CAS: Earth & Environmental Sciences

Students who are interested in the Earth & Environmental Sciences major may contact Michael Coloumbe (coloumbe@bu.edu), CAS Academic Advisor, with questions.

Upon completion of the CGS program, students must have earned credit towards the following 10 courses:

• Humanities: 3 courses
  • Choose two from CGS HU 103, CGS HU 201, or CGS HU 202
  • CGS HU 104*
• Natural Sciences: 2 courses
  • CGS NS 201 and CAS BI 108**
• Rhetoric: 2 courses
  • CGS RH 103 and CGS RH 104*
• Social Sciences: 3 courses
  • Choose two from CGS SS 103, CGS SS 201, or CGS SS 202
  • CGS SS 104*

*Required course taken during the Summer term.
**CGS NS 201 fulfills the CAS BI 107 requirement. Earth & environmental sciences majors should take CAS BI 108 or another required science course in place of NS 202. CGS NS 202 will not count towards the major. Please note that students who are exempt from CGS NS 202 must enroll in at least one CGS course in Term 2 of sophomore year.

The major in earth & environmental sciences requires a total of 16 courses, all completed with a grade of ‘C’ or higher. Those 16 courses comprise three required core introductory courses; six required related mathematics and science courses; and seven approved principal electives, five of which must come from a single group (Ecosystems, Earth & Climate, or Earth Observations), and the remaining two of which must be chosen from outside that group. For required courses, please see the CAS Bulletin.

If you have Advanced Placement (AP), International Baccalaureate (IB) or other external credit, please see the Advanced Credit Guide.

• Completion of the CGS required courses and appropriate electives
• Cumulative GPA greater than or equal to 2.00

Boston University students completing a degree in CAS must also complete the following requirements. 

• BU Hub requirements
  • Students who take the specific CGS courses noted on the pathway above will fulfill all BU Hub requirements except the requirement listed below. These remaining Hub requirements will be fulfilled through the following courses:
  • Quantitative Reasoning II (1 requirement) fulfilled by CAS MA 124
  • Teamwork/Collaboration (2 requirements) fulfilled by CAS BI 108 and CAS PY 251/211
  • You will fulfill the remaining Hub requirements– Creativity/Innovation (1 requirement), Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy (1 requirement), and Writing-Intensive Course (1 requirement) – through the courses you take for your CAS major and/or other electives
• CAS requirements:
  • Second Language requirement
• Earth & environmental sciences major requirements
• CAS requires a minimum of 128 credits, excluding PDP, ROTC, and CAS FY and SY courses.