Department Policies

FALL 2022 - Information about the Department of Sociology Fall 2022 Modified Pass/No Pass Policy can be found here:   https://us20.campaign-archive.com/?u=f6040bd7712b4c3a1a6661358&id=1f3546f844

 

COVID 19 - Please Review the following link for Information about the Sociology Major and Pass/No Pass Grades in Fall 2020 and Spring 2021 and Summer 2021.

 

1) Important Policy on Sociology 1 and Sociology 3AC:

Students should not enroll in Sociology 1 if they have:

  • Already taken Sociology 3AC, or

  • Taken two or more upper-division Sociology courses without first completing Sociology 1.

Substitution Requirement:
In place of Sociology 1, these students are required to complete an additional (third) Sociology Survey course before graduation.

Note: No credit will be granted for taking Sociology 1 after Sociology 3AC, and vice versa.

Guidelines for Survey Courses:

  • The three total Survey courses must be from three different substantive areas.

  • Substantive areas are determined by the second digit of the course number.
    Example of acceptable combination: Sociology 110, Sociology 120, and Sociology 180E
    (Note: This is acceptable because the second digits are 1, 2, and 8.)
    Example of unacceptable combination: Sociology 180C, Sociology 180E, and Sociology 110
    (This is not acceptable because two courses share the same second digit: 8.)

Please refer to the list of approved Survey courses and meet with a major advisor for questions.

2)Academic Notice in the Sociology Major

To stay in good standing as a Sociology major, you must:

  • Keep at least a 2.0 GPA in all Sociology requirements (both lower-division and upper-division), and

  • Complete all major prerequisites with a passing grade.

If your major GPA drops below 2.0 or you don’t pass the required prerequisite courses, you may be placed on departmental academic notice for the next semester.

If you’re on academic notice and you don’t raise your major GPA to at least 2.0 or don’t complete the required prerequisites by the end of that term, you may be removed from the major.

If you’re disqualified from the major, you’ll need to meet with a major advisor and possibly a College (Letters & Science) Advisor to discuss next steps.

Have questions? Reach out to the Sociology undergraduate advisors for help.

3)Declaring with the Final Prerequisite(s) In Progress

Students may declare the Sociology major once they are officially enrolled in their final prerequisite course(s) via CalCentral. 

To declare, students must:

  • Have completed at least one of the Sociology major requirement,

  • Be enrolled in any remaining prerequisite(s), and

  • Have a minimum 2.0 GPA in the Sociology major

Important: Once enrolled in a prerequisite course, students must not drop it. The department will periodically review course enrollments. If a student drops a prerequisite course after declaring the major, they may be removed from the major.

For questions, please contact a Sociology Undergraduate Advisor.

4)Final Exams.  Many Sociology instructors leave graded final papers and exams for you to pick up in 410 Social Sciences Building. These materials are kept by the department for thirteen months. After that time all unclaimed exams and papers are disposed of.

5)Pass/No Pass Policy.  With the exception of the Statistics/Logic prerequisite, all Sociology major requirements must be taken for a letter grade. If a class is taken or changed to P/NP, the class will NOT count towards your major requirements.

6)Minimum Grades Earned.  All major requirements must be passed with a letter grade of D- or better, with the exception of Sociology 5, Sociology 101, and Sociology 102, which need to be passed with a C- or better. Please note that a major GPA of 2.0 must be maintained throughout a student's academic career. 

7)Residency Requirement in the Major.  Out of the 11 required courses for the major, no more than 5 transfer courses may be used for major requirements. The remaining 6 courses must be taken in residence at UCB.

For students who declared the major prior to June 1, 2016, you may only transfer up to 6 of the 12 required courses to be used towards the major. 

8)Transferring Coursework from a Berkeley Study Abroad Program

Courses taken through Berkeley Study Abroad may count as Sociology Electives if they meet departmental criteria outlined on the Dept. of Sociology website.

Courses taken through the UC Education Abroad Program (UCEAP):

  • a) must be listed as a Sociology course on the UC Berkeley transcript

  • b) must be listed as an upper division course on the UC Berkeley Transcript (numbered 100+)

  • c) must be a minimum of 4 quarter/2.7 semester units

  • d) must be an academic course, and not a research or internship course

  • e) must earn a letter grade of D- or higher

You must complete the Google Form (below) with a syllabus if:

  1. You want the course to fulfill a non-elective requirement (e.g., Survey or Seminar), or

  2. The course is from a non-Sociology department and you want it to fulfill a Sociology requirement.

  3. If the syllabus does not contain a detailed list of required weekly readings, including full citations, you will be responsible for tracking and documenting the weekly reading assignments yourself throughout the course.

  4. Google Form: https://forms.gle/ZhtBhEGZaZ8EBBCp9

9) Using Courses from Outside Institutions for the Sociology Major

If you want a course from another school or a non-Berkeley Study Abroad program to count toward your Sociology major, you must submit a syllabus to this Google Form:https://forms.gle/ZhtBhEGZaZ8EBBCp9. If the syllabus does not contain a detailed list of required weekly readings, including full citations, you will be responsible for tracking and documenting the weekly reading assignments yourself throughout the course.

Important Guidelines:

  • The course must be equivalent to a UC Berkeley Sociology course.
    Even if you earn UC credit for it, it might not count toward the major if the syllabus is not approved by our faculty.

  • You must include the syllabus from the term in which you completed the course with your request.

    • If the syllabus is not in English, submit a translated version.

    • If a current syllabus isn’t available before you go, you may submit a course description for a preliminary review.

  • In some cases, we may ask for extra materials (like reading lists, papers, or exams) to better understand the course content.

Limits on Transfer Courses:

  • Out of the 11 required courses for the major, no more than 5 can be transfer courses.
    The other 6 must be taken at UC Berkeley.

    If you declared the major before June 1, 2016, you may transfer up to 6 of the 12 required courses.

10)GPA & Duplicate Credit:

  • Grades from transfer courses do not count in your Sociology major GPA, unless the course is from another UC campus.

  • If a transfer course has been approved for a major requirement, you cannot take the equivalent Berkeley course for additional major credit.