Major Requirements

Major Requirements

 

For students who entered Wellesley College prior to Fall 2023, a major in Media Arts and Sciences requires 12 units of course work, at least eight of which must be above the 100 level and at least two of which must be at the 300 level. No more than one can be 350 or 360. MAS majors are required to take: three introductory courses, at least three core studio art courses, and at least three core computer science courses. Students are also required to create and present an online portfolio by the Fall semester of their senior year.

Overview of the MAS Major

  • 3 units: Intro
  • 3 units: ARTS
  • 3 units: CS
  • 3 units: any three courses that are approved for MAS majors
    • Note: we recommend that MAS majors include one media production course and one media culture course as a part of the course planning. While these are not required, taking these courses will enrich your experience in the MAS program.

Flexibility has been built into the major to allow students to adapt their course of study to their interests. Majors may choose an optional concentration in either Media Arts (by taking two additional core studio art courses), or in Media Sciences (by taking two additional core computer science courses). Majors are also encouraged (not required) to take at least one approved media culture course and an advanced media production course.

In addition to other courses at Wellesley, students can take approved courses at the MIT's Media Lab and Comparative Media Studies program or at Olin College of Engineering. See sample ways to structure the major.

For questions about transfer credits, contact Jordan Tynes (jtynes@wellesley.edu).

Major requirements checklist.

 

Beginning with students who entered Wellesley College in Fall 2023, a major in Media Arts and Sciences requires 12 units of course work, at least eight of which must be above the 100 level and at least two of which must be at the 300 level. As one of their 300-level courses, students are required to take at least one of Capstone Courses as detailed in the section below. No more than one unit can be a 360. Independent studies (250/350) do not count towards the major. MAS majors are required to take: three introductory courses, at least three core studio art courses, and at least three core computer science courses. Students are also required to create and present an online portfolio by the Fall semester of their senior year.

Overview of the MAS Major

  • 3 units: Intro
  • 3 units: ARTS
  • 3 units: CS
  • 3 units: any three courses that are approved for MAS majors
    • Note: we recommend that MAS majors include one media production course and one media culture course as a part of the course planning. While these are not required, taking these courses will enrich your experience in the MAS program.

Flexibility has been built into the major to allow students to adapt their course of study to their interests. Majors may choose an optional concentration in either Media Arts (by taking two additional core studio art courses), or in Media Sciences (by taking two additional core computer science courses). Majors are also encouraged (not required) to take at least one approved media culture course and an advanced media production course.

In addition to other courses at Wellesley, students can take approved courses at the MIT's Media Lab and Comparative Media Studies program or at Olin College of Engineering. See sample ways to structure the major.

For questions about transfer credits, contact Jordan Tynes (jtynes@wellesley.edu).

Major requirements checklist.

Introductory Courses

There are three required introductory courses in the MAS major. One from Art History, Studio Art, and Computer Science respectively:

  • ARTH 100 The Power of Images: An Introduction to Art and its Histories or CAMS 101 Introduction to Cinema and Media Studies

  • Any ARTS 100 level course (or the equivalent CAMS courses)

  • CS/MAS 115 Computing for Socio-Techno Web 

 

Note:

If you have already taken CS 111, you may still take CS 115 as your introductory course.

If you've taken CS 111 and would like to opt out of CS 115, you may count CS 111 as your introductory course and must take CS 204 as one of your CS core courses.

ARTS (Studio Art) Courses

At least three required ARTS courses (at least five required for an emphasis in Media Arts) from the following:

CS (Computer Science) Courses

At least three required Computer Science courses (at least five required for emphasis in Media Sciences) from the following:

  • CS 111 Computer Programming and Problem Solving

  • CS 121  Intro to Game Design

  • CS 203 Computer Music

  • CS 204 Introduction to Front-End Web Development

  • CS 220 Human-Computer Interaction

  • CS 221  Digital Worlds for Gaming

  • CS 230 Data Structures

  • CS 232 Artificial Intelligence

  • CS 304 Databases with Web Interfaces

  • CS 305  Machine Learning

  • CS 307 Computer Graphics

  • CS 315 Web Search and Mining

  • CS 320 Tangible User Interfaces

  • CS 321  Mixed and Augmented Reality

  • CS 323 Social Computing

Capstone Courses

Beginning with students who enter Wellesley College in Fall 2023, at least one of the Capstone Courses is required. These courses are typically taken in senior year, but may be taken in a student's 3rd year, especially if they are planning to do a 360/370 thesis in their senior year.

Media Culture Courses

At least one Media Culture course is recommended (not required) from the following:

  • ARTH 225 Modern Art Since 1945

  • ARTH 226 History of Photography: From Invention to Media Age

  • ARTH 391 Persuasive Images

  • CAMS 201 Technologies of Film & Media

  • CAMS 210 Critical Histories of Computing: from Cybernetics to Social Media

  • CAMS 218 Theories of Media from Photography to the Internet

  • CAMS 222 "Being There": Documentary Film and Media

  • CAMS 272 The Ludic Imagination: Histories and Theories of Games and Play (note: course no longer offered)

  • CAMS 276  Media Publics (note: course no longer offered)

  • PHIL 222  Ethics of Technology

  • PSYC 218  Sensation and Perception

Production Courses

At least one Production course is recommended (not required) from the following (can be done in groups):

Honors may be supervised by members of the departments associated with the major in accordance with the requirements of the host department. Supervisors from other departments can be arranged by permission of the directors.

Note that beginning with students who enter Wellesley College in Fall 2023 and beyond, 250, 250H, 350, and 350H courses do not count towards the MAS major.

Honors Thesis

In addition to the College's Honors Thesis requirements and timeline, please see below for the MAS Program's guide to proposing and finishing a thesis. Students with an MAS/ARTS concentration are strongly encouraged to enroll in ARTS 317/318 during their thesis year and will be advised to do so by any studio art faculty supervising a thesis.

  • Spring of 3rd year: Identify a faculty member in the field of study you will be focusing on who has expertise in your research area and who can serve as your advisor.
  • Summer between 3rd and 4th year: Work with your advisor on your proposal and committee selection.
  • If the proposal is approved, student will be allowed to enroll in MAS 360.
  • Fall of 4th year: Prepare for and satisfactorily pass a midterm review organized by your advisor.
  • End of Fall of 4th year: Your advisor must notify the MAS co-directors of a satisfactory midterm review in order for the student to be allowed to enroll in MAS 370.
  • Spring of 4th year: Work with your advisor to organize your oral review at the end of the Spring semester (Students with an MAS/ARTS concentration will also participate in the Art Department's senior exhibition through their enrollment in ARTS 317/318)
Related Courses for MAS Credit

The courses listed below are representative of Wellesley and MIT courses that emphasize topics related to the MAS major. Students may include courses not listed below in their major with permission of the program directors.

  • ANTH 232 Anthropology of the Media

  • ANTH 246 From Glyphs to Bytes: Ancient Egypt and the Future of Digital Humanities

  • ARTH 222/MAS 222 Network Analysis for Art History

  • ARTH 373/CLCV 373 Antiquities Today: The Politics of Replication

  • CAMS 208/ENG 208 Writing for Television

  • CAMS 234/ENG 204 The Art of Screenwriting

  • CS 231 Fundamental Algorithms

  • CS 234 Data, Analytics, and Visualization

  • CS 242 Computer Networks

  • CS 332 Visual Processing by Computer and Biological Vision Systems

  • MUS 213  Video Games: Composition and Criticism

  • MUS 276  American Popular Music

  • MUS 300 History, Theory, Analysis and Ethnomusicology: Music and Sound in Video Games

  • PHIL 203 Philosophy of Art

  • SOC 231  Art, Media, and Culture (note: course no longer offered)

  • THST 200 That's What She Said: Trailblazing Women of American Comedy

  • THST 207 Stagecraft

  • THST 209 Scenic Design as Collaborative Art

MIT Courses

The MIT Media Lab and the MIT Comparative Media Studies Program offers a large variety of courses that may be appropriate for a MAS major. These offerings vary per semester; please consult the MIT catalog at student.mit.edu/catalog/mMASa.html and student.mit.edu/catalog/mCMSa.html.

Olin Courses

The Olin College of Engineering offers the following course that may be appropriate for a media arts and sciences major.

  • ENGR 2250 User-Oriented Collaborative Design

Online Portfolio

Students must create and present an online portfolio by the end of the Fall semester of their senior year. The website must showcase the student's work created over their time at Wellesley. The website should be expressive of your work, but also able to provide a good foundation for showing off any future work. Portfolios should include an "about" section and/or artist statement (if applicable) and a CV or other professional information. Additionally, a page for each individual work you want to highlight with detailed descriptions.