with sufficient content in these areas will be identified in the Course Schedule, registrar.utexas.edu/schedules/ , by the appropriate flags. A course may carry more than one flag. The School of Undergraduate Studies monitors flagged courses to ensure that they meet the guidelines set by the General Faculty.
The specific requirements for the Bachelor of Arts, Plan I, consist of prescribed work, major and minor requirements, and electives. In some cases, a course that fulfills one of these requirements may also be counted toward the core curriculum; these courses are identified below.
Courses in the major and minor may also be used to fulfill prescribed work requirements unless expressly prohibited. A course in one prescribed work area may not also be used to fulfill the requirements of another prescribed work area; the only exception to this rule is that a course that fulfills one requirement may also be used to fulfill a flag requirement.
The student must fulfill the University's general requirements for graduation and the requirements of the College of Liberal Arts. University graduation requirements include a grade point average of at least 2.00 in all courses taken at the University (including credit by examination, correspondence, and extension) for which a grade or symbol other than Q, W, X, or CR is recorded; for the BA, Plan I, the student must also earn a grade point average of at least 2.00 in courses taken at the University and counted toward the major requirements. The student should also refer to the description of his or her major in the section Majors and Minors below, since some majors include higher minimum scholastic requirements.
More information about grades and the grade point average is given in General Information .
Prescribed Work
- Writing and Literature: English 316K and two courses beyond Rhetoric and Writing 306 or the equivalent that carry a writing flag. One of these courses must be upper-division. Courses that carry a writing flag are identified in the Course Schedule, registrar.utexas.edu/schedules/
. They may be used simultaneously to fulfill other requirements, unless otherwise specified.
- Foreign language: Four semesters or the equivalent in a single foreign language.
The foreign language requirement is the attainment of a certain proficiency, as well as the completion of a specified number of courses; however, the courses taken to gain proficiency are not electives and may not be taken on the pass/fail basis. Any part of the requirement may be fulfilled by credit by examination.
To achieve proficiency in a foreign language as rapidly as possible, qualified students are urged to take intensive foreign language courses. Information about these courses is available from the departments that offer them.
Courses used to fulfill the foreign language requirement must be language courses; literature-in-translation courses, for example, may not be counted.
- Social science: Three semester hours chosen from a list of approved courses, in addition to the course used to fulfill the social and behavioral sciences requirement of the core curriculum. The course(s) must be in a field of study taught in the College of Liberal Arts and must be in a different field of study from the course used to fulfill the social and behavioral sciences requirement of the core curriculum.
Courses on the approved list are primarily in anthropology, economics, geography, linguistics, psychology, and sociology, but not every course in these fields is approved. Courses that are approved to count toward any core curriculum area other than social and behavioral sciences may not be counted toward this requirement.
The list is available each semester in the Student Division and at http://www.utexas.edu/cola/student-affairs/Academic-Planning/Majors-and-Degrees/Course-Lists.php .
- Mathematics: Three semester hours in mathematics, excluding Mathematics 301, 316K, and 316L. Some courses that fulfill this requirement may also be counted toward the mathematics requirement of the core curriculum.
- Natural science: Six semester hours in natural sciences, in addition to the courses counted toward the science and technology requirements of the core curriculum. Courses used to fulfill this requirement must be chosen from the fields of study listed below; no more than three hours may be in either the history of science or the philosophy of science.
To satisfy the mathematics and science and technology requirements of the core curriculum and the mathematics and natural science requirements of the BA, Plan I, a student may count (1) no more than twelve hours in mathematics, computer science, and statistics and scientific computation combined; and (2) no more than nine hours in any single field of study.
- Astronomy
- Biology
- Chemistry
- Geological sciences
- Marine science
- Nutrition
- Physical science
- Physics
- Mathematics (excluding Mathematics 301), computer science, statistics and scientific computation
- Other alternative science courses approved by the dean
- Approved alternative courses in history of science and philosophy of science
Lists of approved courses in science and the history and philosophy of science are available each semester in the Student Division and at http://www.utexas.edu/cola/student-affairs/Academic-Planning/Majors-and-Degrees/Course-Lists.php .
- Cultural expression, human experience, and thought: Three semester hours chosen from a list of approved courses. The course(s) must be in a field of study taught in the College of Liberal Arts. A course counted toward any requirement of the core curriculum may not also be counted toward this requirement.
A list of approved courses is available each semester in the Student Division and at http://www.utexas.edu/cola/student-affairs/Academic-Planning/Majors-and-Degrees/Course-Lists.php .
Electives
In addition to the core curriculum, prescribed work, and major and minor, the student must complete enough elective coursework to provide the 120 semester hours required for the degree. These 120 hours may include no more than twelve hours of conference courses and internship courses combined as described in Conference Courses and Internship Courses ; twelve hours of Bible; nine hours of designated coursework in air force science, military science, or naval science; sixteen hours completed on the pass/fail basis; thirty-nine hours in any one field of study in the College of Liberal Arts or the College of Natural Sciences, unless major requirements state otherwise; and thirty-nine hours in any other single college or school of the University. Mathematics courses at the level of college algebra may not count toward elective hours.
Majors and Minors
Major Requirements
The Bachelor of Arts, Plan I, requires the completion of all requirements for one major. The number of semester hours required in the major varies with the field selected. Unless the requirements of the major state otherwise, a major consists of at least twenty-four but no more than forty-two semester hours, with at least fifteen hours in upper-division courses. Of these fifteen hours, six must be taken in residence. At least eighteen hours of coursework in the major, including six hours of upper-division coursework, must be completed in residence at the University.
Minors
Students in most majors must also fulfill the requirements of a minor. The minor consists of a specific number of semester hours of coursework completed outside the student’s major field. The requirements of the minor are established by the major department and are given with the major requirements below. Additional restrictions may be imposed by the academic department(s) in which the student takes the courses used to fulfill the requirements of the minor; before planning to use a course to fulfill the minor requirement, the student should consult the department that offers the course.
The same courses may not be used to fulfill the requirements for both a major and a minor. Courses used to fulfill the requirements for a minor must be taken on the letter-grade basis, and six of the required semester hours must be taken in residence.