Arts and Sciences Language Requirement

The College of Arts and Sciences requires all B.A. and B.S. degree students to show competency in a language other than English by successfully completing an approved college language course at the 200-level or higher. Courses numbered 310 through 319 are taught in English and do not fulfill the CAS foreign language requirement. Students wishing to fulfill the language requirement in a language not taught at UM, may request an equivalency evaluation for a course at the appropriate level offered at an accredited institution, complete the approved equivalent course, and transfer the credits. Students requesting such an equivalency evaluation must submit appropriate documentation to the MLL department for approval.  For a native speaker of the language in question, a course that transfers at UM's 300-level will fulfill the language requirement.  For a second language learner of the language in question, a course that transfers at UM's 200-level will fulfill the language requirement.

Students who graduated from high school at an institution in which the primary language of instruction and the primary language of school administration was not English, are eligible for exemption from the CAS language requirement. Exemption will be granted by CAS Office of Student Advising. To be granted the exemption, the student must have on file the equivalent of a high school diploma from such an  institution. Please note this is just a waiver. They do not receive credit for this. To waive the language requirement, students should complete the form found here and submit to sas.as@miami.edu for processing. 

Writing Credits:  Writing Across the Curriculum

All of the Modern Languages and Literatures Department’s 300- and 500-level courses and some 400-level courses offer writing credit. NOTE: Courses may simultaneously fulfill General Education requirements and Writing Credit, or the Foreign Language Requirement and Writing Credit.

Humanities-Literature

For continuing students, the Department offers a variety of courses that fulfill theHumanities-Literature requirement within the General Education Distribution Requirements. Any literature courses in Arabic Studies, French, German, Italian, Portuguese or Spanish on the 300-level or higher fulfills a Humanities Literature requirement and counts as a writing credit. A course cannot simultaneously fulfill the Humanities-Literature Requirement and the Foreign Language Requirement.

Cognates

For those students that are following the new General Education requirements, most of the Modern Languages and Literatures Department’s courses are part of cognates in one of two Areas of Knowledge:  Arts & Humanites or People & Society.  A course cannot simultaneously complete a cognate in an Area of Knowledge and the College of Arts & Sciences’ Foreign Language Requirement.