Degree Requirements

1. General Education Requirements

The Critical Inquiry Seminar for First-Year Students
First-year students are required to take the Critical Inquiry seminar (ID 1) in the first semester. Twenty-eight or more sections are offered by permanent faculty from throughout the College. Each section has a unique—and usually interdisciplinary—topic. The goal of the Critical Inquiry seminar is to prepare first-year students to participate fully and successfully in the intellectual community that is Pomona College. To this end, students learn in ID1 to engage the work and ideas of others; to articulate nuanced, reflective positions of their own; and to present their ideas in a sustained, persuasive manner. During the summer before their first semester at the College, all entering first-year students are provided a description of seminar offerings and are asked to submit their ranked preferences. A list of the Fall 2009 seminars is provided in the Critical Inquiry section among the departmental listings of this catalog; Fall 2010 Critical Inquiry courses will be available in May 2010.
 

Breadth of Study Requirements
The Breadth of Study Requirements provide a window into the vast extent and variety of our accumulated experience and knowledge in the liberal arts. Students are required to complete a minimum of one course in each of the following five areas, choosing any course offered in the disciplines listed, unless specifically exempted.
Students must complete Breadth of Study Requirements with courses taken at The Claremont Colleges. Breadth of Study credit is not awarded for Study Abroad or other external program coursework. No two Breadth Areas can be fulfilled with courses from the same discipline; ultimately five unique disciplines must be represented from the courses taken. Senior exercises, independent studies and lower-division foreign language courses do not satisfy any area requirement. Partial-credit courses are ineligible, except for Area 1 as noted below and in the relevant department chapters.
Students admitted as transfer students are awarded Breadth of Study credit for work completed outside The Claremont Colleges prior to matriculation, but once students matriculate Breadth of Study requirements can only be fulfilled by courses taken in residence at The Claremont Colleges. Students are encouraged to fulfill all the Breadth of Study Requirements within the first two years.

Area 1: Creative Expression
Art and Art History
Classics
Dance
Literatures (see below)
Media Studies (courses beginning MS)
Music
Theatre

Includes English, Chinese, French, German, Japanese, Russian, Spanish and classical literatures, including literature in translation. Foreign language and literature courses offered at less than an advanced level do not satisfy an area requirement.

Area 1 can be fulfilled by combinations of cumulative and half-courses in music, theatre and dance as noted in the department chapters.

Area 2: Social Institutions and Human Behavior
Anthropology
Economics (except ECON 57)
Environmental Analysis (courses beginning EA)
International Relations (courses beginning IR)
Linguistics and Cognitive Science
Philosophy, Politics and Economics (courses beginning PPE)
Politics (except POLI 90)
Psychology (except PSYC 158)
Public Policy Analysis (courses beginning PPA)
Science, Technology and Society (courses beginning STS)
Sociology (except SOC 104)

Mathematical reasoning courses offered in the disciplines above satisfy Area 5 rather than Area 2 (ECON 57, PSYC 158, POLI 90, SOC 104).

Area 3: History, Values, Ethics and Cultural Studies
Africana Studies (courses beginning AFRI)
American Studies (courses beginning AMST)
Asian Studies (courses beginning ASIA)
Asian American Studies (courses beginning ASAM)
Chicano/a Studies (courses beginning CHST)
History
Latin American Studies (courses beginning LAST)
Philosophy (except PHIL 60)
Religious Studies
Gender & Women’s Studies (courses beginning GWS or GFS)

Area 4: Physical and Biological Sciences
Astronomy
Biology
Chemistry
Geology
Molecular Biology
Neuroscience
Physics

Area 5: Mathematical Reasoning
Mathematics (except pre-calculus, e.g. PZ/SC MATH 20)
Computer Science
Formal Logic (PHIL 60)
Statistics (includes statistics courses offered by any department)
 

The Foreign Language Requirement
The requirement for foreign language is satisfied in one of the following six ways:

1. by passing the third semester or higher of a foreign language or literature course at Pomona College (or an approved equivalent course at another eligible institution)
2. by earning a score of 4 or 5 on an Advanced Placement examination in a foreign language
3. by earning a score of 6 or 7 on a Higher Level International Baccalaureate (IB) foreign language exam
4. by earning a score of 650 or higher on the College Board SAT-II Subject test in a foreign language (Listening Tests are not eligible)
5. an O-level (or G-CSE) grade of at least B in another language
6. by Academic Procedures Committee approval of a foreign school diploma verifying a non-English language as the principle language of instruction, through the eighth grade, or equivalent

The College makes some provision for students who can speak and are literate in a language that is not offered by the colleges, and for which none of the means listed above is relevant or possible. Such students may arrange for a special examination to test for intermediate college-level proficiency in the language. Such arrangements must be made with the approval of one of the chairs of Pomona’s three language departments. In many cases, the language may be outside the expertise of the department chair who is asked to approve the arrangement; the chair’s role is to approve both the examiner and the examination that the student engages for the purpose.

The Physical Education Requirement
Students are expected to pass one physical education activity course during their first year at the College from the offerings at Pomona College or through the joint Physical Education Program of Claremont McKenna College. Participation on an intercollegiate athletic team is counted as participation in a physical education activity course. In keeping with the high value the College places on health and wellness, students are encouraged to enroll in physical activities throughout their four years. Students may apply up to eight physical activity and/or other cumulative courses totaling no more than two courses total from all cumulative courses taken to the 32 courses required for graduation.

2. Credit Requirements

Students must complete the equivalent of at least 32 courses to graduate. A minimum of 30 credits must be earned following admission and matriculation as a regular student at a regionally accredited college or university, subject to the following regulations:

1. The Residency Requirement. At least 16 credits must be earned, and at least four semesters spent in residence, at Pomona College or through a Pomona-approved external study program. The final semester of the senior year must be taken in residence on the Pomona campus. Courses taken at any of The Claremont Colleges apply to the residency requirement, subject to advisor approval.
2. Transfer Credit Limitations. A maximum of 16 courses will be awarded for eligible and approved college work completed outside The Claremont Colleges, inclusive of advanced-standing credits that may have been awarded.
3. Cumulative Credit limitation. A maximum of eight cumulative courses (the equivalent of two courses) will count toward graduation.
    

3. Grade Point Average Requirement

In order to graduate, a student must attain an overall Pomona College grade point average of at least 6.00 (C). All courses taken at any of The Claremont Colleges are included in the grade point average, as are courses taken in Pomona College Study Abroad Programs, the Domestic Exchange Programs and the CMC Washington Internship Program.
 

4. Major Requirements

Students should consider their choice of major during the first year and must declare the major by the registration period in the spring of the sophomore year. Because some majors require as many as 16 courses, students should become familiar with the requirements of the majors that interest them, so that they can take prerequisite or other core courses before the junior year.

In the junior and senior years, all students must undertake a major program of study leading to a senior-year thesis, paper, project, comprehensive examination or equivalent required exercise.

Some departments have unique rules as to whether, or to what extent, courses taken away from Pomona (via cross-enrollment within The Claremont Colleges or via external studies) may contribute to major requirements, as well as restrictions on such matters as taking courses on a Pass/No Credit basis (which is generally not permitted) or the minimum grade necessary for a course to satisfy a major requirement. Students are directed to the department and program sections of this catalog for more information about specific major requirements.

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