Majors & Minors

The Bachelor of Arts with a major in Dramatic Arts is a comprehensive degree offered in cooperation with the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences. Candidates for the degree must complete the university general education requirements in addition to the courses in the major prescribed by the School of Dramatic Arts. A total of 128 units is required for completion of the degree.

General Education Requirements

The university's General Education program provides a coherent, integrated introduction to the breadth of knowledge you will need to consider yourself (and to be considered by other people) a generally well-educated person. This program is effective for all students entering USC in fall 2015 or later, or transfer students beginning college elsewhere at that time and subsequently transferring to USC. It requires eight courses in six Core Literacies, plus two courses in Global Perspectives (which may double-count with courses in the Core Literacies) and two courses in writing. In addition, all entering freshmen are expected to complete a General Education Seminar during their first year at USC. These seminars satisfy one of the Core Literacy requirements above.

Note that courses within the major will also satisfy certain Core Literacy requirements. Please work with your major adviser to determine those courses.

The BA Dramatic Arts, Comedy emphasis encourages students to engage with the structure and practice of comedy through theoretical lenses and through practical exploration. All students are required to take a range of courses that will help them develop fundamental skills and experience in a range of different comic styles and forms. Some of the required courses are common to other SDA emphases and these courses (Introduction to Acting, Improvisation and Theatre Games, Introduction to Technical Theatre and Basic Voice) give students a grounding in understanding basic theatre techniques and processes. Students following the emphasis must then take a range of specialist comedy courses. Comedy and Performance and How Comedy Works introduce students to the history and development of comedy and equips them with a vocabulary for discussing comedy. They then take a range of courses to develop skills across a range of comedy styles including improvisation, clowning and stand-up comedy. A further required course, Comedy in LA, helps the students to understand the comedy scene in Los Angeles. Students also take 16 elective units, which might include performance in SDA shows, Acting for Sitcoms, Camera and Improvisation and other courses designed to help them develop their skills in writing, performing and understanding the comedy industry.

General Education Requirements

The university’s General Education program provides a coherent, integrated introduction to the breadth of knowledge you will need to consider yourself (and to be considered by other people) a generally well-educated person. This program is effective for all students entering USC in fall 2015 or later, or transfer students beginning college elsewhere at that time and subsequently transferring to USC. It requires eight courses in six Core Literacies, plus two courses in Global Perspectives (which may double-count with courses in the Core Literacies) and two courses in writing. In addition, all entering freshmen are expected to complete a General Education Seminar during their first year at USC. These seminars satisfy one of the Core Literacy requirements above.

Note that courses within the major will also satisfy certain Core Literacy requirements. Please work with your major adviser to determine those courses.

The BA Dramatic Arts, Emphasis in Musical Theatre is designed specifically to increase the versatility of its students so they are better educated, prepared and equipped to enter the professional arena of Musical Theatre.

General Education Requirements

The university’s General Education program provides a coherent, integrated introduction to the breadth of knowledge you will need to consider yourself (and to be considered by other people) a generally well-educated person. This program is effective for all students entering USC in fall 2015 or later, or transfer students beginning college elsewhere at that time and subsequently transferring to USC. It requires eight courses in six Core Literacies, plus two courses in Global Perspectives (which may double-count with courses in the Core Literacies) and two courses in writing. In addition, all entering freshmen are expected to complete a General Education Seminar during their first year at USC. These seminars satisfy one of the Core Literacy requirements above.

Note that courses within the major may also satisfy certain Core Literacy requirements. Please work with your major adviser to determine those courses.

Students enrolled in the minor in drawing will develop their creativity and technical drawing skills, as well as deepen their understanding of contemporary art. Foundation courses provide the fundamentals of spatial rendering, composition, figure drawing and visual expression. Advanced courses require more ambitious projects, personal direction, research and sustained focus. The minor is available to all USC students who wish to develop their abilities to communicate through visual means, or who wish to develop skills for conceptualization and problem solving. The minor in drawing can assist the students in art-related work, as well as creative pursuits such as printed works with images, games and animation. A total of 20 units are required for this minor.

Whether navigating the culture of a start-up, a Fortune 100 company, or in any domestic or international workplace situation, strategic and emotionally intelligent communication is essential. This minor has a high emphasis on application practice to prepare students to succeed in their work environment. Courses feature experiential components and/or offer opportunities to connect with professionals and outside constituencies to learn hands-on about communication challenges and how to develop effective communication strategy.

This minor is available to students in all schools and departments except the Marshall School of Business and the Leventhal School of Accounting. To declare this minor, students must have a declared major and must have completed 32 units of college level courses with a cumulative USC GPA of at least 2.75.  

Students taking this minor should, if possible, enroll in the business version of the upper division USC writing requirement: WRIT 340 Advanced Writing.

Successful completion of the minor requires a minimum cumulative GPA of 2.0 in the courses applied to the minor.

This minor is intended to provide background for students who plan careers in business with companies who recognize the necessity to respond to environmental change as scientists understand it.  Students who complete the minor will gain insight that will facilitate discussions with both scientists in the field and professionals in the public, private and non-profit sectors.

Requirements for the lower division are: EALC 110 and EASC 150 or the equivalent; a minimum of four courses in one East Asian language (or the proficiency equivalent); and seven upper-division courses approved for the major in addition to the language courses used to meet the requirements. One lower-division course other than EALC 110 and EASC 150 may be substituted for one of the seven upper-division courses. Upper-division courses must include those from at least three departments, one of which must be History. At least one course must be taken on two of the following: China, Japan or Korea.

The minor in East Asian Area Studies gives students the opportunity to supplement more narrowly defined departmental majors with a multidisciplinary focus on an area of increasingly great importance to our nation in general and our region in particular. There is no language requirement.

Twenty-four units are required from among the more than 120 courses offered on East Asia at the university. Students are required to take EALC 110 and EASC 150; and at least four upper-division four-unit courses (16 units). At least one of these courses must be from the History Department and one from the humanities area. At least one course must be taken on two of the following: China, Japan or Korea.