College of Arts and Sciences

Undergraduate

Dean: Sam Huckaba Associate Deans: Aline Kalbian, Timothy Logan

The oldest college at the University, the College of Arts and Sciences has provided generations of undergraduate students with instruction in the liberal arts disciplines that are essential for intellectual development and personal growth: English; history; humanities; and the physical, biological, mathematical, computational, and behavioral sciences. At the graduate level, too, the contributions of the College of Arts and Sciences have been integral to the evolution of the University. The first recorded Master's degree at the Florida State College for Women was awarded by the College of Arts and Sciences in 1908, and the first Doctorate at Florida State University was awarded in Chemistry in 1952.

College of Arts and Sciences faculty have earned national and international recognition for research, teaching, and distinguished service to the profession. In addition to awarding Bachelor of Science (BS), Bachelor of Arts (BA), Master of Science (MS), Master of Arts (MA), Master of Fine Arts (MFA), Professional Science Masters (PSM), and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degrees, and heavily supporting the General Education Program, the College of Arts and Sciences offers an extensive array of foundation courses for pre-professional and professional programs.

Requirements

All students must meet the University-wide baccalaureate degree requirements summarized in the “Undergraduate Degree Requirements” chapter of this General Bulletin. In addition, all students receiving a degree from the College of Arts and Sciences must satisfy the requirements listed in the following paragraphs.

In order to enroll in the College of Arts and Sciences, an undergraduate must be certified by the Division of Undergraduate Studies or be a transfer student with fifty-two or more semester hours of accepted credit. Admission to the College of Arts and Sciences requires at least a 2.0 grade point average (GPA) and completion of at least half of the General Education requirements including required English Composition and Quantitative/Logical Thinking courses. Since individual departments may stipulate higher admission standards, students should consult the appropriate chapters of this General Bulletin for specific requirements.

Foreign Language

The College of Arts and Sciences requires that Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science students be proficient at the intermediate level in one language other than English. Students may satisfy the requirement by completing college coursework through the 2000 level or equivalent course of a classical or modern foreign language. Students enrolled in their first term at FSU and students with at least a 2.5 FSU GPA may take these courses on a satisfactory/unsatisfactory (S/U) basis, as long as they meet the published University deadline for declaring this intention. For information on University deadlines, refer to the “Academic Calendar” located on the Office of the University Registrar Website at https://registrar.fsu.edu. A student taking coursework to fulfill the College's foreign language requirement must earn at least a “C–” or “S”. Exceptions to this policy are rare and only granted in cases of documented learning disabilities which are specific to foreign language.

Hours used to fulfill the foreign language requirement may not be counted toward a major or minor. Native speakers of a language other than English and students who wish to demonstrate proficiency by means other than coursework should consult the Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics.

Please note that the College's foreign language requirement differs from the University's foreign language admissions requirement. It is important to understand that, although completion of two years of high school foreign language courses or two semesters of postsecondary foreign language will satisfy the University's admissions requirement, these courses do not satisfy the College of Arts and Sciences' foreign language graduation requirements for BA and BS students. Please consult the “Admissions” section of this General Bulletin for more information.

All students who intend to continue study of a modern foreign language at Florida State University in which they have previous experience (such as high school study or study abroad) must be placed into the appropriate course by the relevant department. Students with experience in French, German, and Spanish who continue with the same language must take the placement test before they enroll in a course in the Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics. Students pursuing proficiency in other languages must consult the relevant department for the appropriate placement procedures before enrolling.

Minor

Majors in the College of Arts and Sciences require the completion of an FSU approved minor. Exceptions include certain programs with collateral minors. Students completing a double major do not have to complete a minor. Students pursuing two degrees (dual degree or a second baccalaureate degree) must have a separate minor for each degree that is awarded by this College. If one of the degrees is to be awarded by another College in the University, that dean's office will specify any minor requirements. While many minors require only twelve semester hours, others require more. No courses used for satisfying the General Education requirements, the College foreign language requirement or major requirements may be counted toward the minor. The student's minor should be in a different department than the major. In a few cases it may be possible to take the minor in a different program, but within the same department as the major. Students wanting to pursue that possibility must consult with an advisor in the dean's office. Students must choose a minor from the list of approved FSU minors. See https://academic-guide.fsu.edu/minors for a list of FSU minors. Please note that completion of an FSU certificate program will satisfy the college minor requirement.

Requirements for the Major

See departmental entries for specific requirements. If courses used to satisfy major requirements are used to meet the General Education requirements, no more than four semester hours of these General Education courses may also be counted toward the major requirements.

Second Baccalaureate Degree or Dual Degree

Consecutive Bachelor's Degree Beyond the First Bachelor's Degree

Students may receive additional baccalaureate degrees beyond the first degree in cases where a bachelor's degree has already been awarded. University policy prohibits the awarding of more than one degree from the same degree program due to the overlap of core requirements of that degree program. A student completing a second bachelor's degree in the College of Arts and Sciences must complete a minimum of thirty semester hours in residence, a new major (including computer competency/digital literacy), a new minor, satisfy the Civic Literacy requirement, and demonstrate satisfaction of the College of Arts and Sciences' foreign language requirement. The additional thirty semester hours must be completed in residence after the completion of the first degree. Hours earned by the student during the completion of the first baccalaureate degree, over and above those actually required for the first degree, may not be included in the thirty semester hours. With regards to the major, students will be permitted to use the prerequisites and core requirements that had been completed in a prior bachelor's degree, but any elective courses cannot be applied to the second bachelor's degree. There are no General Education requirements for the second degree. Foreign language proficiency, once established, can be used towards the additional bachelor's degree requirements.

Dual Bachelor's Degrees

In certain cases, students may pursue multiple bachelor's degrees simultaneously. The requirement for earning concurrent, or dual, bachelor's degrees are: (1) satisfy the requirements for each major/minor as well as individual college requirements for both the first and the second degrees; (2) complete thirty semester hours in residence, in addition to the hours required for the first degree, for a minimum total of 150 earned hours, and (3) complete all University degree requirements. There are no General Education requirements for the additional degree(s).

Note: To distinguish between second baccalaureate degrees and second majors, see the appropriate paragraph under “Undergraduate Degree Requirements” in this General Bulletin.

Degree Granting Departments

  • Anthropology
  • Biological Sciences
  • Chemistry and Biochemistry
  • Classics
  • Computer Science
  • Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Science
  • English
  • History
  • Mathematics
  • Modern Languages and Linguistics
  • Philosophy
  • Physics
  • Psychology
  • Religion
  • Scientific Computing
  • Statistics

Non-Degree Granting Departments

  • Aerospace Studies
  • Military Science