Majors & Minors

Game design is the next great design field, and individuals of many professions and skill sets will benefit from understanding how to design for interactivity and new technology. The game design minor teaches basic iterative design and prototyping skills while providing students the opportunity to explore design for new technologies and the skills of user assessment and usability testing.

To be eligible for the game design minor, a student must be in good academic standing and have a declared major. To declare the game design minor a student must get permission from the Interactive Media Division (SCA 222) and submit a Change of Major/Minor form to Cinematic Arts Student Services (SCB 105).

Course Requirements for the Minor

A total of 24 units is required for the game design minor, 10 lower-division units and 14 upper-division units.

The Bachelor of Fine Arts in Game Development and Interaction Design is a unique four-year program, offered by the School of Cinematic Arts, that combines a liberal arts background with comprehensive specialization in a profession. Students study within a framework learned from the games industry, which combines a broad liberal arts background with industry specific knowledge and project based collaborative work. Undergraduate students take their pre-professional courses in the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, including the general education requirements. Major courses are selected from the curriculum of the School of Cinematic Arts. The degree requires 128 units, including a minimum of 56 units in the major.

A minor for students interested in building a business in the games and digital media industry. Building on the business, production and management courses in the Interactive Media Division, this minor culminates in our advanced game project course and provides students with hands-on mentorship in starting actual companies based on the work they are doing in these concurrent classes. The minor provides a basis in theories of design and production for games, as well as a strong grounding in the business knowledge necessary to become an entrepreneur.

To be eligible for the game entrepreneurism minor, a student must be in good academic standing and have a declared major. To declare the game entrepreneurism minor a student must get permission from the Interactive Media Division (SCA 222), and submit a change of major/minor form to Cinematic Arts Student Services (SCB 105).

Course Requirements for the Minor

A minimum of 16 units is required for the game entrepreneurism minor.

Games are a major cultural form, with game sales now exceeding box office revenue in the United States. Attention to games and interactive media is growing, and it has become necessary to understand them as meaningful systems, reflect on their cultural influence, and to help guide their evolution with insightful criticism. The game studies minor prepares a student with fundamental underpinnings in media criticism and games.

To be eligible for the game studies minor, a student must be in good academic standing and have a declared major. To declare the game design minor a student must get permission from the Interactive Media and Games Division (SCI 201) and submit a Change of Major/Minor form to Cinematic Arts Student Affairs (SCB 105).

Course Requirements for the Minor:

A total of 24 units is required for the game design minor, at least 6 lower-division units and at least 14 upper-division units.

Game and interaction design are deeply dependent upon human-computer interaction and the ability to use research methods to improve player experience. Game user research is a critical aspect of game design and development that involves management of playtests and usability tests of the software, technology and rules. Along with the ability to analyze and design for optimal player experience, this field combines the ability to analyze large batches of data, and an understanding of how to build applications that mine data from users; these skills form the backbone of an incredibly valuable team member for digital entertainment products. The Interactive Media and Games Division at the School of Cinematic Arts is a leading facility in the teaching of usability, research, and playtesting practices in this field, and the game user research minor is designed to give students an underpinning in game design, interface design and research methods, while teaching a full set of skills for playtesting and usability practice.

To be eligible for the game user research minor, a student must be in good academic standing and have a declared major. To declare the game design minor a student must get permission from the Interactive Media and Games Division (SCI 201) and submit a Change of Major/Minor form to Cinematic Arts Student Affairs (SCB 105).

Course Requirements for the Minor

A total of 16 units is required for the game user research minor, 2 lower-division units and a minimum of 12 upper-division units.

The Department of Gender and Sexuality Studies offers students the opportunity to examine the forces behind the cultural and historical production of gender, including their relationship to other factors including race, class, ability, nationalism and colonialism. The department aims for its students to develop competencies in critical thinking; research skills; community-engaged creativity and collaboration; feminist knowledge production; intersectionality; queer and transgender theory; justice, equality, and power; transnationalism; and decoloniality. The Gender and Sexuality Studies curriculum analyzes how gender and sexuality operate in politics, popular culture, the professional sphere, intimate life, health, technology, science, sports and the very production of knowledge itself. With this rigorous understanding of the shifting terrain of contemporary power relations, graduates will be able to identify, resist and transform oppressive systems in their personal and professional lives. The interdisciplinary major in Gender and Sexuality Studies will prepare students to enter graduate programs in the humanities and social sciences and in professional schools including law, business, education, and health care. In addition, the curriculum equips students for careers in industry, including the media, arts, communication, governmental and non-governmental organizations and public service.

The major in Gender and Sexuality Studies requires completion of 40 undergraduate units (usually ten 4-unit courses).

The Department of Gender and Sexuality Studies offers a minor for students specializing in other disciplines who would like a substantive introduction to the way gender shapes individuals and institutions, as well as to the research methods and topics specific to the field. Twenty units of course work are required for completion of the minor in Gender and Sexuality Studies, including one of the following lower-division courses: SWMS 210gmw, SWMS 212gp, SWMS 215gw, SWMS 219gp, or SWMS 221g. Four additional upper-division courses are needed, including the following two required courses: SWMS 392 and SWMS 410. The remaining two upper-division courses may be taken from a list of department-approved SWMS courses, which includes many courses that are cross-listed.

The minor in gender and social justice provides students with the intellectual foundation and practical skills necessary to tackle inequality and injustice as they relate to gender and sexuality in today's increasingly global world. This minor prepares students for employment in nonprofit organizations, politics, government agencies, cultural reporting and socially conscious niches within the entertainment industry.

Twenty units of course work are required to complete the minor in gender and social justice: 

The minor in geobiology is designed to allow students majoring in biology to incorporate interdisciplinary courses in earth sciences into their program or to allow students majoring in geology to incorporate interdisciplinary courses in biology into their program. This field represents the intersection of what have been traditional disciplines and is valuable for understanding evolution, environmental contaminant behavior and ocean sciences. Students with majors offered by biological or earth or geological sciences will be able to complete this minor with 16 to 24 units of course work beyond their major requirements. Other students may need to complete up to 48 units of course work beyond their major requirements. For example, students majoring in biological sciences might take an introductory GEOL course; GEOL 315L; GEOL 433L or BISC 483; and two additional upper-division elective courses from the list below. Students majoring in earth or geological sciences must take BISC 120Lg and BISC 220Lg; GEOL 433L or BISC 483; and three additional elective courses. Courses selected must include at least 16 units unique to the minor and at least 16 units in a department outside the major.

The Bachelor of Science in Geodesign is an interdisciplinary major offered by the Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, the USC School of Architecture, and the USC Price School of Public Policy. This degree prepares students for professional careers and/or graduate study by engaging them in the acquisition, representation, analysis, modeling and visualization of spatial information set in the context of the built environment and policy. The underlying spatial principles, methods and tools can be used to support sustainable planning, facility and infrastructure management, the design of livable and healthy communities, and a series of regional planning applications to address pollution, water and energy needs, and the impact of population growth on the environment. The major electives provide students with opportunities to explore one or more facets of the built environment and a series of complementary analytical and visualization tools in more detail. Finally, the major is structured to provide students with sufficient elective credits to explore minors or other programs at USC so they can broaden their education to better prepare themselves for the next stage of their lives.

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. For more information about USC's general education requirements, see General Education.

Major Requirements

A minimum grade of C, 2.0 (A = 4.0) must be earned in each of the core courses and the capstone course. In addition, a minimum grade point average of C (2.0) or higher must be achieved in the major to earn the geodesign degree. No more than 16 units of core courses may be taken prior to the successful completion of the geodesign pre-major requirements.

Pre-major Requirements

Both pre-major requirements must be taken for a letter grade and a minimum grade of C, 2.0 (A = 4.0), must be earned in each of the pre-major courses.

Departmental Honors

Students in the BS in HSGI program can receive departmental honors by satisfying a > 3.7 GPA in major core courses in their second to last semester and an overall GPA > 3.5, and by presenting a poster or making a presentation of their research at an academic or professional conference and/or by exhibiting leadership within a club or organization.