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College Requirements

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Degree Requirement links

Because Letters and Science and the College of Natural Resources jointly administer Environmental Sciences, Environmental Sciences majors must fulfill L&S's College requirements rather than CNR College requirements.

The College requirements are grouped into Essential Skills and the Seven-Course Breadth Requirement.

Essential Skills
Essential skills consist of the Reading and Composition requirement, the Quantitative Reasoning requirement, and the Foreign Language requirement. They apply only to ES majors, not to other CNR majors. ES majors who transfer to a different CNR major will have to satisfy CNR College requirements.

The most common way(s) to satisfy each Essential Skills requirement are explained below.

Reading and Composition (R and C): (two courses)
To satisfy the R and C requirement, students must take one course from the designated R and C "A" list and one course from the designated R and C "B" list. R & C classes may not be taken Pass/No Pass; students must receive a letter grade of C- or higher to fulfill the requirement. Students may use first-half and second-half courses from different departments.

A list of available courses is printed each term in the Schedule of Classes. A complete list of courses which fulfill the requirement is available online at http://ls-advise.berkeley.edu/requirements/rc.html. (Note: The University Subject A requirement must be completed before enrolling in a course to fulfill the R & C requirement.)

Part or all of the R & C requirement may also be satisfied by AP scores. See the AP score chart .

Transfer students should see the ES advisor about their status or use the Assist articulation agreements.

Complete information on the R&C requirement can be found at: http://ls-advise.berkeley.edu/requirements/rc.html

Quantitative Reasoning (QR):
Quantitative Reasoning is satisfied by the ES major's math requirement, Math 16A or 1A, with a letter grade of at least C-. The Quantitative Reasoning class may not be taken Pass/No Pass. Complete information on the QR requirement can be found at: http://ls-advise.berkeley.edu/requirements/qr.html

Foreign Language:
Typically, students fulfill the foreign language requirement with their High School work (a letter grade of C- or higher in the third year of a high school foreign language). AP scores of 3 or higher in a foreign language and transfer courses also fulfill the requirement. See the ES advisor or http://ls-advise.berkeley.edu/requirements/fl.html about other ways to fulfill the requirement.
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Seven-Course Breadth of Knowledge
The following Seven-Course Breadth requirements only apply to ES majors, not to other CNR majors. ES majors who transfer to a different CNR major will have to satisfy CNR College requirements and will not have to satisfy the Seven-Course Breadth.

ES students must take one course from each of the following categories (Please note that these links will take you to the L&S course listings website):

Courses are updated each year. Courses will only fulfill a breadth requirement if they are on the list for the year during which the course is taken.

Courses taken for the seven-course breadth can "double-count" with major requirements. In other words, one course can satisfy both a major requirement and a breadth requirement. Students can also double-count a breadth requirement with the American Cultures requirement. Breadth requirements may be taken for a letter grade or P/NP; however, if they are also going to be used for major requirements, they must be taken for a letter grade.

Note that the Biological Science, Physical Science, and Social and Behavioral Science breadth requirements are satisfied by courses required for the ES major. (Namely, Biology 1A, 1B, or 11 fulfills the Biological Science Requirement, Physics 7A , Physics 8A, or Environmental Sciences 10 fulfills the Physical Science requirement, and EEP 1 or Environmental Sciences 10 fulfills the Social and Behavioral Sciences breadth. A single course may not fulfill more than one breadth requirement.)

Courses used to fulfill the breadth requirements must be at least two units. Courses numbered 98, 99 or above 190 do not fulfill breadth requirements. Students must earn a letter grade of C- or higher or a P grade. No more than two courses can be from the same department. Advanced Placement credit does not fulfill breadth requirements.

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Environmental Sciences
University of California, Berkeley
260 Mulford Hall
Berkeley, CA 94720-3100
Phone: 510-643-9479
Fax: 510-643-3132
email: es-help@nature.berkeley.edu

Modification Date: 10/02/2006