DARS “Hot Spots”

1. Total Number of Required Credits (192 vs. 208 credits)

a. Students must earn a minimum of 192 credits for their degree.

b. Students must complete 208 credits only when they earn two
    different degrees (i.e. BA/BS) or degrees from 2 different
    colleges.

c. 208 credits are not required of students who complete 2 majors in
   one degree category (i.e. ENG/PHIL are both BA’s)

2. Maximum number of hours in Major

a. The BA degree allows a maximum credit limit of 72 major hours;
    the BS allows a maximum of 80. Every hour earned in the major
    beyond the maximum must be “made up” by adding additional
    credits to the total required for the degree (e.g., 78 hours of
    Political Science courses would result in the student having to
    complete 198 overall credits to graduate). Remember that CR
    credits in the major, such as non-graded internship or research
    hours, will contribute to the total major hour category.

b. All courses with the major prefix, whether they are “required” or
   “electives” (not needed or not specifically required) count toward
   total major hours.

c. All courses with the major prefix, whether they are “required” or
   “electives” (not needed or not specifically required) count toward
   the major GPA.

3. Residency Requirements

a. Minimum number of hours in Major:

i. Students must complete a minimum of 24 credit
   hours from OU in their major and at least 12 of
   those hours must be at the 300-level or higher.

ii. Effective Fall 2005 (2006-1) students must
    complete at least of 50 percent of major
    requirements at OU and at least 12 of those hours
    must be at the 300-level or higher. Courses taken
    in Athens, Regional Campuses, through Life Long
    Learning, or through our Education Abroad
    programs (where students register for OU courses)
    meet residency requirements.

b. Minimum number of credit hours at OU

i. Students must complete at least 48 credit hours at    OU

4. Minimum GPA

a. Students must earn at least a 2.0 GPA in their major. They must
    also earn at least a 2.0 cumulative GPA. Minors in A&S require a
    2.0 GPA. We do not round up when calculating these GPAs!

5. Maximum number of CR hours

a. No more than 15 CR (credit only) hours can be applied towards
    graduation. CR hours include recreation courses, research credit,
    and internship credit not given grades.

b. Although every CR hour over 15 counts as transcript hours (noted
    in the DARS in the student information category), any CR credits
    over 15 will not count towards the 192/208 graduation hours
    required for degree conferral.

6.Tier II

a. Effective Fall 2008 (2009-1), a new Tier II requirement is in effect    for all students entering Fall 2008-09 and for all subsequent    terms.  The “new” Tier II requires 32 hours with at least 3 credits    earned from EACH of the SIX areas (Applied Sciences &    Mathematics, Cross-cultural Perspectives, Fine Arts, Humanities    and Literature, Natural Sciences, and Social Sciences).  No more    than 12 hours can be satisfied with courses from the same    department and no more than 2 courses may be from the major.     Students will have to select their A&S humanities, social sciences,    and natural sciences carefully to ensure that BOTH Tier II and A&S    Area requirements are met.

7.Tier III

a. Tier III courses offered by A&S also count toward A&S 200-level
   and above requirement, but in no other way. These courses must
   be designated as A&S in the Schedule of Classes to count in that
   area.

b. Students may enroll in only ONE Tier III.

c. Students should take their Tier III course as soon as they are
   eligible (at 135 earned hours) to avoid the enrollment pressure in
   spring quarter.

d. Effective Fall 2005 (2006-1) students may enroll in Tier III
    equivalent courses to meet their Tier III requirement. The Tier III
    equivalent courses meet Tier III and any other appropriate
    requirements established for these courses. Only those Tier III
    equivalent courses completed in Fall 2005 or in future quarters
    may count as Tier III equivalents. This policy is not retroactive!

8. 90 Hours A&S 200-level or Above

Student must complete at least 90 hours of A&S credits at the 200-level or above. Credits count from all areas – including major courses - as long as they are A&S courses and are at the 200-level or higher.

9. Foreign Language Requirement

a. Students must take two years of foreign language (i.e., 6
    quarters/(24 quarter hours) or the equivalent.

b. High school language is evaluated in terms of a formula for
    equivalence, but no credit hours are applied.

c. 2 or 3 years of one HS language is the equivalent of 3 quarters,
   or one year, at OU.

d. If a student has the equivalent of 1 year of college language met
    by HS language, options include taking 1 year of a different
    language (for a BS degree), taking the 2nd year of the high
    school language (BA or BS degree), or taking 2 years of a
    different language (BA or BS degree).

e. If a student has 4 years of HS language, it is the equivalent of 2
    years of college language. BS degree students are considered to
    have met their requirement. BA students must take 213 or 341 of
    that language to fulfill the requirement.

f. Students in either the BS or BA degree program who “retake” here
   what they already completed in high school, have not met the
   requirement for language. Students with the equivalent of HS
   French 111, 112, 113, for example, will not fulfill two years of
   foreign language by taking French 111, 112, 113 here, although
   they may earn the hours and grades in those equivalent courses
   before moving on to complete their specific language requirement.

g. Students transferring from a semester school with 2 years of
    language completed have not necessarily completed their foreign
    language requirements at OU. If their previous credits do not
    total 24 quarter hours, they must take a language placement test
    available in Gordy Hall. If they place into level 341 or higher of
    that language, the requirement is considered complete. If they
    place into 213 or lower, they must complete 213.

h. There is no “testing out” of the foreign language requirement.

10. Arts and Sciences Area Requirements.

Students must complete the following for selected courses in Humanities, Social Sciences, and Natural Sciences.

a. 18 or more hours

b. 8 hours in one area (PREFIX)

c. One course in a 2nd area (PREFIX)

d. Scrutinize choices available, some course prefixes
   are listed in two areas (HIST, GEOG, ANTH, etc.)

e. Major courses cannot be used for area
    requirements.

f. Extra-departmental courses having different course
   prefixes can count in area requirements, provided it
   is a course taught by the College of Arts &
   Sciences.

11. Pass/Fail credits may count toward the192/208 hour requirement as elective
     credit. Pass/Fail credits cannot be used to fulfill any requirements.

12. Prerequisite courses

a. Students should not enroll in a prerequisite course to improve
    their grade after they have completed a higher-level course for
    which it served as the prerequisite. If they wish to improve their
    grade, they should retake the course before taking the next
    requirement.

b. In some cases (certain math courses) students will lose credit if
    they take a course out of sequence.

Revised 9/26/05