Revelle College
Revelle College Courses, Curricula and Program
of Instruction
Revelle College, the first college on the UCSD campus, was named
in honor of Dr. Roger Revelle, former university-wide dean of
research and for many years director of UCSDs Scripps Institution
of Oceanography. Dr. Revelle is perhaps best known for his prediction
of the Greenhouse Effect.
The initiation of Revelle College in 1958 provided the faculty
with the opportunity to design a complete undergraduate curriculum
for some of the country's best-prepared students. The faculty
asked the fundamental question, What should an educated person
know? The Revelle College general-education requirements offer
a specific but broad introduction to the academic disciplines
of the university. A student graduating from Revelle College
will have attained:
- a basic knowledge of calculus; foreign language; the physical,
biological, and social sciences; the fine arts; and the
humanities
- preprofessional competence in an academic discipline
- an understanding
of an academic area outside his or her major discipline.
Although the basic-knowledge requirement above is from a wide-range
sampling of disciplines, the specific courses that satisfy
the requirement are professional introductions to the subjects.
For
example, the humanities requirement is satisfied by a fine-tuned,
five-quarter core course taught by some of the university's
most respected senior faculty, and an intensive writing program
is
integrated into the course. The physical sciences courses
require basic mathematics, and the language requirement is four
courses
(or the equivalent). There are two calculus sequences: One
is designed for students who will use calculus in their major;
the
other is an overview, often taken by life sciences, social
science, humanities, and art students.
General-Education Requirements
Students are encouraged to meet the general-education requirements
and the prerequisites to the major early in their university
career.
Freshmen with Advanced Placement credits can use
many of these advanced courses to meet general-education requirements
(see Advanced Placement chart in Undergraduate Admissions,
Policies and Procedures). Transfer students may meet all
general-education requirements before entering by following
articulation
agreements with community colleges or taking, at any institution,
courses which Revelle College judges approximately equivalent
in
content to those at UCSD.
The general-education requirements are:
- Satisfaction of the general University of California requirements
in Entry-Level Writing and American History and Institutions.
- A five-course sequence in an interdisciplinary humanities
program including two six-unit courses with intensive instruction
in university-level writing. Written work is also required in
the remaining (four-unit) three-quarter courses.
- One course in the fine arts.
- Three lower-division courses in the social
sciences, chosen from an approved list, to include two courses
from the same social science department and at least one
course in American cultures. Selected courses available on
http://revelle.ucsd.edu.
- Three courses in calculus.
- Five courses in the physical and biological sciences to include
four quarters of physics and chemistry and one quarter of biology.
- Basic conversational and reading proficiency in a modern
foreign language, or advanced reading proficiency in a classical
language. This requirement can be met by passage of a UCSD
proficiency exam offered in a selected number of languages
(in which case the result is posted to the transcript), or
by completion
of
the
fourth
quarter
(or
third
semester) of foreign language instruction with a passing grade,
or with an equivalent Advanced Placement Exam score of 4 or
an SAT II Language Exam score of 700 or higher.
- Three courses in an area unrelated to the major and focused
in one department, subject area, or topic.
1. UC Entry-Level Writing Requirement and American History
and Institutions
Satisfaction of the university requirements in writing (UC
Entry-Level Writing Requirement) and American History and Institutions.
(See UC
Entry-Level Writing Requirement,
Undergraduate Registration, Academic Regulations,
Humanities, and Undergraduate Admissions, Policies
and Procedures: American History and Institutions.)
2. Humanities
The humanities requirement confronts students with significant
humanistic issues in the context of a rigorous course. It is
also an introduction to the academic disciplines of history,
literature, and philosophy and provides training and practice
in rhetorical skills, and particularly persuasive written expression.
Students may satisfy this requirement by completing the five-quarter
interdisciplinary (history, literature, and philosophy) humanities
sequence. Students must satisfy the UC Entry-Level Writing Requirement
before registering for Humanities 1.
Intensive writing instruction
in university-level writing is integrated in Humanities 1 and
2. Writing assignments are required in the remaining three
courses.
For course descriptions, see Courses, Curricula, and Programs
of Instruction: Humanities.
3. Fine Arts
One course is required. It serves as an introduction to creativity
in theatre, dance, music, or visual arts. (See “Courses,
Curricula, and Programs of Instruction: Theatre and Dance, Music,
and Visual Arts.”)
4. Social Sciences
Three lower-division courses offered by the Departments of Anthropology,
Critical Gender Studies, Economics, Human Development, Linguistics,
Political Science, Psychology, Sociology, or Urban Studies and
Planning. At least one of these courses must be from a list approved
as meeting the requirement in American Cultures (TAG students
exempt).
5. Calculus
Three quarters of calculus are required. There are two beginning-year
sequences which meet the Revelle College calculus requirement.
Both
sequences
include
integral
and differential calculus. Freshman placement in these sequences
depends upon the students preparation in mathematics.
Students are urged to keep their mathematical skills at a high
level by taking mathematics during their senior
year in high school. (See Courses, Curricula, and Programs
of Instruction: Mathematics.)
6. Natural Sciences
The natural science courses present current developments in
the fundamental concepts of modern physics, chemistry,
and biology.
Students choose their five required physical and biological
science courses from the following sequences depending upon
their interests, prior preparation, and intended majors. The
Department of Chemistry offers Chemistry 11, 12, 13 (for non-science
majors), Chemistry 6A-B-C, and 6AH-BH-CH (honors). The Department
of Physics offers four acceptable sequences: Physics 1A-B-C,
2A-B-C-D, and 4A-B-C-D-E, and 11A (for non-science majors).
The Department of Biology offers Biology 1 or 3 or 10 (for
non-science majors) to meet the Revelle biology requirement.
(See Chemistry, Physics, and Biology
in the Courses, Curricula, and Programs of Instruction
section of this catalog.)
Students planning to major in a science must consult the
appropriate departmental listing under Courses, Curricula,
and Programs of Instruction to find the additional preparation
needed for their major.
7. Foreign Language
Revelle College students are required to demonstrate basic conversational
and reading proficiency in any modern foreign language, or advanced
reading proficiency in a classical language or complete the fourth
quarter of foreign language instruction with a passing grade.
Modern foreign language programs are currently offered in Chinese,
French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Spanish,
and classical language programs are offered in Greek, Latin,
and
Hebrew. Students who have preparation in other languages should
contact Revelle College Academic Advising for information on
a proficiency examination. This exam may also be taken by native
speakers of
any foreign language without further course study.
8. AREA OF FOCUS
Three courses in an area noncontiguous to the major are required.
The three courses must be interrelated and should focus on some
discipline, subject area, or topic. For the purposes of this requirement,
the humanities/arts, the social sciences, and the natural sciences/engineering/mathematics
are considered three different areas. Courses from a single department
will be considered focused. Courses from more than one department
should be approved prior to enrolling. The area of focus is not
posted to the diploma or transcript.
These three courses may not be used on any other requirements.
These courses may be upper-division or lower-division but one
should keep in mind that graduation requirements stipulate that
at least sixty units of all work must be from upper-division courses.
The courses may be taken pass/not pass and Advanced Placement
or International Baccalaureate credits may be used.
Students may complete an optional noncontiguous minor to replace
this requirement, if they wish to do so.
Sample Program
FALL
|
WINTER
|
SPRING
|
|
FRESHMAN
YEAR |
|
|
Foreign
Language |
Humanities
1 |
Humanities
2 |
Calculus |
Foreign
Language |
Foreign
Language |
Natural
Science |
Calculus |
Calculus |
UC
Entry-Level Writing Requirement or Fine
Arts
|
Natural
Science
|
Natural
Science
|
|
SOPHOMORE
YEAR |
|
|
Natural
Science |
Natural
Science |
Fine
Arts or elective |
Social
Science |
Social
Science |
American
Cultures |
Humanities
3 |
Humanities
4 |
Humanities
5 |
Major
Preparation
|
Major
Preparation
|
Major
Preparation
|
|
* Science majors may want to take part of the social science
requirement in the junior year to allow time for additional science
laboratories
and/or calculus.
Transfer Students
Transfer students may enter Revelle College by following community
college articulation agreements which can be viewed at www.ASSIST.org
or by signing up for specific Transfer Admissions Guarantee (TAG)
plans or by following the Intersegmental General Education
Transfer Curriculum (IGETC). However, Revelle College does not
accept IGETC as satisfaction of all its lower-division requirements.
Revelle accepts IGETC courses to meet requirements with additional
classes in science, calculus, and foreign language. (Students
are exempt from the language requirement if they can pass proficiency
in a foreign language. Note: Proficiency exams are not available
in all languages. Consult Revelle College Academic Advising for
more information.) Science and mathematics majors will need these
additional classes in preparation
(or to
meet prerequisites) for their major. The additional math/science
classes or language classes can be taken at the community college
or after transfer to UCSD. See details on our Web site at http://revelle.ucsd.edu/prospective/igetc+.html.
The Major
All undergraduate majors offered at UCSD are available to Revelle
College students. An exceptional student who has some unusual
but definite academic interest for which a suitable major is not
offered on the San Diego campus may, with the consent of the provost
of the college and with the assistance of a faculty adviser, plan
his or her own major. The Revelle Individual Major must be submitted
no later than three quarters before the students intended
graduation and be approved by the Executive Committee of the college
before it may be accepted in lieu of a departmental or interdepartmental
major. The faculty adviser will supervise the students work,
and the provost must certify that the student has completed the
requirements of the individual major before the degree is granted.
Students who fail to attain a grade-point average of at least
2.0 in work taken in the prerequisites for the major, or in the
courses in the major, may, at the option of the department, be
denied the privilege of entering or of continuing in that major.
Students majoring in bioengineering, bioinformatics, ICAM, CSE,
ECE, or math/computer science need to be aware of additional screening
for acceptance into the major.
Optional Minor
A minor is no longer required in Revelle College. However, if
a student wishes to complete a Department Minor or a Project Minor
and have it posted to the transcript, he or she may do so.
If a student completes either of these types of minors in a
field noncontiguous to that of the major, it will replace the
three-course noncontiguous area of focus general education requirement.
There are two types of minors available at Revelle
College:
- Department MinorAll courses for the minor are taken
in one department and they are chosen with the advice and approval
of a minor adviser in that department.
- Project MinorA project minor focuses on a topic or
period chosen by the student. The project is often interdepartmental
and interdisciplinary. The program must have the approval of
a minor adviser. (See Academic Regulations: Undergraduate
Minors
and Programs of Concentrations.)
The current university guidelines for the minor require seven
courses (twenty-eight units), five of which must be upper-division.
Students who entered prior to January 1, 1998, may complete their
six course (twenty-four unit), three upper-division course minors.
Enhancing Your Education
Students may participate in the UC Education Abroad Program
(EAP) and UCSDs Opportunities Abroad Program (OAP)
while still making regular progress toward graduation. Information
on
EAP/OAP is detailed in the Education Abroad Program section
of the UCSD General Catalog. Interested students should
contact
the Programs Abroad Office in the International Center and
visit the Web site at http://www.icenter/pao.
Financial aid recipients may apply aid to the program
and
special study abroad scholarships are readily available.
Programs are now available for sophomores, juniors,
and seniors. With careful planning students should be able
to
fulfill some general-education, major, and/or minor requirements
while studying abroad.
Pass/Not Pass Grading Option
- No more than one-fourth of an undergraduate students
total course units taken at UCSD and counted in satisfaction
of degree requirements may be graded on a Pass/Not Pass basis.
- Courses used to satisfy the noncontiguous area of focus may
be taken on a Pass/Not Pass basis. Use of Pass/Not Pass grades
on the optional minor is decided by the department.
- Courses taken as electives may be taken on a Pass/Not Pass
basis.
- The following general education courses may be taken Pass/Not
Pass: American cultures, fine arts, language and area of focus.
Non-science majors may take courses for the natural science
requirement Pass/Not Pass.
- Upper-division courses to be counted toward a departmental
major may not be taken on a Pass/Not Pass basis. Individual
departments may authorize exceptions to this regulation.
The Graduation Requirements
To graduate from Revelle College, a student must:
- Satisfy the University of California requirements, including
the UC Entry-Level Writing Requirement and American History
and Institutions.
- Satisfy the general-education requirements.
- Successfully complete a major consisting of at least twelve
upper-division courses as stipulated by the department and meet
the departments major residence requirement if applicable.
- Complete a minimum of fifteen upper-division courses (60 units).
- Pass at least 184 units for the B.A./B.S. degree. (No more
than 3.0 units of physical education, whether earned at UCSD
or transferred from another institution, may be counted towards
graduation.)
- Attain a C average (2.0) or better in all work attempted at
the University of California (exclusive of University Extension).
Departments may require a C average in all upper-division courses
used for the major and/or at least C grades in each course
used for the major.
- Meet the senior residence requirement. (See Academic
Regulations: Senior Residence.)
Honors
Particularly well-prepared students are invited to join a freshman
honors program, which includes weekly participation in small
faculty seminars (Revelle 20). Acceptance into the honors program
at admission is automatic for Regents Scholars and National Merit
Scholars as well as those students entering with a high school
GPA of 3.8 or higher and verbal and math SAT scores of 700 or
higher. Admission to the program's winter quarter is offered
to those who achieve a 3.7 GPA in at least twelve graded units
taken at UCSD during the fall quarter. A variety of other perquisites
are also awarded. Outstanding students are individually advised
to participate in small honors classes in chemistry, mathematics,
physics, and social science.
Quarterly provosts honors, honors at graduation, departmental
honors, and Phi Beta Kappa honors are awarded. At least five outstanding
graduating seniors are honored at graduation each year with a
monetary honorarium. An honors banquet is given for the top two
hundred students in Revelle each spring. Seniors are selected
for participation in honors seminars. For additional information,
see Revelle Honors Program and Honors
in the index.
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