Qualifying for the Linguistics Major
The Linguistics Department has adopted a major qualification policy for linguistics and language studies majors that is intended to encourage students to take their performance in the gateway courses seriously and to help them lay a solid foundation for further course work in the major.
To qualify for the major, a student must pass two gateway courses with a grade of C+ or better in each:
- Gateway Course 1: LING 50 Introduction to Linguistics
- Gateway Course 2: One from LING 53, LING 101, LING 112, LING 171
The intention of this major qualification policy is to help students lay a solid foundation for further course work in the major by encouraging them to take their performance in the gateway courses seriously.
Students who are informed that they are not eligible to declare the major may appeal the decision within 15 days from the date the notification was mailed. They should do this by submitting a formal letter, addressed to the department Undergraduate Program Director, to the Linguistics Department office (Stevenson 241 and 243), or via email to ling@ucsc.edu. This letter should explain any extenuating circumstances that influenced their performance in the gateway courses. For example, if some event led to weaker performance in both courses in a single quarter, a student has a potential case for appeal. In contrast, academic dishonesty or poor performance spanning multiple quarters will be considered evidence that a student is ill-suited for the major. Within 15 days of receipt of the appeal, the department will notify the student of the decision.
