The major in sociology and social thought requires a minimum of 27 semester hours (not including SOC 101), including SOC 390 and 391, either SOC 317 or PSY 385, either SOC 306 or 319, and 15 hours of electives chosen from sociology courses, or from other courses approved by the sociology program director.  Non-sociology courses which are approved as in-major electives will be specified in the course listings each semester.  At least one of these electives must be at the 400 level.  Majors must also pass a written comprehensive exam during their senior year.  Students who take SOC 575, complete an "A-level" thesis and comprehensive exam, and have at least a 3.400 grade-point average in their SST major will graduate with honors in sociology and social thought.

A course in statistics (e.g., PSY 209) is also strongly recommended as background for graduate study, but such a course may be counted for the major only if the student is not pursuing a second major or a minor which includes a statistics course.