All students complete this requirement by taking a year-long (three-quarter) Social Science sequence.
Social Sciences (aka SOSC, pronounced as "soh-sh") sequences introduce fundamental questions and theories from the Social Sciences that enhance our understanding of important issues facing the world. Some sequences focus on classic texts, others on substantive fields of inquiry or research methodologies, but all explore how the social sciences formulate questions and inquire into the nature of social life through acts of imagination as well as through systematic analysis. The social science core requires active engagement in small seminars, close reading, and analytic writing; some sequences may also include lectures. All SOSC sequences are three quarters long, beginning in Autumn quarter. In general, SOSC sequences aren’t designed to be foundational to any specific major. Learn more about and see descriptions of the Social Sciences sequences, which do need to be completed in order. You may also review recordings of the faculty chair of each SOSC sequence discussing their sequences here.
Many students, though not all, who are interested in Humanities and Social Science disciplines and who don’t intend to pursue the pre-health regimen complete SOSC in their first year, simultaneously with Hum. (SOSC sequences will appear as closed in the course schedule but will have seats added for incoming first years during pre-registration.) Pre-health students and those in the sciences usually lack the scheduling flexibility to add another year-long sequence in first year; therefore, they usually take their SOSC sequence in second year.