Cornell University Registrar

Program Description

The Human Biology, Health, and Society (HBHS) major permits students to combine their interests in the biological sciences while exploring human health issues from the perspectives of both the biological and behavioral sciences. HBHS majors select the issues they want to explore in depth from Human Ecology courses that address health and the broad range of factors that influence human well-being. Issues that can be explored include biology and behavior; metabolism, genetics, and health; biology, growth, and development; and food and health policy and health promotion. Most students in this program will proceed to programs of advanced study to pursue careers related to health. This major is offered by the Division of Nutritional Sciences in Cornell Human Ecology.

Academic Standards

• A maximum of 15 credits of AP credit and in absentia credit can count towards the 120 total credits. 
• A maximum of 15 credits of Study Abroad/Exchange, Cornell-In-Washington or Capital Semester can count towards total electives.

Program Information

• Instruction Mode: In Person
• Location: Ithaca, NY
• Minimum Credits for Degree: 120

Program Requirements

The requirements listed below pertain to all students matriculating in August 2025 and January 2026.

In addition to college requirements, students in the HBHS Major must complete specific requirements listed here.

Introductory Course

This is a required course for students in the Human Biology, Health, and Society major and will serve as the foundation for many of the subsequent required and elective courses.

Course List

Code	Title	Hours
NS 1400	Introduction to Human Biology, Health, and Society	3

Survey Course

Course List

Code	Title	Hours
Select one of the following:
NS 1150	Nutrition, Health, and Society	3
NS 1220	Nutrition and the Life Cycle	3

Social Science Perspective on Health Sciences (6+ Credits)

Courses should cover some aspect of health (including nutrition) from a social science perspective. More than half of the course content must be devoted to consideration of health/life course/disease issues from a social science (e.g. sociology, anthropology, psychology, economics, communications, and other social science disciplines). Courses with a focus on public policy related to health or education/counseling related to health are included in this category. See Requirements for HBHS majors for regular updates to course options and information; new options are available to all class years.

Course List

Code	Title	Hours
NS 2450	Social Science Perspectives on Food and Nutrition	3
NS 4250	Nutrition Communications and Counseling	3
NS 4450	Toward a Sustainable Global Food System: Food Policy for Developing Countries	3
NS 4480	Economics of Food and Malnutrition	3
NS 4500	Public Health Nutrition	3
NS 4510	Nutrition and Health Equity	3
NS 4570	Health, Poverty, and Inequality: A Global Perspective	3
COMM 2850	Communication, Environment, Science, and Health	3
COMM 4760	Population Health Communication	3
LSP 2200		3
GDEV 3020	Political Ecologies of Health	3
GDEV 3111	Social Studies of Medicine	3
HD 2170	Adolescence and Emerging Adulthood	3
HD 2180	Human Development: Adulthood and Aging	3
HD 2300	Cognitive Development	3
HD 2510	Social Gerontology: Aging and the Life Course	3
HD 2600	Introduction to Personality	3
HD 3290	Self-regulation Across the Life Span	3
HD 3300	Developmental Psychopathology	3
HD 3490	The Science of Well-Being	3
HD 3620	Human Bonding	3
HD 3700	Adult Psychopathology	3
PUBPOL 2350	The U.S. Health Care System	3
PUBPOL 3110	Pharmaceutical Management and Policy	3
PUBPOL 3280	Fundamentals of Population Health	3
PUBPOL 3870	Economic Evaluations in Health Care	3
PUBPOL 4280	The Economics of Risky Health Behaviors	4

Natural Science Perspective on Health Selectives (6+ Credits)

Courses should cover some aspect of health (including nutrition) from a life science perspective. More than half of the course content must be devoted to consideration of health/life course/disease issues from a life science/biological perspective (e.g. biochemistry, molecular biology, physiology, neuroscience, evolution, animal science, food science, plant sciences, and other natural science disciplines). Courses used to fulfill this requirement must be at the 2000-level or above. Course work taken for HBHS Selectives may not also count for Biology Electives. See Requirements for HBHS majors for regular updates to course options and information; new options are available to all class years.

Course List

Code	Title	Hours
NS 3060	Nutrition and Global Health	3
NS 3150	Obesity and the Regulation of Body Weight	3
NS 3310	Human Nutrition and Nutrient Metabolism	4
NS 3320	Methods in Nutritional Sciences	3
NS 3450	Introduction to Physiochemical and Biological Aspects of Foods	3
NS 4140	Maternal and Child Nutrition and Health	3
NS 4200	Diet and the Microbiome	3
NS 4300	Proteins, Transcripts, and Metabolism: Big Data in Molecular Nutrition	3
NS 4330	Nutrition and the Brain	3
NS 4410	Nutrition and Disease	4
NS 4420	Implementation of Nutrition Care	3
NS 4430	Applied Anatomy and Physiology	2
NS 6310	Micronutrients: Function, Homeostasis, and Assessment	2-4
NS 6320	Regulation of Macronutrient Metabolism	4
BIOMG 4390	Molecular Basis of Disease	3
BIOMI 2500	Public Health Microbiology	3
BIOMI 2600	Microbiology of Human Contagious Diseases	3
BIOMI 2950	Biology of Infectious Disease: From Molecules to Ecosystems	3
BIOMI 3210	The Gut Microbiome	3
BIOMI 4040	Pathogenic Bacteriology	2-3
BIONB 3215	Gender and the Brain	3
BIONB 3920	Drugs and the Brain	4
BIONB 4560	Neural Control of Food Intake and Energy Metabolism	3
BIONB 4750	Sleep - Evolution and Neural Basis	3
ENTOM 4000	Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Diseases	4
ENTOM 4520	Biology of Disease Vectors	3
FDSC 4220	Foods, Dietary Supplements, and Health	2
HD 2200	The Human Brain and Mind: An Introduction to Cognitive Neuroscience	3
HD 3210	Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience	3
HD 3660	Affective and Social Neuroscience	3
MSE 4610	Biomedical Materials and Their Applications	3
PLSCI 2100	Medical Ethnobotany	3

Nutritional Science Perspective on Health Selectives (3-4 Credits)

Courses should cover some aspect of health (including nutrition) from a nutritional science perspective. More than half of the course content must be devoted to consideration of health/life course/disease issues from a nutritional science perspective. Courses used to fulfill this requirement must be at the 2000-level or above. Course work taken for HBHS Selectives may not also count for Biology Electives. See Requirements for HBHS majors for regular updates to course options and information; new options are available to all class years.

Course List

Code	Title	Hours
NS 3060	Nutrition and Global Health	3
NS 3150	Obesity and the Regulation of Body Weight	3
NS 4140	Maternal and Child Nutrition and Health	3
NS 4200	Diet and the Microbiome	3
NS 4210	Precision Nutrition and Health	3
NS 4300	Proteins, Transcripts, and Metabolism: Big Data in Molecular Nutrition	3
NS 4330	Nutrition and the Brain	3
NS 4410	Nutrition and Disease	4
NS 4420	Implementation of Nutrition Care	3
NS 4450	Toward a Sustainable Global Food System: Food Policy for Developing Countries	3
NS 4480	Economics of Food and Malnutrition	3
NS 4500	Public Health Nutrition	3
NS 5510	Nutrition Assessment	3

Introductory Chemistry

Course List

Code	Title	Hours
Select one of the following:
CHEM 2070 & CHEM 2071 & CHEM 2080 & CHEM 2081	General Chemistry I and General Chemistry I Laboratory and General Chemistry II and General Chemistry II Laboratory 1	8
AP Chemistry score of 5 or IB Chemistry score of 6 or 7 and
CHEM 2080 & CHEM 2081	General Chemistry II and General Chemistry II Laboratory (or) 2
CHEM 2150	Honors General and Inorganic Chemistry 3

¹

Recommended for most students, especially those on or considering a pre-health (e.g. pre-med) track.

²

Students may use an AP Chemistry score of 5 or an IB Chemistry score of 6 or 7 to place out of CHEM 2070 + CHEM 2071. Pre-health (e.g. pre-med) students are not recommended to use AP scores to fulfill chemistry requirements. Students who take CHEM 2070 + CHEM 2071 forfeit AP or IB credit.

³

Students should only select option (c) if they are very strong in chemistry and are not considering a pre-health (e.g. pre-med) track.

Introductory Biology

Course List

Code	Title	Hours
Select one of the following:
BIOG 1500	Investigative Biology Laboratory	2
BIOSM 1500	Investigative Marine Biology Laboratory	3
Select two of the following: 4		3-4
BIOMG 1350	Introductory Biology: Cell and Developmental Biology	3
BIOG 1440	Introductory Biology: Comparative Physiology 5	3
or BIOG 1445	Introduction to Comparative Anatomy and Physiology, Individualized Instruction
BIOEE 1610	Introductory Biology: Ecology and the Environment 5	3-4
or BIOEE 1780	An Introduction to Evolutionary Biology and Diversity

⁴

Students may use AP Biology score of 5 or IB HL Biology score of 7 to place out of one introductory biology lecture. Pre-health (e.g. pre-med) students should not use AP scores to fulfill biology requirements.

⁵

Cannot take both courses within one category to fulfill this requirement.

Physics⁶

Course List

Code	Title	Hours
Select one of the following:
PHYS 1101	General Physics I	4
PHYS 2207	Fundamentals of Physics I	4

⁶

Students interested in pre-health tracks should also take PHYS 1102 General Physics II or PHYS 2208 Fundamentals of Physics II.

Organic Chemistry

Course List

Code	Title	Hours
CHEM 2510	Introduction to Experimental Organic Chemistry	2-5
or CHEM 3010	Honors Experimental Chemistry I
Select one of the following:		3-8
CHEM 1570	Introduction to Organic and Biological Chemistry	3
CHEM 3570 & CHEM 3580	Organic Chemistry for the Life Sciences and Organic Chemistry for the Life Sciences 7	6
CHEM 3590 & CHEM 3600	Honors Organic Chemistry I and Honors Organic Chemistry II 8	6

⁷

Students interested in pre-health tracks should take a two-course sequence of organic chemistry lectures (option c or d above).

⁸

Students who select options c or d above must take both courses in sequence; one course alone will not fulfill requirement.

Physiology⁹

Course List

Code	Title	Hours
Select one of the following:
NS 3410	Human Anatomy and Physiology	4
BIOAP 3110	Principles of Animal Physiology	3

⁹

Pre-health students might also consider taking NS 3420 Human Anatomy and Physiology Laboratory, which also counts toward advance biology elective requirement.

Students may also take NS 4430 Applied Anatomy and Physiology  after completing NS 3410 Human Anatomy and Physiology.

Biochemistry

Course List

Code	Title	Hours
Select one of the following:
NS 3200	Introduction to Human Biochemistry	4
BIOMG 3300	Principles of Biochemistry, Individualized Instruction	4
BIOMG 3310 & BIOMG 3320	Principles of Biochemistry: Proteins and Metabolism and Principles of Biochemistry: Molecular Biology	5
BIOMG 3310 & BIOMI 2900	Principles of Biochemistry: Proteins and Metabolism and General Microbiology Lectures	6-7
BIOMG 3330
BIOMG 3350	Principles of Biochemistry: Proteins, Metabolism, and Molecular Biology	4

Biology Electives (6 Credits)

6 additional credits selected from courses that relate require one year of introductory biology (or above) as a pre-requisite fulfills this category. Course work taken for Biology Electives may not also count for Biochemistry or HBHS Selectives.  May not include Special Studies or independent research credits (e.g., NS 4000 Directed Readings, NS 4010 Empirical Research, NS 4020 Supervised Fieldwork, NS 4030 Teaching Apprenticeship, or NS 4990 Honors Problem or non-DNS equivalent).

Suggested areas of study include genetics, microbiology, neurobiology, cell biology, physiology, biochemistry, nutrition, and areas of study with impact on human health, such as ecology, environment and sustainability, agriculture and food science.

Social Sciences

Course List

Code	Title	Hours
Select two of the following:
Anthropology
ANTHR 1400	Introduction to Sociocultural Anthropology	3
Economics
ECON 1110	Introductory Microeconomics	3
or ECON 1120	Introductory Macroeconomics
Psychology
HD 1130	Introduction to Human Development	3
or PSYCH 1101	Introduction to Psychology
Sociology
SOC 1101	Introduction to Sociology	3

Calculus/Advanced Math

This fulfills the college distribution quantitative and analytical courses requirement.

Course List

Code	Title	Hours
Select one of the following:
MATH 1105	Finite Mathematics for the Life and Social Sciences 11	3
MATH 1106	Modeling with Calculus for the Life Sciences	4
MATH 1110	Calculus I	4
MATH 1120	Calculus II	4
AB or BC Calculus AP Exam score of 4 or 5 10

¹⁰

Unless a student scored a [4 or 5] on both the Statistics and the BC Calculus AP Examinations, they must take either Statistics or Calculus at Cornell.

¹¹

Not for pre-health.

Statistics

This fulfills the college distribution quantitative and analytical course requirement.

Course List

Code	Title	Hours
Select one of the following:
STSCI 2150	Introductory Statistics for Biology (recommended)	4
PUBPOL 2100	Introduction to Statistics	4
AEM 2100	Introductory Statistics	4
BTRY 3010	Statistics I	4
ILRST 2100	Introductory Statistics and Data Science	4
MATH 1710	Statistical Theory and Application in the Real World	4
PSYCH 2500	Statistics and Research Design	3
SOC 3010	Statistics for Sociological Research	4
AP Statistics score of 4 or 5 10

¹⁰

Unless a student scored a [4 or 5] on both the Statistics and the BC Calculus AP Examinations, they must take either Statistics or Calculus at Cornell.

Unless a student scored a [4 or 5] on both the Statistics and the BC Calculus AP Examinations, they must take either Statistics or Calculus at Cornell.

AP Stats, Calc

Exam	Score	Fullfillment
AP Statistics Only	Score of 4 or 5	May use AP credit to fulfill Statistics requirement
AP Calculus AB Only	Score of 4 or 5	May use AP credit to fulfill Calculus Requirement
AP Calculus BC Only	Score of 4 or 5	May use AP credit to fulfill Calculus Requirement
AP Calculus AB and AP Statistics	Score of 4 or 5	May use AP credit to fulfill either Calculus or Statistics requirement.
AP Calculus BC and AP Statistics	Score of 4 or 5	May use AP credit to fulfill both the Calculus and Statistics requirements.

Additional Information

• All major requirements must be taken for a letter grade.
• A passing grade must be earned to meet major requirements within a course.

University Graduation Requirements

Requirements for All Students

In order to receive a Cornell degree, a student must satisfy academic and non-academic requirements.

Academic Requirements

A student’s college determines degree requirements such as residency, number of credits, distribution of credits, and grade averages. It is the student’s responsibility to be aware of the specific major, degree, distribution, college, and graduation requirements for completing their chosen program of study. See the individual requirements listed by each college or school or contact the college registrar’s office for more information.

Non-academic Requirements

Conduct Matters. Students must satisfy any outstanding sanctions, penalties or remedies imposed or agreed to under the Student Code of Conduct (Code) or Policy 6.4. Where a formal complaint under the Code or Policy 6.4 is pending, the University will withhold awarding a degree otherwise earned until the adjudication process set forth in those procedures is complete, including the satisfaction of any sanctions, penalties or remedies imposed.

Financial Obligations. Outstanding financial obligations will not impact the awarding of a degree otherwise earned or a student’s ability to access their official transcript. However, the University may withhold issuing a diploma until any outstanding financial obligations owing to the University are satisfied.

Additional Requirements for Undergraduate Students

The University has two requirements for graduation that must be fulfilled by all undergraduate students: the swim requirement, and completion of two physical education courses. For additional information about fulfilling University Graduation Requirements, see the Physical Education website.

Physical Education

All incoming undergraduate students are required to take two credits (two courses) of Physical Education prior to graduation. It is recommended they complete the two courses during their first year at Cornell. Credit in Physical Education may be earned by participating in courses offered by the Department of Athletics and Physical Education and Cornell Outdoor Education, by being a registered participant on a varsity athletic team, or performing in the marching band.

Students with medical concerns should contact the Office of Student Disability Services. 

College of Human Ecology Graduation Requirements

It is important for students to track their graduation progress by comparing their Advisement Report in Student Center and current transcript with an appropriate curriculum sheet. Official transcripts may be obtained at the Office of the University Registrar (B07 Day Hall). Curriculum sheets are available on the Human Ecology website. Students are responsible for planning course selections to ensure that graduation requirements are fulfilled in eight semesters. Transfer students are allowed fewer semesters based on the number of transferable credits granted at admission. Students requiring additional semesters to fulfill their graduation requirements must meet with a Human Ecology counselor (1210 MVR Hall) and request to petition for an extension.

Grade Point Average (GPA) Requirement for Graduation

• Students must earn a minimum cumulative GPA of 2.0 (C) or better to graduate.

Credit Requirements

Cornell Credit Requirements

• To graduate, a student must earn a minimum of 120 academic credits. Physical education credits and 10XX courses do not count toward the 120 required credits.
• Of the 120 credits required to graduate, at least 60 credits must be earned at Cornell University (applicable to transfer students).
• Students who matriculate as first-years may apply a maximum of 15 non-Cornell credits earned toward the 120 credits required for graduation. These credits include AP, IB, and college credits earned elsewhere. Refer to Advanced Placement Credit for full details.
• No college credit earned before matriculation and used to meet Cornell's minimum admission requirements may be counted in the 120 credits required for graduation. This policy does not apply to transfer students.
• Courses taught by a college in the high school setting or counted toward high school graduation are not allowed to count for either credits or fulfillment of requirements (i.e., Syracuse Project Advance).
• Cornell extramural credit (defined below) is limited to 15 credits toward the 120 required.
• Strict limitations exist on the number of credits that can be applied toward the 120-credit minimum for special studies courses (including but not limited to 4000, 4010, 4020), for 4030 courses, and for courses taken with an optional S–U grade. Details follow.

Human Ecology Credit Requirements

The college divides the 120 minimum required academic credits into four general categories. (Students should refer to curriculum sheets for their major for specific details on course selections. Curriculum sheets are available on the college website.) These categories are detailed below.

• College distribution
  • Natural sciences
  • Social sciences
  • First-year writing seminars
  • Humanities
  • Quantitative and analytical courses (math and statistics)
• Major Requirements
• Elective credits
• Physical education

Human Ecology General Requirements 

Human Ecology Core Courses 

Students must complete these three courses in their first three semesters (beginning with students entering in Fall 2024):

Course List

Code	Title	Hours
HE 1800	Blazing Your Trail in Human Ecology (Required in the first fall semester of matriculation to HE (first-year students only))	1
HE 1850	Introduction to Human Ecology (Required in the first spring semester of matriculation to HE Human Ecology (first-year, internal & external transfers) )	1
HE 2000	Social Justice, Thriving, and the Human Experience (First-Year students will complete HE 2000 in their third semester. ) 1	3

¹

Internal and external transfer students must complete HE 2000 in their first fall in Human Ecology.

Human Ecology Credits: 45 credits from College Distribution, Major Requirements and Electives. 

• Courses from: DEA, FSAD, HD, NS, PUBPOL at any level or Human Ecology (HE) non-departmental courses above the 1500-level.

• Students must enroll in a minimum of one 3-credit course each semester in HE for their first four semesters, excluding winter and summer sessions.
• Additional course-specific rules are listed below.

S–U grading rules for this requirement are as follows:

1. If a course is a requirement in College Distribution or Major Requirements, the course may not be taken for an S–U grade (unless it is the only grade option offered for the course).
2. Courses used to count toward Electives that are taken for an S–U grade may also count toward the 45 credit requirement.
3. Students should refer to the section on S–U grading rules for full S–U grading details.

​Human Ecology Credits Outside the Major: 11 credits  

• Students must complete 11 Human Ecology (HE) credits from outside their major department or PUBPOL at any level or HE above 1500 level.  ​
• FWS, HE non-departmental courses below the 1500 level, Statistics and Research Methods courses (PUBPOL 2100, PUBPOL 3120, DEA 3550, or 
• HD 2830), Special Studies (4000, 4010, 4020), and teaching assistantships (HE 4030) do not count toward this requirement.
• These can be taken S/U only if course is NOT used to fulfill a curriculum requirement.
• A maximum of 3 credits from the 4000–4020 special-studies series may be applied to this requirement. 
• Additional course-specific rules are listed below.

S–U grading rules for this requirement are as follows:

1. If a course counting toward the 9 credit outside-the-major requirement is also a requirement in College Distribution or Major Requirements, the course may not be taken for an S–U grade unless it is the only grade option offered for the course.
2. Courses used to count toward Electives that are taken for an S–U grade may also count toward the 9 credit outside-the-major requirement.
3. Students should refer to the section on S–U grading rules for full S–U grading details.

Course-specific rules that apply to both the 45 Human Ecology credit requirement and the 11 Human Ecology credit outside-the-major requirement:

1. Human Ecology (prefix HE) courses below the 1500-level (e.g., HE 1115) do not count toward either the 45 credit requirement or the 11 credit outside-the-major requirement. These HE–prefix courses that are below 1500-level may be used as elective credit.
2. Experiential credit is applied to Human Ecology's 45 and 11 credit outside-the-major requirements as follows:
   • Capital Semester (HE 4970). All students earn:
     • Human Ecology credits and 8 credits toward the 9 credit outside-the-major requirement.

• Cornell in Washington (PUBPOL 4060).
  • For this entire semester, Public Policy majors earn 8 credits toward the 43 credit requirement, which also count as 8 Public Policy credits.
  • Non–Public Policy majors earn 8 credits toward the 45 credit requirement, which also count as 8 credits toward the 11 credit outside-the-major requirement. The remainder of the credits counts as elective credit.

Elective Credits

Students have individual objectives in choosing courses beyond the minimum requirements of the major. The university is diverse; the departments, centers, and special programs numerous; and the fields of study almost unlimited. Counselors and faculty advisors are available to discuss which courses may interest students and best round out their education. Elective credits can be earned in the endowed and contract colleges of Cornell.

Course Distribution Requirements

Course Distributions are groups of courses categorized by course content. Some requirements on your Curriculum Sheet direct you to choose courses with a specific distribution. This is common for Humanities or Additional Credit requirements, depending on your major.

Minimum Semester Requirements

1. Students enrolling in the college as first-years must enroll in a minimum of one 3-credit course each semester in HE for their first four semesters, excluding winter and summer sessions (beginning with students entering in fall 2022).
2. Students must carry 12 credits each semester, excluding physical education, to be matriculated as full-time students. Mature students must carry a minimum of 6 credits each semester (see Mature Student Guidelines for details).
3. In special cases, a student may petition to carry between 8 and 12 credits. Forms for petitioning this exception and advice on how to proceed are available in the Human Ecology Registrar's Office (1204 MVR Hall).

Special Studies

• A maximum of 12 credits of special study course work from Human Ecology or other colleges will count towards the 120 overall credits. Courses will be indicated on the class roster with a Component of either IND or RSC. (Additional credits can be taken but will not be applied.)
• A maximum of 12 credits of 4000-4030 may count toward the 43 HE credit requirement.
• A maximum of 3 credits of 4000-4020 (not including 4030) may count towards the 9 HE credits outside the major requirement as long as the special study is in a department outside the student's major.
• Students cannot TA (4030) the same course for credit more than once or take and TA the same course simultaneously.  4030 does not fulfill any requirements towards the major.  Registration for 4030 may not exceed 5 credit hours per semester.

10XX Courses

• 10XX numbered courses do not count toward graduation requirements but do count toward full-time semester status.

Requirements for Majors

• Students must fulfill the requirements specified for a major that are in effect at the time of their matriculation or thereafter. The requirements are detailed in curriculum sheets that are maintained for each academic year.

S-U Grade Options

• The S-U grading option may not be used for College Distribution courses or required major courses unless it is the only grade option offered for those courses. S-U grades may be used for the 9 credits of Human Ecology course work outside of one's major and for Electives.
• Students may apply no more than 12 credits of S-U toward the 120 credits required for graduation. If a required course is offered only S-U, it will not count toward this limit. Also, Honors Research 4990 taken S-U does not count against the 12 maximum limit. Students may take more S-U courses if they choose, but the additional credit may not be applied toward graduation.

First-Year Writing Seminars

In each of their first two semesters of matriculation at the College of Human Ecology, students are required to take a Knight Program First-Year Writing Seminar. This policy also applies to transfer students. One or more of the seminars may be waived for transfer students if the college registrar grants credit for equivalent course work taken before matriculation at Cornell.

Those who do not fulfill this requirement on time will be referred to the Committee on Academic Status. Refer to Criteria for Good Standing on Policies and Procedures page for specifics on warning statuses that the committee applies to students who do not complete this requirement.

First-year writing seminars must be taken at Cornell and may not be taken in absentia. Students who receive a score of 5 on either the English Literature and Composition or English Language and Composition Advanced Placement (AP) exams can be exempt from one semester of their first-year writing seminar requirements. No other AP scores will allow a student this exemption or allow for elective credits in the college. Students should be aware that the add/drop period for first-year writing seminars may be shorter in duration than the add/drop period for most Cornell classes.

Ithaca College and Study Abroad Credits

Any credits earned with the Ithaca College exchange program are considered Cornell credits for the purpose of fulfilling the 60 Cornell credit graduation requirement. They may not be used for Human Ecology credit. Study abroad, including exchange, courses may also count as Cornell credit (but not for Human Ecology credit).

Advanced Placement Credit

Students can earn advanced placement credit from one of the following:

1. The requisite score on a departmental examination at Cornell (usually given during orientation week) or on a College Entrance Examination Board (CEEB) achievement test. The requisite scores for the CEEB exams are determined by the relevant department at Cornell, vary by subject, and are listed in the beginning of this catalog. College-specific rules apply toward many AP courses such as biology, English literature, English composition, and statistics.
2. A regular course taught at an accredited college to college students and approved by the relevant department at Cornell. Some departments have delegated the review of courses to college staff according to guidelines they have formulated. Some departments review each request individually. Some departments accept credit from virtually all accredited colleges; some do not.
3. Credit from the International Baccalaureates (IB) is evaluated individually.
4. Refer to Cornell Credit Requirements for details on how many Advanced Placement (AP) credits can be applied toward the 120 credits needed for graduation.

Note: Cornell does not accept credit for courses sponsored by colleges but taught in high schools to high school students, at colleges if enrollment is targeted at high school students, or if the course was used toward high school credit. This is true even if the college provides a transcript of such work. These courses also may not be used to fulfill college requirements. Students who have taken such courses may, however, take the appropriate CEEB test to qualify for credit as in paragraph 1 above. For further information and limitations on Advanced Placement credit, see the front pages of this catalog.

Foreign Language Study and Placement

Students who studied a foreign language before coming to Cornell and who want to continue must take either the CEEB test in that language or a Cornell departmental language placement test. Students should contact the appropriate language department for testing schedules. Human Ecology students who plan to work with non-English–speaking people in this country or abroad often find it necessary to be proficient in another language. Many study abroad programs in non–English-speaking countries require the equivalent of two years of college-level language study.

Extramural Credit

Extramural credit is administered by the Office of Continuing Education and Summer Sessions (B20 Day Hall, (607) 255-4987). Extramural credit is charged by the credit hour at the endowed tuition rate. Students may count only 15 credits of extramural credit toward their degree requirements. A student may enroll for extramural credit during the fall or spring semester only if he or she is not registered in the College of Human Ecology. For example, some students enroll for extramural credit before matriculating at Cornell.

An exception to this rule is credit earned in the Ithaca College exchange program. Students enrolled in this program simultaneously maintains their status as students registered in the College of Human Ecology.

Math Requirement

Students may meet the college level requirement in one of the following ways.

• Any Cornell math course except MATH 1101 Calculus Preparation or MATH 1710 Statistical Theory and Application in the Real World.
  or
• Any Cornell statistics course
  or
• Score of 4 or 5 on the AP Calculus BC exam. (Other AP math credit could be used toward graduation credit but may not be used to meet the math requirement)

Notes:

• Departments may impose additional requirements for majors or specify courses within this requirement.
• Students entering as transfers may apply to have their statistics or math courses approved, but pre-calculus courses will no longer meet this requirement or receive graduation credit.