As the only college in southwest Washington to offer a bachelor's degree in Social Sciences, WSU Vancouver balances the research emphasis of a large university with the commitment to teaching of a small liberal arts college.The Bachelor of Arts in Social Sciences provides a series of options for students who wish to investigate the nature of society and how its structures and institutions affect individuals, groups, and communities.
The Social Science major requires the completion of 39 semester credits - 21 of which must be upper division. The minimum GPA for course work in the major is 2.0.
Students can organize the course work in one of two ways:
- They can either work in two complimentary areas (psychology and sociology, for example), earning a minimum of 24 credits in one, and at least 15 credits in the other.
- Or, students can combine three closely related areas, earning at least 9 credits in each of the three areas. A student could, for instance, combine courses from criminal justice, political science, and sociology. This is only one of the many possible combinations.
Students concentrate their work in the disciplines of Anthropology, History, Political Science, Psychology, and Sociology. They can also emphasize an interdisciplinary area such as Digital Technology and Culture, Criminal Justice, Personnel Psychology and Human Resource Management, Public Affairs and Policy, or Women's Studies.
Students complement the courses in their major concentration with courses from at least one other area in the social sciences, humanities, or business. With the direction of an academic advisor, students can shape programs of study that can be used as preparation for a variety of careers or graduate study.
