Students must complete the UC Entry-Level Writing or English as a Second Language (ESL) requirement prior to completing the school writing requirement.

Students admitted to the school are required to complete a two-term writing requirement—Writing I and Writing II. Two courses in English composition are required for graduation. Both courses must be taken for a letter grade, and students must receive a C or better grade in each (a C− grade is not acceptable).

Writing I

The Writing I requirement must be satisfied within the first three terms of enrollment by completing English Composition 3, 3D, 3DX, or 3E with a C or better grade (a C− or Passed grade is not acceptable).

The Writing I requirement may also be satisfied by scoring 4 or 5 on one of the College Board Advanced Placement Examinations in English; completing a course equivalent to English Composition 3 with a C or better grade (a C− or Passed grade is not acceptable) taken at another institution; or scoring 5, 6, or 7 on an International Baccalaureate Higher Level Examination.

Students whose native language is not English may need to take English Composition 1, 2, and 4 before enrolling in a Writing I course. All courses in the sequence must be passed with a C or better grade (a C− or Passed grade is not acceptable).

Writing II

The Writing II requirement must be satisfied within the first six terms of enrollment by completing one course from a faculty-approved list of Writing II courses; see the Registrar’s Writing II requirement web page for details. Courses that satisfy the requirement are denoted by a W suffix and are impacted. The course must be completed with a C or better grade (a C− or Passed grade is not acceptable).

Applicable Writing II courses may also fulfill the upper-division nonmajor requirement and, if approved for general education (GE) credit, may also fulfill a GE requirement.

Transfer students with 90 or more units who have completed the Intersegmental General Education Transfer Curriculum (IGETC) will have satisfied the Writing I and Writing II requirements. No transfer student is admitted to the school without completing, with a C or better grade (a C− grade is not acceptable), a college-level writing course that Undergraduate Admission accepts as equivalent to English Composition 3.