Upper Division Course Substitutions

The Political Science major requires that students complete ten (10) upper division courses. 8 of these must be “departmental” courses. Non-departmental courses do not count towards the concentration requirement except where explicitly noted below.

  1. All upper division courses offered through our department during the regular academic year and summer session count as departmental.
  2. Political science courses taken at the CAPPP (Center for American Politics and Public Policy) program in Washington, D.C. count towards the ten required upper division courses. These are UCLA Poli Sci courses, so these courses count as departmental.
  3. Up to 2 Political science courses taken at the UC Center Sacramento (taken through UC Davis) count towards the ten required upper division courses. These count as departmental.
  4. Only the following upper division courses from outside Political Science count towards the ten required upper division Political Science courses. These courses do not count as departmental, except in the cases noted below.
  5. All courses below must be taken under the exact course title, number, and professor.
  6. If the courses below do not show up as a Political Science requirement on your degree audit report, please contact one of the Political Science undergraduate advisors.

Click here to view the list of approved major course substitutions.

  1. Study abroad classes classified as “Political Science” by UCEAP may be counted for upper-division credit but do not count as departmental for our major course requirements. If you are interested in taking one of these courses, please submit a petition for the course prior to enrolling in the course to see if it can be applied to your Political Science major.
  2. Courses taken in political science departments at other universities in the United States may be petitioned for credit, but these petitions are subject to the high standards of the UCLA Political Science department and do not count as departmental. 
  3. Courses taken prior to Fall of 2020 count for political science credit under the rules that were in place at that time. In other words, if the Political Science Department granted major credit for a class, even if it exceeded two classes in a non-departmental category at that time, that credit will be respected.

Submitting a petition

Substitutions are considered on the basis of content, demonstrated engagement of original texts, and the level of rigor of the course.

Submitting a petition with substantial evidence that addresses how the course resembles an existing political science course and demonstrates that it has significant political science content, will increase your odds of your petition being approved.

Please provide a half page to 1-page request that addresses those elements.

Some components from the syllabus you will submit that would benefit you include:

  • Course Description
  • Required Assignments
  • Required Readings
  • Course Schedule

If a syllabus does not include most or all the information stated above, approval may be denied.

This is decided on a case-by-case basis.

Note: Petitions take 6 – 8 weeks to be processed.

Once you have filled out your petition, please submit your petition online via our Google Form by clicking HERE.

Please make sure your petition is complete by providing the following:

  1. Complete and filled out major course petition sheet
  2. A request that is at least half a page in length
  3. PDF copy of your course syllabus

ALL DOCUMENTS MUST BE COMPILED INTO ONE PDF DOCUMENT.

Incomplete petitions will be sent back or instantly denied.