SRA Major Requirements

B.S., Security and Risk Analysis

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Major Options
Entrance to Major
Suggested Academic Plan
Prerequisite Flowchart
Support of Option Courses
Required Internship

Not Enrolling New Students

As of July 1, 2025, the B.S., Security and Risk Analysis program at University Park is no longer enrolling new students.

Students who were admitted to Penn State for fall 2025 or earlier can complete the B.S., SRA degree, with no change to their degree requirements. Please consult with your academic adviser to ensure that you are making timely progress towards your academic goals.
Prospective students should explore the college's other majors and connect with Undergraduate Recruiting to learn more.

Bachelor's Degrees

Options within this Major

Within the Security and Risk Analysis major, students must select from one of two options to further focus their studies:

: This option focuses on developing a more thorough knowledge of the strategic and tactical levels of intelligence collection, analysis, and decision-making. This includes examining the foundations of decision analysis, economic theory, statistics, data mining, and knowledge management, as well as the security-specific contexts in which such knowledge is applied.
: This option includes a set of courses that provides an understanding of the theories, skills, and technologies associated with network security, cyber threat defense, information warfare, and critical infrastructure protection across multiple venues.

Entrance to Major Requirements

An Entrance to Major requirement is a set of criteria that you must meet to officially be accepted into a specific major at Penn State. To enter the Security and Risk Analysis major, you must meet the entrance to major requirements below based on the semester you entered the University.

Enrolled in the College of IST pre-major (INFST_PMAJ) or Division of Undergraduate Studies (DUS)
Minimum 2.70 cumulative GPA
Earned between 40-70 cumulative credits at Penn State (excludes transfer/test/other credits)
Completed or currently taking entrance to major courses
Earned a grade of C or better in each of the following courses:
- IST 140 or CMPSC 101 or CMPSC 121
- IST 210
- SRA 111
- SRA 211

Achieved a minimum 3.0 cumulative GPA. Students who have completed or are in progress with all ETM courses and have a cumulative GPA of 2.7 or higher may be considered for an exception. Please use the link below to request a review of your academic records: https://app.smartsheet.com/b/form/ec9e1990222f47479773fac2a6056d8f
Enrolled in the College of IST pre-major (INFST_PMAJ) or Division of Undergraduate Studies (DUS)
Minimum 3.00 cumulative GPA
Earned between 40-70 cumulative credits at Penn State (excludes transfer/test/other credits)
Completed or currently taking entrance to major courses
Earned a grade of C or better in each of the following courses:
- IST 140 or CMPSC 101 or CMPSC 121
- IST 210
- SRA 111
- SRA 211

Suggested Academic Plan

Suggested Academic Plans are based on your semester of entry to Penn State and serve as a guide when scheduling courses. Work with your academic adviser and run “Academic Requirements” and “What If” reports in LionPATH to ensure that you are staying on track for graduation.

Prerequisite Flowchart

Prerequisite flowcharts visually represent the major's suggested academic plan including course prerequisites and sequencing. The flowcharts are intended to be used as a planning tool along with the Bulletin Suggested Academic Plan and the LionPath What-If and/or Academic Requirements reports.

Information and Cyber Security Intelligence Anaylsis and Modeling

Support of Option Courses

Support of option courses are designed to help you acquire knowledge in an application domain and develop supplemental knowledge and competencies related to your chosen option. It is recommended that you select courses in consultation with an academic adviser or faculty member.

The goal of support of option coursework is to add value to your degree and educational experience by taking courses around a cohesive theme. Your areas of focus could include business, manufacturing, health care, hospitality, art, telecommunications, geographic information systems, government, or any other field where information technology is used.

Intelligence Anaylsis and Modeling option
- Select 9 credits if you were admitted to Penn State in spring 2018 or before
- Select 15 credits if you were admitted to Penn State in summer 2018 or later
- Three credits or more must be at the 400 level
Information and Cyber Security option
- Select 9 credits if you were admitted to Penn State in spring 2018 or before
- Select 12 credits if you were admitted to Penn State in summer 2018 or later
- Three credits or more must be at the 400 level

Courses taken as part of a minor may be used to meet the support of option requirement
Not all courses are offered every semester
Courses with a single asterisk (*) have required prerequisites
Courses with a double asterisk (**) indicate that the course cannot be used for both the SRA General Education GS requirement and the Support of Option requirement
In addition to the courses below, students can take any of the following as Support of Option:
- Any 400-level SRA course not already being used as a major requirement
- Any 400-level PL SC course
- Any 400-level PSYCH course
- Any language sequence 1, 2, 3 if Foreign Language is not a requirement of your major (this is for students that are in the Summer 2018 plan requirement term or later).
- Any 400-level language for the 400-level Support of Option requirement

: ACCTG 211*
ACCTG 403W*
ACCTG 432*
ACCTG 471*
ACCTG 472*
ACCTG 473*
ACCTG 483*
BA 303*
BA 304*
BA 321*
BA 421*
MGMT 100
MGMT 301*
MGMT 326*
MIS 204
MIS 390*
MKTG 301*
MKTG 480*
: AMST 106
AMST 106N/COMM 100N
COMM 100
COMM 110
COMM 180
COMM 208N*
COMM 370*
COMM 401
COMM/STS 408*
COMM 411*
COMM 479*
COMM 484*
COMM 489
COMM 489W*
COMM 490*
: CMPSC 131 (if not used for a major requirement)
CMPSC 132 (if not used for a major requirement)
: ANTH/JST/PLSC/SOC 60
ANTH/JST/PLSC/SOC 60N
BBH 203
BBH 260
CRIM 012/SOC 12
CRIM 406*
CRIM 412*
CRIM 425*
CRIM/CRIMJ 100
CRIM 113/CRIMJ 113
CRIM/CRIMJ/SOC 406*
CRIM/CRIMJ/SOC 413*
CRIMJ/PLCS 439*
CRIMJ 455*
CRIMJ 462*
CRIMJ 465*
CRIMJ/HIST 469*
PSYCH 100**
PSYCH 221*
PSYCH 256*
PSYCH 260
PSYCH 270*
SOC 1
SOC 119
SOC 119N
SOC 208N*
SOC 405*
SOC 409*
SOC 416*
SOC 419*
SOC 422*
SOC 423*
SOC 424*
SOC 440*
SOC 457*
SOC 461*
SOC/CRIM/CRIMJ 467*
SOC 470*
: CYBER 100
CYBER 262*
CYBER 362*
CYBER 366*
CYBER 440*
: DS 200
DS 220*
DS 300*
DS 402*
DS 435*
: ECON 102
ECON 104
ECON 302*
ECON 304*
ECON 470*
ECON 474*
: ETI 300W*
ETI 435*
ETI 461*
ETI 463*

: PHIL 10
PHIL 103*
PHIL 105
PHIL 119
PHIL 12
PHIL 125
PHIL/STS 407*
PHIL 418*
PHIL/STS 233
PHIL/STS 233Z
: GEOG 10
GEOG 123
GEOG 160
GEOG 210
GEOG 260
GEOG 361*
GEOG 362*
GEOG 363*
: PLSC 3
PL SC 7
PL SC 7N
PLSC 17
PLSC 17N
PLSC 140
: IST 220 (IAM only)
IST 230*
IST 240*
IST 242*
IST 250
IST 256*
IST 261*
IST 301*
IST 302*
IST 311*
IST 331*
IST 361*
IST 389*
IST 402*
IST 411*
IST 412*
IST 413*
IST 420*
IST 421*
IST 423*
IST 425*
IST 442*
IST 451 (IAM only)
IST 452* (ICS only)
IST 453*
IST 454 (IAM only)
IST 456 (IAM only)
SRA 268* (ICS only)
: HIST 20
HIST 21
HIST 452*
PL SC 1**
PL SC 2*
PL SC 14**
: ANTH 9
ANTH 9N
HIST 165
HIST/J ST 181
HIST 473
J ST 118
: AIR 151
AIR 152
AIR 251
AIR 252
AIR 351
AIR 352
AIR 451
AIR 452
ARMY 101
ARMY 102
ARMY 203
ARMY 204
ARMY 301
ARMY 302
ARMY 401
ARMY 402
ARMY 496
NAVSC 101
NAVSC 102
NAVSC 103
NAVSC 201
NAVSC 202
NAVSC 204
NAVSC 301
NAVSC 302
NAVSC 311
NAVSC 313
NAVSC 322
NAVSC 401
NAVSC 402
NAVSC 411

Required Internship

Every B.S., Security and Risk Analysis student is required to complete at least one internship before graduating. For specific information and resources related to the internship requirement, which includes enrolling in the 1-credit IST 495 course, visit the Internship Program page.

Internship Program Overview

SRA Major Requirements

Not Enrolling New Students

Options within this Major

Entrance to Major Requirements

Suggested Academic Plan

Prerequisite Flowchart

Support of Option Courses

Required Internship

Questions? Contact us.

Legal Statements

SRA Major Requirements

Not Enrolling New Students

Options within this Major

Entrance to Major Requirements

Suggested Academic Plan

Prerequisite Flowchart

Support of Option Courses

Required Internship

Questions? Contact us.

Undergraduate Academic Advising

Legal Statements