BSA General Education
Carrie Hagan, BXA First-Year & Sophomore Advisor (HOA 211)
M. Stephanie Murray, BXA Junior & Senior Advisor (HOA 211)
BSA General Education
(18 courses, 129 units minimum)
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Mathematics (2 courses, 20 units, 21-120 and 21-122 required)
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Science (3 courses, 31 units, 03-121, 09-105, and 33-121 or 33-141 or 33-151 required)
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First-year Courses (2 courses, 12 units, 76-101 and 99-101 required)
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ENGAGE (3 courses, 3 units)
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Cultural/Global Understanding (1 course, 9 units)
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Humanities and Social Sciences (2 courses, 18 units)
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BXA Required Courses (5 courses, 36 units, 52-190, 52-291, 52-392, 52-401, 52-402)
Technical Breadth Requirements (5 courses, 51 units)
As a 21st Century practicing scientist or mathematician, our graduates will work with others from a variety of technical backgrounds. Therefore, all of our students will be broadly trained within the technical fields of science and math. Students will fulfill this training by completing five (5) introductory technical courses in the Mellon College of Science at Carnegie Mellon University. If these requirements are met by AP/IB/Cambridge A Level Exams, students can choose any course from the departmental categories to fulfill the Technical Breadth Requirement.
Mathematics (2 courses, 20 units)
| Units | ||
| 21-120 | Differential and Integral Calculus (prerequisite: 21-090) | 10 |
| 21-122 | Integration and Approximation | 10 |
Science (3 courses, 31 units)
| 03-121 | Modern Biology | 9 |
| 09-105 | Introduction to Modern Chemistry I | 10 |
| 33-121 | Physics I for Science Students | 12 |
| or 33-141 | Physics I for Engineering Students | |
| or 33-151 | Matter and Interactions I | |
Nontechnical Breadth Requirements (8 courses, 42 units)
MCS aspires for all of our undergraduates to leave our campus with a strong sense of personal integrity, social responsibility, ethics, working with diverse others, global engagement, and personal health and well-being. The following non-technical breadth requirements will require students to develop a personalized plan for their course selection and meta-curricular participation to maximize their CMU experience. Our graduates will be well trained to be life-long and life-wide learners that will lead the scientific community and the world at large.
All candidates for BSA degree must complete the following non-technical breadth requirements:
First-year Courses (2 courses, 12 units)
| 76-101 | Interpretation and Argument -First-year | 9 |
| or 76-102 | Advanced First Year Writing: Special Topics | |
| or 76-106 & 76-107 & 76-108 | Writing about Literature, Art and Culture and Writing about Data and Writing about Public Problems | |
| All undergraduate students must complete the First-Year Writing requirement—the Department of English does not accept any Advanced Placement exemptions. This requirement can be completed in two different ways. Enroll in one of two full-semester courses 101 or 102 (by invitation only), 9 units, or enroll in two of three half-semester mini courses (back-to-back within a single semester) 106/107/108, 4.5 + 4.5 units. | ||
| 99-101 | Core@CMU -Fall, First-year (section B; pass/no pass) | 3 |
ENGAGE (3 courses, 3 units)
The ENGAGE courses are self-directed learning opportunities (using the MyCORE online platform) designed to enhance students’ engagement with wellness and community service. Choose three courses from the list below:
| 38-110 | ENGAGE in Service | 1 |
| 38-230 | ENGAGE in Wellness: Looking Inward | 1 |
| 38-330 | ENGAGE in Wellness: Looking Outward | 1 |
| 38-430 | ENGAGE in Wellness: Looking Forward | 1 |
Cultural/Global Understanding (1 course, 9 units)
Cultural or global understanding course(s) may be taken at any time. Nine (9) or more units from the following group of courses will fulfill this requirement. Any student who finds an appropriate Carnegie Mellon course not on the list below that might fulfill this requirement should contact their academic advisor to review the course description to determine if it can be substituted. Cultural and global understanding courses that are taken while studying abroad can be used to fulfill this category. In addition, transfer courses will also be considered for this category. However, this course requirement cannot be satisfied with AP/IB/Cambridge exam credit.
| 57-209 | The Beatles | 9 |
| 60-105 | Cultural History of the Visual Arts | 9 |
| 70-100 | Global Business | 9 |
| 70-342 | Managing Across Cultures | 9 |
| 76-217 | Literature & Culture of the 20th and 21st Century | 9 |
| 79-112 | Introduction to Asian American History | 9 |
| 79-120 | Introduction to African American History: Black Americans and the World | 9 |
| 79-122 | Ancient Mediterranean Civilizations | 9 |
| 79-150 | Medieval Science, Magic, and Wonders of Nature | 9 |
| 79-170 | Introduction to Science, Technology, and Society | 9 |
| 79-175 | Moneyball Nation: Data in American Life | 9 |
| 79-203 | The Other Europe: The Habsburgs, Communism, & Central/Eastern Europe, 1740-1990 | 9 |
| 79-206 | Crime and Punishment in Early Modern Europe | 9 |
| 79-207 | Asian American History through the Novel | 9 |
| 79-220 | Screening Mexico: Mexican Cinema, 1898 to Present | 9 |
| 79-226 | African History: Earliest Times to 1780 | 9 |
| 79-234 | Technology and Society | 9 |
| 79-237 | Comparative Slavery | 9 |
| 79-257 | Germany and the Second World War | 9 |
| 79-268 | World War I: The Twentieth Century's First Catastrophe | 9 |
| 79-270 | Anti-Semitism Then and Now: Perspectives from the Middle Ages to the Present | 9 |
| 79-278 | How (Not) to Change the World | 9 |
| 79-280 | Coffee and Capitalism | 9 |
| 79-281 | Introduction to Religion | 9 |
| 79-288 | Bananas, Baseball, and Borders: Latin America and the United States | 9 |
| 79-319 | India Through Film | 9 |
| 79-333 | African Americans, Race, and the Fight for Reparations | 9 |
| 79-346 | U.S. Political Films and Satire | 9 |
| 79-355 | Fake News: "Truth" in the History of American Journalism | 6 |
| 79-377 | Food, Culture, and Power: A History of Eating | 9 |
| 79-381 | The Multispecies City: Anthropology of Urban Environments | 9 |
| 79-387 | Battle Ground of Ideologies: The Spanish Civil War and Legacies of Fascism | 9 |
| 80-101 | Dangerous Ideas in Science and Society | 9 |
| 80-130 | Introduction to Ethics | 9 |
| 80-180 | Introduction to Linguistics | 9 |
| 80-246 | Moral Psychology | 9 |
| 80-252 | Kant | 9 |
| 80-271 | Mind and Body: The Objective and the Subjective | 9 |
| 80-335 | Social and Political Philosophy | 9 |
| 82-238 | Topics in Chinese Culture | 9 |
| 82-290 | Transformative Learning through Cross-Cultural Analysis | Var. |
| 84-101 | Introduction to Political Science | 9 |
| 84-226 | International Relations | 9 |
| 84-275 | Comparative Politics | 9 |
| 84-306 | Latin American Politics | 9 |
| 84-319 | Civil-Military Relations | 9 |
| 84-322 | Nonviolent Conflict and Revolution | 9 |
| 84-324 | The Future of Democracy | 9 |
| 84-325 | Contemporary American Foreign Policy | 9 |
| 84-328 | Military Strategy and Doctrine | 9 |
| 84-362 | Diplomacy and Statecraft | 9 |
| 84-365 | The Politics of Fake News and Misinformation | 9 |
| 84-370 | Nuclear Security & Arms Control | 9 |
| 84-372 | Space and National Security | 9 |
| 84-373 | International Law | 9 |
| 84-387 | Remote Systems and the Cyber Domain in Conflict | 9 |
| 84-389 | Terrorism and Insurgency | 9 |
| 84-390 | Social Media, Technology, and Conflict | 9 |
| 84-405 | The Future of Warfare | 9 |
| 88-221 | Markets, Democracy, and Public Policy | 9 |
| 88-234 | Negotiation: International Focus | 9 |
| 88-366 | Behavioral Economics of Poverty and Development | 9 |
Humanities and Social Sciences (2 courses, 18 units)
To fulfill this requirement, students must complete a minimum of two (2) nontechnical courses totaling at least 18 units in the Tepper School of Business and/or the Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences. Courses counted toward the Cultural/Global Understanding requirement, and 76-101, do not count toward this requirement.
Check the MCS website for courses from DC and Tepper that may NOT be used to satisfy this requirement because they are too technical in nature, plus a list of courses in other colleges (including SCS, CIT, Tepper, and Heinz College) that do satisfy this requirement.
BXA Required Courses (5 courses, 36 units)
BXA-specific courses give students the opportunity to integrate their areas of concentration by focusing on interdisciplinary approaches and arts-based research techniques.
| 52-190 | BXA Seminar I: Building the Wunderkammer -Spring, First-year (mini-3) | 4.5 |
| 52-291 | BXA Seminar II: Transferring Knowledge -Spring, Sophomore year (mini-4) | 4.5 |
| 52-392 | BXA Seminar III: Deconstructing Disciplines -Spring, Junior year | 9 |
| 52-401 | BXA Seminar IV: Capstone Project Research -Fall, Senior year | 9 |
| 52-402 | BXA Seminar V: Capstone Project Production -Spring, Senior year | 9 |