The McDaniel Plan

A. First Year Seminar FYS (one course). First Year Seminar focuses on developing fundamental skills that are necessary for academic success: critical thinking, effective writing, analytic reading, and oral communication. It also serves as an introduction to important dimensions of college life: the First Principles, the Honor System, academic expectations and regulations, study skills and time management.

B. Introduction to College Writing CW (one or two courses). All first-year students will be given introductory instruction in writing. Students will be placed in either ENG 1002 College Composition or ENG 1101 Introduction to College Writing: The Argument. Students must complete ENG 1101 with a grade of “C” or higher. If a student does not earn a grade of “C”, he or she must take the course again by the end of the sophomore (2nd) year and earn a grade of “C” or better.
Incoming students who have earned scores of 700 or higher on the SAT verbal test or SAT II English will satisfy the first-year writing requirement, but no additional credits will be awarded for SAT scores. Students having taken higher-level IB exams in English with scores of at least 5 or higher will satisfy the first-year writing requirement.

C. Global Citizenship (three courses) To fulfill the Global Citizenship requirement, students must take one course with a multicultural focus and two courses with an international or cross-cultural focus.

• One course with a multicultural focus (MC). Multicultural education will give students an understanding of the cultural pluralism of American society. Multicultural courses focus on the cultures and experiences of diverse groups in the United States or elsewhere that have been historically subordinated or marginalized and defined by such categories as race, gender, sexuality, class, religion, and disability.
• Two courses that examine the perspectives and customs of cultures outside the U.S. or the relationship between the U.S. and foreign cultures (IW). One of these courses must be international non-western (IN), dealing with the cultures of Asia, Africa, or the indigenous Americas.

D. Second language SL. McDaniel students must demonstrate proficiency in a second language by one of the following:

• placing above the third semester of college-level language instruction through an approved language proficiency examination
• completing a second-semester elementary level language course, e.g. HUN 1102 Elementary Hungarian II
• completing an approved program of second language in a study abroad program
• Second language study will not be required of students who are demonstrably proficient in a language other than English.

Students whose native language is other than English are exempt from this requirement; however those students must complete the TOEFL requirement.

F. Departmental Writing Requirement. Students will further develop their abilities in writing through a program of departmental writing. Each department or major program at the College provides a course or courses or a strategy to develop writing skills appropriate for its majors. Students must complete the requirement in Departmental Writing as indicated in their declared major. In some cases, this is incorporated into the course requirements for the major; in other cases, it is in addition to the requirements for the major.

G. Critical Inquiries in the Liberal Arts (altogether seven courses). Critical Inquiry courses explore vital areas of knowledge. They focus on key practices and methodologies that are central to the academic search for knowledge and are designed to advance the capacity for clear, critical and creative thinking and communication. Students must take a total of seven courses in Critical Inquiries. Although some courses may count toward several different categories, a given course may be used in fulfillment of only one category. No more than three Critical Inquiry courses from a student’ s major may count toward the Critical Inquiry requirement.

• Scientific Inquiry and Quantitative Reasoning (three courses). Students must take three courses in Scientific Inquiry and Quantitative Reasoning: these three must include at least one course in Quantitative Reasoning (QR) and one in Scientific Inquiry that includes an approved laboratory component (SIL). Student must be aware that they first need to pass the Mathematics Proficiency Exam in Arithmetic and Basic Algebra, which is a prerequisite for courses that satisfy the distribution requirement in Quantitative Reasoning (MAT 1107 College Algebra or STA 2215 Introduction to Statistics).
• Social, Cultural and Historical Understanding (two courses). Courses in Social, Cultural and Historical Understanding (SCH) explore the richness of human experience. These courses examine the myriad dimensions of human experience and achievement- ethical, historical, political, psychological, religious and social – and teach students the methods of research and theoretical analysis necessary for the study of individuals, societies and cultures.
• Textual Analysis and Creative Expression (two courses). Human creativity may be defined and explored from a broad range of disciplinary perspectives – the humanities, sciences and the fine arts. Courses in this category require students to examine creativity from different perspectives. Textual analysis courses (TA) focus on the interpretation of written texts. Creative Expression courses (CE) focus on the interpretation of creative texts or products, or on the reflective participation in the creative process itself. Students must take one course in Textual Analysis and one course in Creative Expression.

Please note! Major courses with McDaniel Plan designations can be used to satisfy the distribution requirements of the McDaniel Plan as well. Under Critical Inquiry, however, no more than three major courses may be counted toward its categories and a given course may be used in fulfillment of only one category. Courses with dual or several McDaniel Plan designations may be used to fulfill several distribution requirements of the McDaniel Plan at the same time.