General Education
General Education, commonly called GE but also known as Distribution Requirements on some campuses, refers to a group of courses that all students must take, regardless of their majors. At some colleges, all students are required to take exactly the same courses; at other schools students may choose courses from common areas. You will begin taking these GE courses your first term in college, whether you go to a junior college or a four-year school.
The GE slice of the pie is intended to provide you with a well-rounded undergraduate education. It usually includes basic courses in English, history and government, natural sciences and mathematics, social sciences and humanities, possibly a foreign language, and courses designed for lifelong enjoyment, such as art appreciation or physical education. Some colleges may also require you to take courses in computer science as part of GE.
GE is intended to broaden your interests and understanding rather than to address your career goals directly. Students who are particularly career-oriented may resent having to "waste time" in GE courses since they can't see where GE will help them get a job. A well-rounded education does have career benefits, although they may not always be immediately apparent.
GE may constitute the largest slice of the academic pie, taking up between one-third and two-thirds of the units required for graduation. The exact pattern and number of units required in GE for graduation varies from one school to another. We will describe each of these GE areas and why they will benefit you.
English and Composition Requirements: Some athletes feel that their physical skills speak for them. But this is shortsighted and unrealistic. Athletic skills and reputation fade far more quickly than anyone would like or expect. In any field, people who can communicate their ideas well will have an advantage over those who can't.
Communicating well isn't just knowing proper grammar and putting sentences together correctly. Good communication also means knowing how to develop thoughts, how to build an argument, and how to analyze and understand what other people say and write. Whether or not they teach English, professors often reduce students' grades for poor language skills. Take care of your English requirements as soon as possible. You are sure to benefit in your other classes as a result.
Think of your college-level English requirement this way: The more you dread it, the more you probably need it and the better it will be for you in the long run. Rather than seeing the English requirement as a hurdle, consider it an opportunity-maybe your last one-to get some help in developing your ability in the English language.
On the other hand, some students enter college with strong English skills. If your skills are strong enough, you may be exempt from the Basic English requirement. One of the more common ways that students gain exemption from the English requirement is to make a high enough grade (4 or 5) on the English Advanced Placement test that is administered by the Educational Testing Service (ETS). The College-Level Examination Program (CLEP) and the American College Testing Program (ACT) exams also may exempt you from English or other core requirements if you earn high enough scores. Even if you are exempt from Basic English, we suggest that you take an intermediate or advanced composition course as an elective. Communication is as important as any skill you'll develop in college. It can always stand improvement.
Good Citizenship: The history and government courses all students must take are sometimes called the good-citizenship requirements. This suggests that if students know how their society has developed and how it works, they are more likely to support it as good citizens. Whether or not this is the case, all schools recognize that history and government contribute to an understanding of the social system in which we must function and so require a course or two in each. State-supported colleges often insist that students also include a course in state arid local government.
Natural Science and Math: At least one term, and often more, of a natural science is required of all undergraduates. Students can usually take their pick among biology, chemistry, physics, geology, geography, astronomy, and other natural or fife sciences. Non-science majors may be required to take a science course that includes a laboratory component in order to ensure that they have some hands-on experience with the scientific method of investigation and problem solving.
Some schools insist that a formal mathematics subject (e.g., algebra, trigonometry, calculus) be used to fulfill the mathematics requirement. Others consider this requirement to be more in the order of improving your reasoning or computational skills and so allow students to fulfill the math requirement with courses in statistics and computer science. The purpose of this area of GE is to ensure that all students learn skills to help them make decisions through the logical, systematic analyses that these courses teach.
Social Science and Humanities: Courses in sociology, psychology, anthropology, communication studies, ethnic and women's studies, law, economics, philosophy, and the arts are usually included in this area, as are the disciplines of history and political science. These subjects will help you understand the nature of social and cultural institutions and how people relate to each other as individuals and in small or large groups.
Foreign Language: The foreign language requirement is making a comeback after years of disregard. Even beyond the obvious benefits of knowing another language (including increased employment marketability), studying another tongue can help you with your English skills. Many of us paid little attention to grammar when we learned English. But in order to learn another language as an adult, you have to understand its grammar, and in learning grammar you begin to understand your own language better. If you are faced with a foreign language requirement, you may feel like avoiding it for as long as possible (maybe hoping it will go away). We suggest the opposite: take it as early as possible in order to help you with your English skills.
Other GE Requirements: This category includes those courses-physical education, dance, drama, art, photography, etc.-designed to enrich the quality of your life through health and cultural activities. Any course credit coming to you from intercollegiate athletics will fall in this category, if it fits into GE at all.
Your Major
Whereas GE is designed to educate broadly in areas you might ordinarily avoid, a major-the second slice of your academic pie-lets you select a particular area of interest and allows you to dig deeply into it. Majors vary widely in the number of units required. Some liberal arts majors (such as psychology, history, or art) may require only about 30 units, while majors in applied or professional areas (such as engineering or nursing) may require more because of prerequisites needed before major courses can be taken. The exact unit requirements vary from school to school.
"Finding yourself is the best use you could make of your first year or two in college. If you come to college undecided about a major field of study, use your General Education courses and electives (discussed below) to poke around in various subject areas. A course in psychology, one in business, another in computer science, another in history, and one in English would give a student looking around for a major a very nice spread of subject areas from which to choose. During the next term, courses might be taken in social science, art or drama, government, math, and a natural science (geology, biology, etc.).
The simplest and probably the most important piece of advice we can give you on selecting a major is that whatever you choose to major in, you should enjoy it. You should want to study it. While taking courses in your major field, you might be thinking about how to apply the knowledge and ideas you are gaining toward your future career, although this isn't necessary. Few college students have an accurate, concrete conception of how their major studies apply to the wide variety of related jobs they might enter. Besides, people tend to change jobs and even career directions several times throughout their working lives.
Most students change majors during college. Is this bad? Does it mean you don't have stick-to-itiveness? Not at all. To change majors simply means your interests have changed, your first choice wasn't carefully considered, or you are finding out more about yourself. Changing majors may set back your timetable for getting your degree, but it is better than continuing in a major that no longer interests you. The NCAA, in its attempt to tighten up eligibility rules governing academic progress of athletes, is considering rules to make sure that enough units apply to the student-athlete's major. But even the NCAA is trying to build into these new rules a formula that won't penalize students who want to change majors.
Electives
The third slice of your academic pie includes the units you will have to take beyond your GE and major courses. This slice is sometimes called your electives, which you may use in a number of different ways. A minor might fit in nicely here, or even a second major, especially if both majors you are considering are "light" (i.e., require relatively few units). Another way to treat this third slice is to use it for those courses that you've always wanted to take but that don't fit into GE or your major. The only requirement for this third slice is that it be used to take enough units to give you at least the minimum number needed to graduate.
Some majors require a minor, which necessarily will cut into the third slice. For example, a criminal justice major who is specializing in forensic science, might be required to take a chemistry minor. Or, a major in business administration with a specialization in international business might need to minor in a foreign language.
Your major may not actually require you to have an official minor but may still direct you to take several courses in a second area; for example, computer science majors often must take several courses in mathematics and statistics. In that situation, you might consider taking an additional course or two in this secondary area in order to earn an official minor, which is noted on your transcript. Officially declaring a minor could make you more marketable upon graduation because it attests that you have gained specific knowledge in a second field.
You may dip into many departments to find electives to satisfy your own educational interests or to help in career preparation. For example, if you contemplate a career in business, you may benefit from courses in psychology, political science, math, foreign languages, and even philosophy (an important tool for problem solving). Many students find that taking a broad range of electives is the best strategy for developing career potential, because they can pick the combination of courses from several academic departments that will help most in a given field of work. This is called course clustering.
Don't feel that you have to aim for the minimum number of units required for graduation. Nothing (except, possibly, time and money) prevents you from taking more than that minimum. Taking extra units could turn out to be a wise and profitable decision in the long run, because you are using them to accumulate knowledge and skills that will help you in the future.
Other Graduation Requirements
Graduation requirements involve more than the number of units required in GE, your major, and electives. These other requirements include: a minimum number of upper-division units, to ensure that you didn't take the easy way with a light major and a bagful of relatively unchallenging lower-level courses; and a minimum number of units in residence, to ensure that your degree bearing the school's name was derived largely from credits earned there. The residence requirement does not refer to where you live (on campus or off campus) but rather to your status of being enrolled and taking courses at that school. The residence requirement usually concerns only those who have transferred and spent less than two years at the school where they intend to graduate, but students who have earned credits through more than one off-campus program may be affected as well.
