Options for Meeting Core Area Requirements

In order to satisfy an area requirement, students must pass a Core course listed in that area or pass one of the departmental courses listed below and, in either case, the coursework must be letter-graded. These departmental courses are not necessarily designed for a general audience and may assume prior experience or assume more knowledge than could be expected of students seeing the subject for the first time. For more information, or for information on those courses not listed in Courses of Instruction that satisfy specific area requirements, consult the Core Office.

Foreign Cultures

• Chinese Literature 130
• Visual and Environmental Studies 187x
• An approved summer program of study abroad offered through the Harvard Summer School
• A Foreign Language Citation in a modern language or a Foreign Language Citation in a classical language plus an approved additional course (see "Core Credit and Language Citations" below)

Historical Study A

• African and African American Studies 10
• History of Science 175
• History 10b, 1470, 1484, 1638, 1657, 1658, 1851, 1890b, 1907

Historical Study B

• History 10a, 1085, 1121, 1122, 1150, 1611

Literature and Arts A

• English 10a, 10b, 151, 196
• Scandinavian 80

Literature and Arts B

• Music 1a, 1b, 2
• Visual and Environmental Studies 71, 72

Literature and Arts C

• English 167p, 177

Moral Reasoning

• Philosophy 178
• Government 1060, 1061

Quantitative Reasoning

• Applied Mathematics 21a
• Computer Science 50
• Mathematics 1a, 1b, 19a, 19b, 20, 21a, 21b, 23a, 23b, 25a, 25b, or both Xa and Xb
• Statistics 100, 101, 102, 104, 110

Science A

• Chemistry 17, 20, 27, 30
• Earth and Planetary Sciences 5, 7
• Engineering Sciences 50
• Life Sciences 1a
• Physics 11a, 11b, 15a, 15b, 15c, 16, or both 1a and 1b
• Physical Sciences 1, 2

Science B

• Engineering Sciences 6
• Life Sciences 1b
• Molecular and Cellular Biology 52, 54, 80
• Organismic and Evolutionary Biology 10, 53, 57, 124, 139

Social Analysis

• Economics 1010a, 1010b, 1011a, 1011b
• Government 1780

Note: Students who wish to use quantitative or natural sciences courses above the level noted in the approved courses should file an Inquiry form at the Core Office.

Minimum Core Requirement

No student may satisfy the Core requirement with fewer than four Harvard Core courses or departmental alternates by combining study abroad with their reduced Core requirements as a Transfer or Advanced Standing student.

Core Requirement for Joint Concentrations: Change of Concentration

Joint concentrators who would like to have their Core exemptions specified should petition by the beginning of their seventh term, and ideally, as soon as their joint concentration has been approved. Those joint concentrators who choose not to petition will be assigned the exemptions of their primary field (the field listed first in their joint concentration).

Some students making late changes of concentration are able to have the Core requirement of the new field modified on the basis of significant departmental coursework completed in the previous field of study.

Any inquiry about or request for a modification of the Core requirement must be submitted to the Core Office.

Core Credit and Study Abroad

A student who earns one or two full terms (2.0 Harvard credits/term) of Harvard credit for an approved program of study abroad may reduce his or her Core requirement by one course for each full term of credit; however, a student may not omit more than one course in each of the following three clusters on the basis of study abroad:

• Foreign Cultures, Literature and Arts A, Literature and Arts B, Literature and Arts C
• Historical Study A, Historical Study B, Moral Reasoning, Social Analysis
• Quantitative Reasoning, Science A, Science B

A student who reduces his or her Core requirement by fewer than two courses may apply to satisfy the Foreign Cultures area on the basis of summer study abroad or a partial term of Harvard credit for study abroad in a non-Anglophone country.

Core Credit Foreign Language Citations

Students completing the requirements for the Citation in Foreign Language in a modern language may satisfy the Foreign Cultures Core requirement with the citation alone. Students who complete the requirements for the citation in a classical language may satisfy the Foreign Cultures Core requirement by completing one additional course that places the citation language substantially in a modern context.

Students earning credits for a term or terms of study abroad for which they are also reducing their Core requirements may use a maximum of two courses from such a program towards the Foreign Language Citation alternate.

Students must present their approved Citation Plan and complete a form at the Core Office to request Foreign Cultures credit for a Language Citation.

Core Requirement for Advanced Standing Students

Students who accept Advanced Standing after September 2002 will begin with the same Core requirement as all other students who enter in September 2002 and thereafter. The Core requirement will be reduced for Advanced Standing students in the following categories:

1. Students who complete their undergraduate program in fewer than eight terms must satisfy the following number of Core areas:
   
   
• seven terms at the College: six Core areas
• six terms at the College: five Core areas
  
  Advanced Standing students who enter in September 2003 and thereafter may not omit more than one area in each of the following three clusters on the basis of Advanced Standing:
  
  
• Foreign Cultures, Literature and Arts A, Literature and Arts B, Literature and Arts C
• Historical Study A, Historical Study B, Moral Reasoning, Social Analysis
• Quantitative Reasoning, Science A, Science B
  
  Other Advanced Standing students under this Core requirement with questions should consult the Core Office.
  
  
2. Advanced Standing students who enroll in an AB/AM degree program and "bracket" eight courses for this graduate degree will have their Core requirement reduced by two areas. See page 45 for information on Advanced Standing.

Advanced Standing students who remain for eight terms and do not earn a graduate degree must complete the full Core requirement for their chosen field of concentration.

Core Requirement for Transfer Students

Students who enter Harvard College in September 2002 and thereafter as sophomores or juniors, like those who enter as freshmen, are expected to devote almost one-quarter of their undergraduate coursework at Harvard to the Core Curriculum. The minimum number of Core areas from which courses must be chosen is specified upon entrance, as each student's transfer credit is evaluated:

First term sophomore transfers-five Core areas
Second term sophomore transfers-four Core areas
Junior transfers-four Core areas

Transfer students who "accelerate" in order to complete their degrees in fewer terms than anticipated must nevertheless satisfy their Core requirement as originally specified upon entrance. Transfer students who opt to extend their undergraduate studies must complete one additional Core area for each additional term, with the exception that junior transfers who remain for a fifth term do not need to take a fifth Core course.

To ensure that each transfer student who enters the College in September 2002 and thereafter is introduced to the breadth of approaches to knowledge offered in the Core Curriculum, the Core requirement of each student is individually defined. Those areas designated as required are those Core areas most remote from the work to be done in the concentration and from the coursework already completed at the previous institution. As part of the process of completing the Plan of Study during the first term of study at Harvard, a request for definition of the Core requirement must be submitted to the Core Office.