Unique Academic Options

Penn undergraduates have a unique opportunity to receive two Bachelor's degrees simultaneously by completing the requirements of the College along with those of the Nursing School, the School of Engineering and Applied Science, or the Wharton School. A student pursuing the dual degree earns a B.A. from the College and a B.S. from Wharton or Nursing, or the B.S.E. or B.A.S. from Engineering.

It is important to distinguish between a double major and a dual degree program. A student pursuing a double major satisfies the requirements for two separate major programs within the College of Arts and Sciences, but earns a single B.A. degree. Aside from meeting the requirements of that department’s major, no special application process is required. On the other hand, a student pursuing a dual degree (DD) will receive two bachelor's degrees simultaneously, from two separate schools of the University. Any student may enroll at Penn and then apply for dual degree standing with another undergraduate school through a selective process. This happens at the end of the second, third or fourth semester.

Coordinated dual degree (CDD) programs are slightly different. They are set programs with established curricula. So instead of picking one school on the admissions application, you pick one of the CDD programs. The College collaborates with the Wharton School in offering two CDD programs to which students apply at the time of application to the University: the Huntsman Program in International Studies and Business (ISB); and the Vagelos Program in Life Sciences Management (LSM). The College collaborates with the School of Engineering and Applied Science in offering the brand new for 2012 Vagelos Integrated Program in Energy Research (VIPER); as well as the program in Computer and Cognitive Science: Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Supported by the Netter Center for Community Partnerships, Academically Based Community Service (ABCS) courses involve hands-on, real-world problem solving and work to build a sustained engagement that transforms students into active community members and citizens. Through their work with West Philadelphia public schools, communities of faith and community organizations, ABCS faculty and students work to solve critical community issues in a variety of areas, such as the environment, health, arts and education. Over 160 ABCS courses from diverse schools and disciplines across the University have engaged in work in West Philadelphia through the Netter Center for Community Partnerships.

The Benjamin Franklin Scholars are one of Penn’s most distinctive undergraduate communities. Each year, the group welcomes around 80 College freshmen into the Integrated Studies Program (ISP). Benjamin Franklin Scholars are selected based on their interest in, and demonstrated capacity for, a deep engagement in the liberal arts and sciences, both as ends in themselves and as engines of change in the world. With unique course offerings, and under the guidance of extraordinary faculty and advisors, students are encouraged to pursue, in the spirit of Franklin himself, our guiding principles of breadth, curiosity, and a tinkering habit of mind.

ISP provides the heart of the College freshman’s BFS experience. It is a rich introduction to the power of ideas in an innovative pair of two-credit courses, one taught in the fall of the freshman year, and another in the spring, which make up half of the typical course credits that Penn freshmen take. These courses fulfill a portion of the College’s General Education requirements, and provide a large piece of the solid foundation needed for any major area of study. In the spirit of great civilizations courses, they explore powerful ideas over the common ground of the liberal arts. Further, following the model of Franklin himself, they range more widely than an exploration of this or that canon of texts. Integrated Studies brings together the humanities, social sciences, and sciences in a coordinated set of explorations around the great ideas that continue to drive our understanding of the world and the human place in it.

Ambitious and highly motivated students interested in the molecular view of life should consider the Vagelos Scholars Program. Students begin as freshmen and major in two sciences or submatriculate for a Master of Science degree in the standard four years. Students in this program plan to pursue scientific research careers. Scholars are invited from the admitted pool of high school seniors at the beginning of April at the discretion of the faculty director and the admissions committee.

Submatriculation is a program that allows students in the College to obtain both a baccalaureate degree and a master's degree simultaneously, thereby condensing the total number of years normally required to complete the two degrees. Students are advised to complete at least one graduate level course in their intended program before applying for submatriculation, which normally occurs during the junior year.

Currently, students may submatriculate into many graduate programs in the following schools:

*Students in this program apply to Penn and matriculate into the College with a major in biology. They are eligible to submatriculate into the School of Dental Medicine after the third year if they complete specified College requirements and meet the admissions standards of the Dental School.

Freshman Seminars are optional, but incredibly popular, small courses taught by members of the faculty (including some from Penn's professional schools) and open exclusively to freshmen. They are rigorous and demanding, but with sufficient personal attention from the instructor to facilitate the student's adaptation to high academic expectations. Freshman Seminars tend to be focused in an area close to the instructor's research interests, although some departments offer seminar versions of introductory classes. Many students find the Freshman Seminars offer an excellent opportunity to explore areas not represented in high school curricula and to establish relationships with faculty members around areas of mutual intellectual interest.

Writing is an integral part of learning at any level. The College requires you to demonstrate proficiency in writing as part of your arts and sciences education. You fulfill the requirement by taking one Critical Writing seminar offered by many different departments including English, anthropology, history, music, philosophy and art history. These courses are designed to teach you the writing and critical thinking skills necessary for college-level work, but feature discussion, peer review, multiple drafting and revisions around a theme. This is not your typical college writing requirement!

Competence in a foreign language is essential for an educated person. Participation in the global community is predicated on the ability to understand and appreciate cultural difference, and nothing brings this more sharply into focus than the experience of learning a foreign language. You might want to continue a language you have already studied, or start a new language like Arabic, Hindi or Japanese—but Penn also offers lesser-taught languages like Uzbek and Hausa—and each of these languages is a mode of access to a fascinating culture and history. If you choose to start a language to fulfill the language requirement, you would need to complete four semesters at Penn.

Currently offered foreign and classical languages:

Akkadian, American Sign Language, Amharic, Arabic, Aramaic, Bengali, Cantonese, Chichewa, Chinese (Classical), Czech, Dutch, French, German, Greek (Classical), Greek (Modern), Gujarati, Hausa, Hebrew (Biblical), Hebrew (Modern), Hindi, Igbo, Irish Gaelic, Italian, Japanese, Judeo-Spanish, Kannada, Kinyarwanda, Korean, Late Egyptian, Latin, Malayalam, Mandarin, Marathi, Panjabi, Pashto, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Sanskrit, Shona, Spanish, Swahili, Swedish, Tagalog, Taiwanese, Tamil, Telugu, Thai, Turkish, Twi, Ukrainian, Urdu, Vietnamese, Wolof, Yiddish, Yoruba, and Zulu.

Society's most challenging problems can't be understood through the lens of a single discipline. It takes an understanding of biology, politics and religion to speak with authority about the use of embryonic stem cells in medical research. It's impossible to gauge the effectiveness of anti-terrorism efforts without knowing history, sociology and psychology.

Penn has long prided itself on the degree to which learning takes place outside of department and school boundaries. Our students are not limited by the traditional barriers placed on undergraduates at similar research universities. If you decide your philosophy major would be enhanced by taking courses in the Law School, or if there is only a graduate level course on a particular topic you are researching, or if you would like hands-on experience by working with artifacts in the University Museum, collecting oral histories in West Philadelphia, or teaching science in a local high school, there is nothing to stop you from doing so at Penn. This is how our approach diverges from some other universities, and why many students choose Penn.