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-nine hours must be in upper-division courses. At least 60 hours, including 24 hours of upper-division coursework, 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 16 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 the Skills and Experience flags:
- Writing: three flagged courses beyond Rhetoric and Writing 306 or its equivalent
- Quantitative Reasoning: one flagged course
- Global Cultures: one flagged course
- Cultural Diversity in the United States: one flagged course
- Ethics: one flagged course
- Independent Inquiry: one flagged course
Courses that may be used to fulfill core curriculum and flag requirements are identified in the Course Schedule. They may be used simultaneously to fulfill other requirements, unless otherwise specified. Please note, students may not earn the cultural diversity and global cultures flags from the same course. Students are encouraged to discuss options with a departmental academic advisor.
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 the General Information Catalog.
Prescribed Work
- Writing and Literature: English 316L, 316M, or 316N 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. They may be used simultaneously to fulfill other requirements, unless otherwise specified.
- Foreign language: Proficiency in a language other than English is required.
The study of a second language contributes in an important way to a broad education for today's students, who live in a world where the overwhelming majority of people do not speak or read English and where much of the knowledge that is disseminated may never appear in English. Knowledge of a second language is important for an appreciation of the culture of the people using that language, and it also helps students to understand the structure and complexities of their own native language. Students with sufficient preparation may be able to use the second language for study in their chosen discipline. An intermediate level of competency as determined by the completion of any one of the following options:
a. Certified proficiency on a placement or credit-by-exam test.
b. Students with previous experience in the language they plan to use to meet the language requirement must take a language placement test. A student may not select for credit a language course below this placement level without departmental permission.
c. A passing grade in a language course listed below:
Requirements Hours ASL 311D American Sign Language III: Intermediate 3 ARA 611C Intensive Arabic II 6 BEN 312L Second-Year Bengali II 3 CHI 612 Accelerated Second-Year Chinese 6 CHI 312L Second-Year Chinese II 3 CZ 611C Intensive Czech II 6 CZ 412L Second-Year Czech II 4 DAN 612 Accelerated Second-Year Danish 6 DCH 612 Accelerated Second-Year Dutch 6 FR 611C Intermediate French 6 FR 412K Intermediate French I 4 GER 612 Accelerated Second-Year German: Readings in Modern German 6 GK 312K Intermediate Greek II 3 GK 312L Intermediate Greek II: Biblical Greek 3 GK 610C Intermediate Modern Greek 6 GK 310K Second-Year Modern Greek II 3 HEB 612C Intensive Biblical Hebrew II 6 HEB 611C Intensive Hebrew II 6 HIN 312L Second-Year Hindi II 3 HIN 612 Accelerated Second-Year Hindi 6 ITL 611C Intermediate Italian 6 JPN 611D Intermediate Japanese 6 KOR 312L Second-Year Korean II 3 LAL 611C Intensive Indigenous Language of Latin America II 6 LAT 511K Accelerated Intermediate Latin 5 MAL 312L Second-Year Malayalam II 3 NOR 612 Accelerated Second-Year Norwegian 6 PRS 611C Intensive Persian II 6 PRS 612C Intensive Persian for Heritage Speakers 6 POL 611C Intensive Polish II 6 POL 312L Second-Year Polish II 3 POR 611D Second-Year Portuguese 6 RUS 611C Intensive Russian II 6 RUS 412K Second-Year Russian I 4 SAN 312L Second-Year Sanskrit II 3 S C 312L Second-Year Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian II 3 SAL 312L Second-Year South Asian Languages II 3 SEL 611C Intensive Slavic and Eurasian Languages II 6 SEL 312L Second-Year Slavic and Eurasian Languages II 3 SPN 311 Intermediate Spanish 3 SPN 611D Second-Year Spanish 6 SPN 311J Intermediate Spanish for Heritage Learners 3 SWA 611C Intensive Swahili II 6 SWE 612 Accelerated Second-Year Swedish 6 TAM 312L Second-Year Tamil II 3 TEL 312L Second-Year Telugu II 3 TUR 611C Intensive Turkish II 6 URD 312L Second-Year Urdu II 3 UKR 312L Second-Year Ukrainian II 3 YID 612 Accelerated Second-Year Yiddish 6 YOR 611C Intermediate Yoruba 6 d. Students who wish to meet the requirement with proficiency in a language not listed in the table above should contact the Texas Language Center.
- Social science: three semester credit hours in a social science field, in addition to the course taken to satisfy the Social and Behavioral Science requirement of the Core Curriculum. Courses that are approved to count toward any core curriculum area other than social and behavioral sciences may not be counted toward this requirement.
A list of approved courses is available each semester in the Student Division on the College of Liberal Arts website.
- 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.
- 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 on the College of Liberal Arts website.
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 12 hours of conference courses and internship courses combined as described in Conference Courses and Internship Courses; 12 hours of Bible courses; nine hours of designated coursework in air force science, military science, or naval science, except for students enrolled in the Military Leadership minor; 16 hours completed on the pass/fail basis; 39 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 39 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 24 but no more than 45 semester hours, with at least 15 hours in upper-division courses. Of these 15 hours, six must be taken in residence. At least 18 hours of coursework in the major, including six hours of upper-division coursework, must be completed in residence at the University.
Minors
All students pursuing a major under the BA Plan I, with the exception of International Relations and Global Studies majors, must complete a minor. There are three types of minor:
- A minor offered by a department or center
- A Liberal Arts multi-disciplinary minor in the Social and Behavioral Sciences
- A Liberal Arts multi-disciplinary minor in Cultural Expression, Human Experience, and Thought
A student who wishes to pursue more than one transcript-recognized minor per major, or more than one transcript-recognized certificate fulfilling the requirements of the minor per major, must consult with his or her academic advisor to get permission from the College. When considering whether to grant an exception and allow pursuit of another transcript-recognized credential, the academic advisor will take into account the student's long-term education/professional goals and the student's ability to graduate within four years of entering the university.
Before planning to use a course to fulfill the minor requirement, the student should consult the department that offers the course.
At least nine of the hours required for the minor must include coursework not used to satisfy the requirements of the student's major. Courses used to fulfill the requirements for a minor must be taken on the letter-grade basis, and half of the required semester hours must be taken in residence.