Undergraduate Program

For students who have knowledge of a language other than English and are interested in studying literature within cultural, socioeconomic, historical, and political context, Comparative Literature offers stimulating coursework and a useful B.A. As a major Comparative Literature provides a flexible, multicultural and interdisciplinary general education by allowing students to take courses in multiple departments.

Comparative Literature gives students the intellectual tools to analyze literature, the arts and culture from a variety of psychological and philosophical perspectives and it prepares them for careers in areas such as law, business, publishing, or teaching.

The Major:

Prerequisites for a Major in Comparative Literature:

Two courses from the Comparative Literature 1, 2 or 4 series (with approval of the director of undergraduate studies, a comparable lower division course in another department may be substituted for one of the courses)
Completion of the College Writing requirement.
Literary proficiency in at least one language other than English, to be demonstrated by successful completion of either (1) two years of the college language sequence or its equivalent or (2) an upper division literature course in the original language.

Transfer Students:

Transfer applicants to the Comparative Literature major with 90 or more units must complete as many of the following introductory courses as possible prior to admission to UCLA: one English composition course, two literature survey courses, at least one of which is world literature, and the equivalent of at least one year of foreign language.

Requirements for a Major in Comparative Literature: (PDF worksheet)

Five upper division courses in Comparative Literature (including CL 100)
Three upper division literature courses using original language texts in the major language area (such as Spanish, English, Chinese, Korean, Armenian, Classics, Russian, Hebrew, Arabic, Japanese, Polish, or Greek)
Two upper division literature courses using original language texts in the minor language area

The Minor:

The Comparative Literature minor offers students interested in literature and the humanities the opportunity to gain insight into the critical problems and theories addressed by comparative literature and to apply that knowledge in literature and comparative literature courses

Prerequisites for a Minor in Comparative Literature:

Completion of the College Writing requirement.
Overall GPA of 2.0 or better.
Completion of at least one year (or equivalent) of a language other than English.
File a petition with either the faculty or staff undergraduate adviser. (See contact information below.)

Requirements for a Minor in Comparative Literature: (PDF worksheet)

Four upper division courses in Comparative Literature (or one lower division and three upper division).
Two upper division courses in one literature in the original language (may include English).
One upper division course in a second literature in the original language.
If students complete two upper division courses in a language other than English, they may petition to take one upper division course taught in English translation to fulfill the third requirement.

Honors Program:

The honors program is open to Comparative Literature majors with a 3.5 departmental and a 3.25 overall grade-point average. Eligible interested students should contact the undergraduate adviser to enter the program.

Honors candidates must complete all requirements for the major and an honors research paper (in addition to regular course requirements) in two of the four required upper division comparative literature courses. Students must also complete Comparative Literature 198 with a core faculty member in which they write a senior honors thesis of approximately 25 pages.

Comparative Literature also works well for students interested in taking courses abroad through UCLA's Education Abroad Program, and suits students wishing to takes double majors or a major and minor.

Recent graduates have been accepted into Harvard, Cornell, and USC Law Schools, while others have been admitted into graduate studies at Berkeley, Columbia, Indiana, Irvine, and UCLA. Some students have gone on to teach on the secondary level, while others are in publishing in New York.

For more information, we strongly recommend that you contact:

Professor Katherine King
Comparative Literature, Faculty Undergraduate Advisor
354 Humanities Building
(310)825-5071
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Michelle Anderson
Comparative Literature, Student Affairs Officer
350B Humanities Building
(310) 825-7650
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