Advisement

Before choosing a major, it would be wise to meet with a faculty advisor.  The Sociology Undergraduate Student Handbook as well as the major concentration form are available in Powdermaker 252.

Requirements

To major in Sociology, one must take a minimum of 30 credits. Five courses are required:

• General Introduction to Sociology
• Social Statistics I
• Sociological Analysis
• Foundations of Sociological Theory
• Methods of Social Research

In addition, you must take a writing intensive senior seminar (Sociology 381W) or other approved 300-level course. Please see the Special Topics Courses in Sociology for this semester which include several choices for Sociology 381W.

Course Numbering

The first digit of course numbers indicates its level.  The middle and third digits of course numbers are used to denote the level of effort and amount of work required (e.g., compared to 200-level courses, courses at the 300-level are generally more demanding and challenging).

• 101 & 103:
  Introductory level courses open to all students in all disciplines, credible to the major and minor in sociology.
• 205 – 289:
  Intermediate level courses having a Sociology 101 prerequisite.  It is recommended that students take 200-level sociology courses before taking sociology courses at the 300S level.
• 306 – 392:
  Advanced level courses having a Sociology 101 prerequisite.

Sequence of Required Courses

Introduction (101) is the prerequisite for all 200/300-level sociology courses.  We ask majors to take statistics and analysis before methods and to take theory and methods before completing their electives.

Electives

If you are planning to do graduate work in sociology, we suggest a variety of courses in many different areas be taken.  Each semester, we also offer a number of Selected Topics in Sociology courses (Sociology 240).

Juniors and seniors should consider taking Social Statistics II (Sociology 306),  Social Science Research Using Computers (Sociology 333), or senior seminars (Sociology 381W), to meet the 300Slevel elective requirement.  Since the topics of senior seminars are not listed in the Undergraduate Bulletin, for a current list of offerings, please consult the Sociology Class Schedule during the pre-registration period.

Also bear in mind that certain areas of sociology lean increasingly on computers and mathematics.  You might be wise to take offerings by the Computer Science Department.  Also useful are courses offered by the Mathematics Department including the calculus sequence, linear algebra, probability, graph theory, and other mathematical courses with application to the social sciences.