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Requirements for Undergraduate Degrees from the Colleges of Arts and Sciences

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Colleges of Arts and Sciences

Requirements for Undergraduate Degrees from the Colleges of Arts and Sciences

Arts & Sciences degrees and a liberal arts education offer a broad-based and integrated perspective on the world and human experiences; better self-understanding; societal, civic, and global knowledge; an independent and inquiring mind; a desire and capacity for life-long learning; and valuable transferable skills. For more information see "Liberal Arts and Transferable Skills" on the CASSAS website.

Students are encouraged to explore connections between disciplinary fields, engage in co-curricular activities, and develop unique combinations of majors, minors, certificates, and electives.

A&S students must fulfill the following five requirement areas: UH Manoa General Education Core, UH Manoa Graduation, A&S College, A&S Degree, and A&S Major. Students should refer to their respective "Program Requirement Sheets" on the CASSAS website to assist them in selecting courses that incorporate UH Manoa General Education requirements with Arts & Sciences requirements.

UH Manoa General Education Core Requirements

A&S students must fulfill the UH Manoa General Education Core, which consists of Foundations and Diversification requirements. Some of the courses that fulfill these Core requirements may be double dipped with other requirements (see “General Education”).

The minimum course grade to fulfill Core requirements is a D (not D-). These requirements must be taken for a letter grade, unless the course is offered only with the CR/NC grade option.

UH Manoa Graduation Requirements

A&S students must fulfill the UH Manoa Graduation requirements, which consist of Focus and Hawaiian or Second Language (HSL), credit, and grade point average (GPA) requirements (see “General Education” and “Undergraduate Education”).

The minimum course grade to fulfill Focus and HSL requirements is a D (not D-). These requirements must be taken for a letter grade, unless the course is offered only with the CR/NC grade option.

BMus students concentrating in voice may fulfill the HSL requirement by completing the first year of study in two languages. This substitution must be approved by the department chair. All other A&S students must meet the stated HSL requirement.

Credits

  • Students must earn a minimum of 120 total applicable credits, of which 45 credits must be upper division (300-level and above) and at least 30 credits must be completed in residence at UH Manoa. Natural Sciences majors should contact CASSAS for exceptions to the upper division credit limit.
  • Students must complete their academic work and apply for a degree in a timely manner (see "Excess Credit Policy").

Grade Point Average (GPA)

  • Students must be earn at least a 2.0 GPA (C average) for all UH Manoa registered credits and must not be on academic action (i.e., not on probation, suspension, dismissal). Some majors or programs have specific GPA requirements (see department's sections).

A&S College Requirements

A broad exposure to the liberal arts is achieved by students earning a minimum number of credits from liberal arts courses and developing facility in liberal arts disciplines. A&S students have the option of choosing Breadth, Depth, or an A&S major that demands expertise in performance or research.

A&S Options - Complete one of the following:

  • Option 1–Breadth: Complete at least 3 credits from each of the four A&S Colleges (College of Arts and Humanities, College of Languages, Linguistics, and Literature, College of Natural Sciences, College of Social Sciences).
    Courses used to fulfill the Breadth requirement can double dip with Focus. Up to 3 of the credits can be counted toward major requirements.
    Credits from MATH 103, 104, and 135 do not satisfy the Natural Sciences Breadth requirement, but they can be applied to the minimum 120 total credits for graduation.
    The minimum course grade to fulfill the Breadth requirement is a D (not D-). These requirements must be taken for a letter grade, unless the course is offered only with the CR/NC grade option.
  • Option 2–Depth: Complete an A&S minor or certificate in a subject other than the major or complete a second A&S major.
    Courses for a minor or certificate used to fulfill Depth can double dip only with Focus.
    The minimum course grade to fulfill the Depth requirement is a C (not C-). These requirements must be taken for a letter grade, unless the course is offered only with the CR/NC grade option. Minors, certificates, and majors often have minimum GPA requirements (see each department's sections).
  • Option 3: Complete one of the following A&S degrees: BFA, BMus, BS, or BA-Interdisciplinary Studies.

Option 1: Breadth

College of Arts & Humanities (AH) 3 credits, taken from any of the areas listed:
Academy for Creative Media (ACM), American Studies (AMST), Art and Art History (ART), Communicology (formerly Speech) (COMG), Dance (DNCE), History (HIST), Music (MUS), Philosophy (PHIL), Religion (REL), Theater (THEA)

College of Languages, Linguistics, and Literature (LLL) 3 credits, taken from any of the areas listed:
East Asian Languages & Literatures: Chinese (CHN)*, East Asian Languages & Literatures (EALL)**, Japanese (JPN)*, Korean (KOR)*; English (ENG); Indo-Pacific Languages & Literatures: Arabic (ARAB)*, Burmese (BURM)*, Cambodian (CAM)*, Chamorro (CHAM)*, Filipino (FIL)*, Indo-Pacific Languages & Literatures, (IP)**, Hindi (HNDI)*, Ilokano (ILO)*, Indonesian (IND)*, Lao (LAO)*, Maori (MAO), Pali (PALI), Prakrit (PRAK), Samoan (SAM)*, Sanskrit (SNSK)*, Tahitian (TAHT)*, Thai (THAI)*, Tibetan (TIB)*, Tongan (TONG), Vietnamese (VIET)*; Interpretation & Translation Studies (TI); Languages & Literatures of Europe and the Americas: French (FR)*, German (GER)*, Greek (GRK)*, Hebrew (HEB)*, Italian (ITAL)*, Languages & Literatures of Europe and the Americas (LLEA)**, Latin (LATN)*, Latin & Iberian Studies (LAIS), Portuguese (PORT)*, Russian (RUS)*, Spanish (SPAN)*; Linguistics (LING); Second Language Studies (SLS)

College of Natural Sciences (NS) 3 credits, taken from any of the areas listed:
Astronomy (ASTR), Biology (BIOL), Botany (BOT), Chemistry (CHEM), Information & Computer Sciences (ICS), Library and Information Science (LIS), Mathematics (MATH), Microbiology (MICR), Physics (PHYS), Zoology (ZOOL)

Note: MATH 103, 104, and 135 do not satisfy the College of Natural Sciences Breadth requirement, although they count towards the minimum 124 credits required for graduation.

College of Social Sciences (SS) 3 credits, taken from any of the areas listed:
Anthropology (ANTH), Communication (COM), Economics (ECON), Ethnic Studies (ES), Geography (GEOG), Journalism (JOUR), Peace Studies (PACE), Political Science (POLS), Population Studies (PPST), Psychology (PSY), Public Administration (PUBA), Sociology (SOC), Urban & Regional Planning (PLAN), Women's Studies (WS)

Option 2: Depth

Minors
American Studies, Anthropology, Art & Art History, Biology, Botany, Chemistry, Chinese, Communicology (formerly Speech), Computer Science, Dance, Economics, English, Filipino Language & Culture, Geography, History, Ilokano Language & Culture, Japanese, Korean, Mathematics, Microbiology, Music, Philosophy, Physics, Political Science, Religion, Sociology, Theatre, Zoology

Undergraduate Certificates
East Asian Languages: Chinese, Japanese, Korean; Economics; Environmental Studies; Ethnic Studies; Indo-Pacific Languages: Burmese, Filipino, Hindi, Ilokano, Indo-Pacific, Indonesian, Khmer, Samoan, Sanskrit, Tahitian, Thai, Vietnamese; Islamic Studies; Languages and Literatures of Europe and the Americas: Classics, French, German, Latin America and Iberian Studies, Russian, Russian Area Studies, Spanish; Law and Society; Linguistics; Marine Option Program; Mathematical Biology; Music; Peace Studies; Social Science and Health; Sociology; Women's Studies

* Language courses taken to fulfill the Hawaiian/second language requirement may not be used to satisfy Option 1 requirement of 12 credits, 3 credits from each Arts & Sciences College.
** Courses offered in English

Credit Maximums*

  • Practicum courses: 12 credits
  • Directed reading and research (-99) courses: 9 credits
  • Activity courses (such as KRS): 8 credits

*A&S students can take as many credits in these areas as they would like, but only credits up to these maximums apply to the total 120 credits needed for graduation.

A&S Degree Requirements

The Colleges of Arts and Sciences offer bachelor of arts (BA), bachelor of fine arts (BFA), bachelor of music (BMus), and bachelor of science (BS) degrees, each of which has specific requirements as listed below. Courses used to fulfill these requirements can double dip with UH Manoa General Education Core, UH Manoa Graduation, and A&S Major requirements.

Bachelor of Arts (BA), Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA), Bachelor of Music (BMus), BA-Interdisciplinary Studies (BA-IS)

  • One of the following (these courses also satisfy the UH Manoa General Education Core "FS" requirement):
    BUS 250, ICS 141, 241, MATH 100, 100A, 112, 140, 161, 203, 215, 241, 251A, NREM 203, PHIL 111, 111A, 111, or SOCS 150

Bachelor of Science (BS)

  • Calculus I: MATH 215, 241, or 251A (these courses also satisfy the UH Manoa General Education Core "FS" requirement)
  • Calculus II: MATH 216, 242, or 252A
  • Chemistry: CHEM 161/161L and 162/162L or 171/171L or 181A/181L
  • Physics: PHYS 151/151L and 152/152L or 170/170L and 272/272L
    (These Chemistry and Physics lecture courses also satisfy the UH Manoa General Education Core "DP" requirement. These lab courses also satisfy the UH Manoa General Education Core "DY" requirement.)

Note: Many introductory science and mathematics courses require an assessment examination to determine appropriate placement. Information about assessment exams appears each semester in UH Manoa's Registration Guide (formerly Schedule of Classes) or on the registration website's home page.

A&S Major Requirements

A&S major requirements offer students specialization in an academic field of study and develop liberal arts skills. Major requirements contribute to the ideal liberal arts education, which prepares students for productive lives and careers, enlightened citizenship, and lifelong learning.

Major requirements are explained in each department's sections in this Catalog, in the online Catalog, and on the department's websites.

The minimum course grade to fulfill major requirements is a C (not C-). These requirements must be taken for a letter grade, unless the course is offered only with the CR/NC grade option.

A&S students should meet regularly with both their major advisor at their respective department office and with an A&S college advisor in the Student Academic Services office (QLCSS 113).