Transferring into the College of Arts and Sciences
The College of Arts & Sciences seeks to offer its students a broad education that will lay a durable foundation for critical and creative thinking. The College's goal is to help students to become knowledgeable about the world and the complexities of today's society, aware of moral, ethical and social issues, prepared to exercise intellectual leadership, and enlivened by the use of their minds. We believe that students should explore fundamental approaches to the acquisition and interpretation of knowledge through the introduction of bodies of current thought in the natural sciences, social sciences and humanities. As a central aspect of these aims, we challenge our students to develop the skills of analysis and communication that will enable them to perceive patterns in complexity, render reasoned judgments, make wise choices under conditions of uncertainty, and join with others in the pursuit of common endeavors.
Requirements:
The College's new general education requirement consists of two parts: five foundational skills through writing, foreign language, quantitative data analysis, formal reasoning, and cross-cultural analysis; and seven sector requirements in Society, History & Tradition, Arts & Letters, The Living World, The Physical World, and two interdisciplinary sectors: Humanities & Social Sciences and Natural Sciences & Mathematics.These ensure a breadth of knowledge and permit the structured exploration of the curriculum in order to make informed choices about a major and electives. Students normally take four or five courses per semester. The total number of credits required to complete a major varies from major to major but is never less than twelve.
In addition to the major, a student must normally complete twenty electives. The total number of credits needed for graduation, therefore, varies between thirty-two and thirty-six credit units depending upon the sum of courses required in the major and electives. No student is required to complete more than thirty-six courses for graduation. Students whose majors require more than sixteen courses may take correspondingly fewer electives. Students may take additional courses if they wish, and many do.
Transfer students should note that the number of transferred courses directly applicable to major requirements may be limited. In all cases, students must spend a minimum of two academic years at Penn, and at least one half of the courses required for the major, and half of the total required courses, must be completed at the University. External transfers admitted to any of Penn's other undergraduate schools or divisions (such as CGS) are not eligible to transfer into the College of Arts and Sciences.
Students are not permitted to transfer into the Individualized major in the junior year. Prospective transfer students applying to study the sciences or Economics should have adequate preparation in college-level calculus in order to be successful in these majors. Prospective Communication majors must complete prerequisites for that major before being admitted to the program. Admissions to this major, therefore, cannot be guaranteed until these requirements have been met, either prior to, or after matriculation. All, students should consult the web pages of specific majors to apprise themselves of prerequisites and course requirements before applying to the College of Arts & Sciences.
For more details, call, visit, or explore our website:
THE COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA
120 LOGAN HALL
249 S. 36TH STREET
PHILADELPHIA, PA 19104-6304
(215) 898-6341
www.college.upenn.edu/admissions
