Recommended Academic Plan

Freshman Year

Sophomore Year

Junior Year

Senior Year

Bold type indicates courses requiring a quality grade of C or better.

No courses may be double-counted to satisfy major field and General Education or Bachelor of Arts knowledge domain requirements simultaneously.

GWS, GHA, GQ, GN, GA, GH, and GS are codes used to identify General Education requirements.

US, IL, and USI are codes used to designate courses that satisfy University United States/International Cultures requirements.

W is a code used to designate courses that satisfy the University Writing across the Curriculum requirement.

S is a code used to designate courses (other than PSU 003) that can satisfy the first-year seminar requirement.

Scheduling patterns for courses not taught each semester:

ENGL 221 (usually ENGL 221W) is taught Spring only.
ENGL 200 is taught Fall only.
ENGL 201 is taught Spring only.
ENGL 487W is taught Fall only.
Two special focus 400-level courses (see note 7 below) are not taught every semester.

Course sequencing is relatively important for all course requirements listed above the line in any given semester. Courses satisfying these requirements usually should be taken within one semester of the recommended semester. Sequencing is usually not important for courses below the line. In any given semester, students may substitute any other "below the line" course requirement, provided that they eventually satisfy all of their requirements.

In addition to the requirements listed in the plan, as a university requirement, you are required to complete 3 credits in a course with a United States focus (and having a US or USI code) and 3 credits in a course with an International focus (and having an IL or USI code). And, as a Bachelor of Arts requirement, you are required to complete 3 credits in a course with an "Other Cultures" focus (unfortunately, not having a convenient code). Courses satisfying these requirements may "double count" with many other requirements in the plan, and therefore are not separately identified in it. Students should find an opportunity to double count a United States focus and an International focus course with one of their GA, GH, GS, B.A. knowledge domain, elective, or English requirements. Students should find an opportunity to double count an Other Cultures course with one of their GA, GH, GS, elective, or English requirements. The US and IL requirements may not double count with each other. (That is, taking only one USI course will not satisfy both requirements.) And the "Other Cultures" course may not double count with the IL course or with the B.A. knowledge domain courses.

There are some common substitutions that may be approved among your general education and major field requirements not depicted below. Your advisor can discuss these with you.

Finally, please read footnotes 5 and 7 below carefully!

Specific Notes

1. Take PSU 003, if not taking ENGL 015S, ENGL 030S, or any other course with an S code. These all satisfy the "first-year seminar" requirement.
2. All students completing a B.A. degree are required to show 12th credit proficiency in a foreign language. This may be done by completing the 3rd level of a foreign language (for example, German 003 or French 003) or by passing a proficiency examination. To complete the requirement, many students will take the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd level courses in a foreign language. However, there is also a placement policy. In general, if you have completed 2 or 3 years of a foreign language in high school, you must start at the 2nd level of that language at Penn State; if you have completed 4 years of a language in high school, you must start at the 3rd level at Penn State. You may take lower level courses as a "refresher" only on an official audit basis. Or you may switch to a different language and start out on the 1st level. If you are satisfying the foreign language requirement with fewer than 12 credits, you still need to complete 123 total credits in order to graduate. So you may make up the difference with additional elective courses.
3. One of your three GN courses must have a laboratory component. In some cases, it may make the course worth 4 credits.
4. These courses are usually offered as W courses at Penn State Altoona, and satisfy the "writing intensive" requirement, as does ENGL 487W, which is also required.
5. You are required to take two ENGL courses of your choosing and not satisfying any other major field requirement. These may be any ENGL courses, except ENGL 004, 005, 015, 030, or 202, and they may be at any level. However, we recommend not taking 400-level courses until most of the required 200-level courses are completed. Also students should not take a 400-level creative writing course without first taking a 200-level creative writing course. Finally, while emphases are not required within the English major, if you are completing an emphasis, such as in Creative Writing or Rhetoric, a course in the emphasis may count for this requirement.
6. GHA courses are offered in 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, and 3.0 credit increments. Depending on what course(s) you take, you may satisfy the requirement all at once or spread the 3 required credits over several semesters.
7. You are required to take five ENGL courses at the 400-level in addition to the senior seminar, ENGL 487W. Three of these courses may be of your choosing. They may be in literature, creative writing, rhetoric, editing, professional writing or any English area. The other two courses have required focuses. One of them must be a literature course with a focus prior to the year 1800. The other one must be a course with a focus after 1800 and also having a focus on issues of gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, multi-culturalism, or post-colonialism. The latter does not necessarily have to be a literature course. The order you do these five courses in is not important. But be aware that the two 400-level courses with special focuses may not be offered every semester. So don't put them off until your final semester. Again, if you are completing an emphasis within the English major, courses in the emphasis may count among the former three courses.
8. You must complete 9 credits in any of the following areas: Humanities, Arts, Social and Behavioral Sciences, Natural Sciences, Quantification, or foreign language (other than that used to satisfy the B.A. foreign language requirement discussed in footnote 2). These courses may not double count with general education or major field requirements.
9. You are required to complete 123 total credits to earn your degree. Most students, after satisfying their general education, Bachelor of Arts, and major field requirements, will have 18 or more credits left over. In general, they may take any course to satisfy the additional credits necessary to complete 123. (See other university documents for which courses won't count toward that number.) Some students take additional English courses; some use this opportunity to complete a minor; some who changed their major to English have their "left-over" courses count as electives; some take courses that help prepare them for their intended career or graduate school; and some indulge their personal interests. Any of these options are OK.

Contact: Dr. Thomas R. Liszka
English Program Coordinator, Associate Professor of English
Office: 128 Misciagna Family Center
Phone: 814-949-5201
E-mail: