Requirements for Degrees

Requirements for All Degrees
A total of 128 semester hours is required for the Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Business Administration degrees. Of this total, at least 120 semester hours must be taken for a letter grade.

Core Requirements for All Degrees
All Millsaps students must complete ten core courses specifically designed to develop the general abilities of a liberally educated person.

Core 1: Introduction to Liberal Studies ...................................4 sem. hours
Core 2: Multi-disciplinary Topics in the Ancient World..............4 sem. hours
Core 3: Multi-disciplinary Topics in the Pre-modern World........4 sem. hours
Core 4: Multi-disciplinary Topics in the Modern World..............4 sem. hours
Core 5: Multi-disciplinary Topics in the Contemporary World.....4 sem. hours
Core 6: Topics in Social and Behavioral Science......................4 sem. hours
Core 7: Topics in Natural Science with Laboratory...................4 sem. hours
Core 8: Topics in Mathematics................................................4 sem. hours
Core 9: Topics in Mathematics, Natural Science, or
Computer Science.................................................................4 sem. hours
Core 10: Reflections on Liberal Studies....................................4 sem. hours

Courses that satisfy core requirements must be selected from an approved list published each semester with the class schedule.

All incoming students are required to complete Introduction to Liberal Studies in the first year. Reflections on Liberal Studies must be completed during the senior year. All other core courses should be completed by the end of the sophomore year. Transfer students and Adult Degree Program students who cannot meet this schedule should try to complete their core requirements as early in their college careers as possible.

Liberal Arts Abilities
The Millsaps liberal arts education is intended to help develop these abilities:

Reasoning - the ability to think logically and reflectively, to analyze critically and constructively.

Communication - the ability to express one's thoughts and feelings coherently and persuasively through written and oral communication and to work effectively in collaboration with others.

Quantitative Thinking - the ability to understand, interpret, and use numerical and scientific data and the technology of the modern world.

Historical Consciousness - the ability to understand the achievements, problems and challenges of the present with perspectives gained from a study of the past.

Aesthetic Judgement - the ability to understand and appreciate creative responses to the world, and to develop one's own modes of creative expression.

Global and Multi-Cultural Awareness - the ability to understand and appreciate a variety of social and cultural perspectives.

Valuing and Decision-Making - the ability to understand and appreciate differing moral viewpoints; to make carefully considered, well-reasoned decisions; and to make a mature assessment of one's own abilities, beliefs and values.

Multi-Disciplinary Topics Courses Core 2-5
Multi-disciplinary topics courses (core 2-5) use a thematic rather than survey approach. They take their focus from a particular field of knowledge -- fine arts, history, literature, philosophy, or religion -- but make explicit connections with other fields of knowledge. In this way students are encouraged to view human experience as a whole and to begin the process of making their own connections. Although a particular theme is chosen for each topics course, the themes are placed in their appropriate historical and global contexts and presented in such a way as to illustrate the process of historical change. All multi-disciplinary topics courses include a substantial amount of writing, with an emphasis on analysis and critical thinking.

Students should choose their topics courses in chronological sequence, beginning with the ancient world in the fall of their first year and proceeding to the contemporary world in the spring of their second year. Each topics course has either a primary or double disciplinary focus. Students must choose courses to meet this requirement which represent at least three different disciplinary focuses.

The Heritage Program
Heritage is a four-course, multi-disciplinary humanities program designed for freshmen as an alternative to the multi-disciplinary topics courses. It fulfills the requirements for core 2-5 and fine arts.

Topics Courses Core 6-9
Topics courses in the social and behavioral sciences, natural sciences, mathematics and computer science (core 6-9) may be multi-disciplinary, but need not be. Courses meeting these requirements are designed to foster general abilities such as reasoning, quantitative thinking, valuing and decision making. They also include writing. Laboratory science courses introduce students to scientific method and to a representative body of scientific knowledge in a way that promotes an appreciation for the impact of science upon the contemporary world.

Fine Arts
In addition to completing the requisite core courses, students must demonstrate proficiency in the fine arts in one of the following ways:

1. completing the Heritage curriculum, or
2. completing one of the following courses with a grade of C or higher,
   -IDS topics course with a fine arts focus
   -Art 2500, 2510, 2520, 2530, 2540, 2550, 2560, 2580, 2590, or any art studio course
   -Music 1000, 1010, 1100, 2120
   -Theatre 1000, 1010, or
3. demonstrating significant experience in creating art objects or demonstrating a prescribed level of competence in the performing arts by
   -completing four semesters of private study of voice or an instrument, or
   -completing 4 semester hours in studio art, or
   -completing 4 semester hours in Singers or a music ensemble, or
   -completing significant participation in four Players' productions.

Writing Assessment Portfolio
All students submit a Writing Proficiency Portfolio, consisting of seven papers written during their first two years at Millsaps, to be assessed at the end of the sophomore year to determine writing proficiency status. Demonstration of writing proficiency through this portfolio is a graduation requirement. If a student's writing is not found to be proficient, a student may be required to complete additional writing coursework, writing workshops, or writing tutorials. Traditional students who have not completed the Writing Proficiency Portfolio by their junior year will not be permitted to register for classes until the requisite papers have been submitted for assessment. Transfer and Adult Degree Program students must also submit seven papers written at Millsaps although the sequence for submission may vary according to the student's schedule of classes. All students will begin their Writing Proficiency Portfolio in their Introduction to Liberal Studies class. Submission of the remaining papers after LS is the student's responsibility. Students should consult the Writing Program Web page /dean/writing or the Writing Program Office in John Stone Hall for more information.

Exemptions for Transfer Students
With the approval of the Core Council, transfer students may substitute courses in history, literature, philosophy, or religion to meet from one to three of the core 2, 3, 4 or 5 requirements. Transfer students are required to take at least one core 2-5 course at Millsaps. All four historical periods and at least three disciplines must be represented either by transfer credit or by course work at Millsaps in order to fulfill these graduation requirements. There must also be evidence of a significant amount of writing. Likewise, a student who completes a course in the natural sciences, mathematics, or social and behavioral sciences which presumes the skill and knowledge of a core course may be exempt from that particular core requirement. Once a student has enrolled at Millsaps, he or she will not ordinarily be permitted to use transfer credits to meet core requirements.

64 Hour Policy
After earning 64 semester hours at a junior or senior college, a student may not take additional work at a junior or community college and have it apply toward a degree from Millsaps.

Residence Requirement
To qualify for graduation from Millsaps, 32 of the last 40 semester hours of academic work must be done in residence as a degree-seeking student. An exception to this rule is the pre-engineering dual-degree program in which students may transfer back the equivalent of 32 semester hours.

Additional Requirements for the Bachelor of Arts Degree
Proficiency at the intermediate level of an ancient or modern foreign language as demonstrated by satisfactory completion of a 2000 course taken at Millsaps, or the equivalent. (The number of hours required to complete this requirement will vary from 0-12 depending upon language placement.)

Additional Requirements for the Bachelor of Science Degree
Students must complete Analytic Geometry and Calculus I. Students must complete four courses (ordinarily 16 semester hours) in at least three disciplines chosen from the following list. At least two courses must be laboratory courses. Students may select four courses from group I or three courses from group I and one from group II.

Group I
Biology..........................................any course that applied to the major
Chemistry.................................................................any lab course
Geology....................................................................any lab course
Mathematics...................Analytic Geometry and Calculus II or higher
Physics.....................................................................any lab course
Computer Studies.................................Computer Science I or higher
Psychology.................................................Behavioral Neuroscience

Group II
Sociology-Anthropology................................Methods and Statistics
Economics.................................Econometrics and Applied Statistics
Psychology..............................................Experimental Psychology II

Additional Requirements for Bachelor of Business Administration Degree

Students must complete, have prior credit for, or be exempt from Survey of Calculus or higher level mathematics and before taking sophomore-level course work in the Else School of Management.

At the sophomore level, students take:

Principles of Economics.................................................. 4 sem. hours

Principles of Financial Accounting.................................... 4 sem. hours

Principles of Management Accounting.............................. 2 sem. hours

Introduction to Management Information .......................... 2 sem. hours

At the junior level, students take:

Fundamentals of Marketing.............................................. 4 sem. hours

Principles of Corporate Finance....................................... 4 sem. hours

Introduction to Management............................................ 4 sem. hours

Operations Management with Computing......................... 4 sem. hours

At the senior level, students take:

The Legal Environment of Business....................................... 4 sem. hours

Students must fulfill the requirements for an Accounting major or a Business Administration major.

Majors:  A major at Millsaps is a specialized course of study required of all students, offering the opportunity to focus in depth on a particular discipline.  It usually consists of 32 to 48 hours of coursework specified by a particular department, in addition to the prescribed work for the degree.  A student must major in one of the following areas: Accounting, Art, Business Administration, Biology, Chemistry, Classical Studies, Computer Science, Economics, Education, English, European Studies, French, Geology, German, History, Mathematics, Music, Philosophy, Physics, Political Science, Psychology, Religious Studies, Sociology-Anthropology, Spanish, or Theatre.

Majors in accounting and business administration are only available with the BBA degree. The European Studies major is only available with the BA degree. All other majors are available with the BA or BS degree.

Specific requirements for the major can be found under the appropriate department of instruction. Students may major in a subject only with the consent of the department chair. They are expected to declare a major by the end of the sophomore year. All work to be applied toward the major must be approved in advance by the department chair.

A student may have more than one major by completing all of the requirements in the departments involved.

Minors: While there is no requirement that students complete a minor as part of their degree, they may elect a minor in those departments which offer one.

A student must have a minimum of 16 semester hours in a department in order to qualify for a minor. A minimum of 8 semester hours applied toward the minor must be taken at Millsaps. Specific requirements for a particular minor can be found under the appropriate department of instruction.

Areas of Concentration: In addition to the major and minor, a student may have an area of concentration within a particular discipline or among several disciplines. Areas of concentration within the major are not entered on the student transcript. Interdisciplinary concentrations are treated like a minor and are entered on the transcript.

Double Counting

Courses taken to satisfy core requirements may also be used to satisfy either major requirements or additional degree requirements, but not both. Departments, however, may restrict the number of core courses that will count toward the major. Students should check with the chair of each department.

Comprehensive Examinations
Before receiving a bachelor's degree the student must pass a satisfactory comprehensive examination in the major field of study. This examination is given in the senior year and is intended to cover subject matter greater in scope than a single course or series of courses. The purpose of the comprehensive examination is to coordinate the class work with independent reading and thinking in such a way as to relate the knowledge acquired and give the student a general understanding of the field which could not be acquired from individual courses.

The comprehensive examination requires at least three hours and is part written and part oral, the division of time between the two to be at the discretion of the members of the department concerned. The oral examination will be conducted by a committee composed of members of the department, and, if desired by the department, one or more members of the faculty from other departments or other qualified persons. The oral exam will ordinarily be given before December 1st in the fall semester and within the time period specified by the college in the spring semester. The written portion of the exam usually precedes the oral exam.

Students may take the comprehensive examination only if the courses in which they have credit and in which they are currently enrolled are those which fulfill the requirements in their major department. They may take the examination in the spring semester if they are within one semester of graduation. The examination may be given in the fall semester for students who meet the other requirements and who will not be in residence at Millsaps during the spring semester or who are pursuing a double major.

The time of the comprehensive examination in the spring semester is published in the college calendar. Comprehensive examinations will not be given at any other time except by permission of the dean. Those who fail a comprehensive examination may have an opportunity to take another examination after the lapse of two months. Additional examinations may be taken at the discretion of the chairman of the student's major department with the consent of the dean of the college.

Grade Point Index Required
An overall grade point index of 2.00 is required for graduation. Transfer students must have a minimum grade point index of 2.00 on their Millsaps work. The grade point index is calculated on the total number of courses attempted, including courses repeated for a better grade. (See Section on Grades, Honors, Class Standing.)

Application for a Degree
Each student who is a candidate for a degree is required to submit a written application for the degree by November 1 of the academic year of graduation. This date also applies to students who plan to complete their work in the summer session. Forms for degree applications are available from the Office of Records.

Requirements for a Second Degree
In order to earn a second degree from Millsaps College a student must have a minimum of 32 semester hours beyond those required for the first degree and must meet all of the requirements for both the second degree and the second major.

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