Majors & Minors

 The public relations minor is designed for students interested in building a career in, or developing a better understanding of, the field of public relations. At no time has public relations been more successful or more visible than it is today. Emphasis is placed throughout the program on both the practical skills required to meet the demands of the marketplace and the critical thinking required to be a successful entry-level public relations practitioner.

The Department of Quantitative and Computational Biology offers a BS degree in Quantitative Biology (QBIO). This program allows biology students to achieve a fuller background in the quantitative sciences such as computer science and statistics that are essential for modern data-driven biological science. The students will take an introductory seminar, participate in undergraduate research and write an honors thesis. This program will have the designation on the transcript of Bachelor of Science in Quantitative Biology.

The general education, writing, language and diversity requirements for a USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences degree are applicable.

The interdisciplinary minor in race, ethnicity and politics helps students analyze and critically evaluate contemporary race relations and how race matters in politics today.

Requirements: Five Courses (20 Units)*

All students are required to take POSC 421 Ethnic Politics. In addition, students must also take one course from each category: Race and Gender in a Global Context, Comparative Racial Politics, Social/Historical (Racial Perspective) and Racial Formation. The following is a list of courses that fulfill each category.

Price School students are trained to look at the interaction between people and place and the consequences for our communities. The Bachelor of Science in Real Estate Development explores the broader context of real estate allowing students to launch their careers by grasping the full structure of the industry and its role in society. The foundational core courses integrate the many disciplines that are the basis for real estate education, including accounting, economics and business finance. The real estate core classes taken through the Price School focus on real estate principles, financial analysis, market analysis, land use policy, urban design and the history of cities. Students also select electives to complement their interests from either the Price School or closely related disciplines. Throughout, the students' education will be connected to professional practice, as exemplified by the mandatory internship. 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.

Double Major

Students who wish to pursue the Bachelor of Science in Real Estate Development as a second major must satisfy all university requirements for a second major and complete 32 units unique to the Real Estate Development major. 

This minor provides students with an overview of the field of real estate development - its principles, the urban context and history, finance, as well as the opportunity to select an elective. The minor requires 20 units, including four core courses and 4 units of electives. The minor is intended for any student with an interest in a career in real estate.

The Bachelor of Science degree program in Real Estate Finance and Development leverages the resources of two world-class institutions into a challenging, coherent real estate curriculum targeting the most highly motivated students.

Combining the Marshall School of Business's strengths in financial valuation and capital markets and the Sol Price School of Public Policy's tradition of excellence in development and urban land use, this degree offers rigorous foundational courses taught by elite research faculty. In addition, it offers a number of experiential-learning classes, which emphasize real-world opportunities in securities trading, real estate development, and valuation.

Students interested in the program typically enter the program as freshmen, although some will join as sophomores.

The degree cannot also be combined as an additional major in either accounting or business administration. The degree is administered by the Marshall School of Business.

This degree requires at least 128 units including USC's General Education Requirements.

The minor in real estate finance is available to all students except business administration, accounting, and real estate development majors. It provides students with training in the areas of business, finance, real estate law, design, and urban economics. It provides an opportunity for students to gain thorough exposure to the topics of real estate investing, finance and development. Upon successful completion of this minor, students will have achieved a basic understanding of the interplay of the various disciplines involved in contemporary real estate ownership and investment and how they impact the areas of the student's specific interests and expertise.

Those completing this minor will master techniques in valuing income-producing properties, analyze financial instruments such as mortgages and loans, understand the roles of debt and equity, gain insights into the processes of design and construction, as well as understand the dynamics of how real estate markets affect the underlying values of real property assets, as well as the role real estate markets play in the overall economy.

To enroll, students must have completed a minimum of 32 units of college-level course work and attained a minimum overall GPA of at least 2.75.

Successful completion of this minor requires 20 units including a minimum of 16 upper-division units in the minor and a cumulative GPA of 2.0 for the 20 units.

The department major requires REL 301 Introduction to the Study of Religion (preferably taken at the beginning of the student's major courses) and REL 401 Seminar in Religious Studies. Further, students must take six additional courses from the list below. The total unit requirement for the major is 32 units (at least 24 units must be upper-division).

Students taking the religion minor must enroll in REL 301 Introduction to the Study of Religion. In addition, they must complete four additional religion courses, at least three of which must be upper-division courses.

The total unit requirement for the minor is 20 units; 16 of those units must be upper-division.

Students who wish to focus their minor in Jewish studies must minor in Judaic Studies.

To resist genocide effectively, we need to understand its history — the factors that have brought it about and those that have enabled people to prevent, resist or recuperate from mass violence. This interdisciplinary minor draws upon USC faculty in 11 academic units researching the causes, results and representations of attempted genocide as well as resistance to genocidal mass violence. Courses include attention to different definitions of genocide, its occurrence around the world and its representation in literature and the arts.

Course Requirements

The minor requires five courses (20 units); at least four must be at the upper-division level. As with all minors, students must choose at least four courses (16 units) outside their major department and four courses (16 units) that are not being used to satisfy any other subject requirement.