CICS BS and BA requirements

Major Requirements

Each academic program has major requirements. Please refer to the information about your major for those requirements and tracking forms.

BS Degree: CICS Requirements

Students pursuing a bachelor of science (BS) degree are required to complete at least 60 credits of coursework in courses offered by the college (or approved courses offered by departments outside the college). Credits earned to satisfy general education and major requirements count toward this requirement.

Approved Science Coursework

College of Information and Computer Sciences: All courses

College of Natural Sciences: All courses

5-Colleges: All CICS and CNS comparable 5-college courses

Select courses from other colleges: Please see the listing at CNS for specifically approved courses in other colleges (CICS approvals parallel those of CNS at this time).

BA Degree: CICS Requirements

Students pursuing a bachelor of arts degree must demonstrate proficiency in a foreign language at the intermediate level, by one of the following methods:

• Completion of a foreign language course at the fourth semester level (Intermediate II or Intermediate Intensive courses numbered 240-249). Intermediate II courses may be graded on a pass/fail basis.
• Degree credit equivalent earned through an appropriate score on a College Board Foreign Language Achievement Test (SAT II) or a College Board Advanced Placement Test.
• Proficiency demonstrated in a test designed by a UMass Amherst language department, or a test administered and validated by a local faculty member if the language is not one offered by a department at the university.
• Satisfactory completion in high school or college of either a fourth-level foreign language course, or of a third-level course in one language and a second-level course in another language.
• Successful completion of one year in a high school in which English is not the language of instruction.
• Successful completion of a semester or yearlong study abroad program that leads to foreign language proficiency at the fourth semester (Intermediate II) level as approved by the appropriate language department.

Students who have not satisfied the foreign language requirement should select a foreign language course each term in residence until the requirement has been satisfied. Please note that special accommodations may be possible for students working with UMass Disability Services in areas that significantly impede the acquisition of a foreign language. In those cases contact the academic dean for details.