General Education Requirements

Courses must be taken for a letter grade and may not be taken on a pass/no pass basis unless the course is only offered on a pass/no pass basis. You must complete all courses with a C- or better. With the exception of Spark Seminar, lower and upper division common course requirements may be shared with your major, concentration, or minor requirements. They can also be shared with the Intellectual Experience Badges. All courses will include a project that can be uploaded to your ePortfolio.

Lower Division Common Course Requirements

I. Spark Seminar

The Spark Seminar introduces first-year students to life at a research university. It asks you to focus on the nature of inquiry by exploring a particular topic over the course of the semester, engaging with campus and local resources, generating research questions, and presenting original ideas in writing and other forms of communication. Spark seminars may be taken concurrently with either WRI 001 or WRI 010 .

The Spark Seminar must be completed with a C- or better, prior to the start of the third regular (Fall/Spring) semester. Students may enroll in Spark Seminar either the Summer before or after their first year, subject to course availability.

SPRK 001: Spark Seminar Units: 4

II. Written Communication

Designed to help you develop your college-level skills in effective use of language, analysis and argumentation, organization, and strategies for creation, revision and editing.

WRI 010: College Reading and Composition Units: 4

III. Quantitative Reasoning

For some of you, mathematics and statistics will be an essential tool for mastering a field in depth. For others, you will build your ability to understand how quantitative methods are applied in society to support arguments and solve problems.

ECON 010: Statistical Inference Units: 4
ENGR 097: Engineering Service Learning I Units: 2
MATH 011: Calculus I Units: 4
MATH 021: Calculus I for Physical Sciences and Engineering Units: 4
PHIL 005: Introduction to Logic Units: 4
POLI 010: Understanding Political Controversies Units: 4
PSY 010: Analysis of Psychological Data Units: 5
SOC 010: Statistics for Sociology Units: 4

IV. Language

The study of language exposes you to different ways of structuring thought. You can complete the language requirement one of four ways:

Coursework: Complete one of the following courses.
- BIOE 021: Computing for Bioengineers
- CHN 002: Elementary Chinese II
- CSE 020: Introduction to Computing I
- CSE 021: Introduction to Computing II
- CSE 022: Introduction to Programming
- FRE 002: Elementary French II
- JPN 002: Elementary Japanese II
- ME 021: Engineering Computing
- SPAN 002: Elementary Spanish II
- SPAN 010: Spanish for Heritage Speakers I
- SPAN 011: Spanish for Heritage Speakers II
- Completing a specific language and culture program or course through UC Education Abroad Program
- Completing an equivalent language course, including American Sign Language, at another institution. See your Academic Advisor.
Campus based test: Passing the campus-administered Foreign Language test demonstrating proficiency equivalent of one year of college foreign language.
Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate Exams: Earning appropriate scores on an AP/IB Exam.
- Score of 3, 4 or 5 on one of the following College Board AP exams: Chinese Language and Culture, French Language and Culture, German Language and Culture, Italian Language and Culture, Japanese Language and Culture, and Spanish Language and Culture; or
- Score of 5, 6 or 7 on one of the Higher Level IB exam in a foreign language or literature; or
- Score of 3, 4 or 5 on the College Board AP Exam in Computer Science A
High School Coursework: Completing the third year of one language in high school with a course GPA of at least C.

Upper Division Common Course Requirements

I. Crossroads Course

Like the Spark Seminar, the Crossroads course will focus on a specific topic but from an interdisciplinary perspective. It emphasizes different, yet complementary, disciplinary approaches, methods, and assumptions, and provides you with an opportunity for research and analysis.

A complete list of courses that satisfy this requirement can be found here.

II. Writing in the Discipline

This upper division requirement can be satisfied either with a designated writing course or a writing-intensive course in the major. The focus is on how to write for a particular field. A one-credit lab course attached to another course may also satisfy this requirement if the primary focus of the lab is writing.

A complete list of courses that satisfy this requirement can be found here.

III. Culminating Experience

Intended to be completed as part of your major, the Culminating Experience requirement may be fulfilled through a traditional capstone course, senior or advanced seminar, service-learning course, portfolio, or other methods your faculty choose to integrate learning in the program.

A complete list of courses that satisfy this requirement can be found here.

Approaches to Knowledge

Courses in this area introduce you to the different ways disciplines (and broad branches of knowledge) ask questions and think about the world. The Approaches to Knowledge requirement is divided into two areas: Area A and Area B. You are required to take three courses in each area, for a total of six courses. These courses are intended to also count towards major requirements.

I. AREA A: Natural and Engineering Science

You must take three courses in the area of Natural and Engineering Science. At least one course must be from Natural Sciences and one course must be from Engineering Sciences.

A complete list of courses that satisfy this requirement can be found here.

II. AREA B: Social Science, Arts and Humanities

You must take three courses in the area of Social Science, Arts and Humanities. At least one course must be from Social Science and one course must be from Arts and Humanities.

A complete list of courses and experiences that satisfy this requirement can be found here.

Intellectual Experience Badges

These required Badges can be achieved in courses, including required Quantitative Reasoning, Language, Crossroads, Writing in the Discipline, and Integrative Culminating Experience General Education courses. They can also be achieved in Approaches to Knowledge courses, courses in the major, minor and elective courses. In addition, these Intellectual Experience Badges can be fulfilled in the co-curriculum. Courses and co-curricular activities can be used to satisfy more than one Intellectual Experiences Badges, but not more than two.

To emphasize the ways GE is part of the entire curriculum, at least three of the courses used to fulfill Intellectual Experience Badges must be upper division. The Crossroads course and the Integrative Culminating Experience in the major satisfy two of these upper division requirements.

Courses taken to achieve Badges must be taken for a letter grade and may not be taken on a pass/no pass basis unless the course is only offered on a pass/no pass basis. You must complete all courses with a C-or better. Similarly, all co-curricular experiences must be successfully completed to satisfy the Badge. All courses and co-curricular experiences will include a project that can be uploaded to your ePortfolio.

The required Intellectual Experiences are:

1. Scientific Method

Learn how the scientific method leads to new knowledge about the natural world by collecting and integrating previous knowledge using empirical evidence.

A complete list of experiences that satisfy this requirement can be found here .

2. Literary and Textual Analysis

Learn how language creates meaning and ambiguity.

A complete list of experiences that satisfy this requirement can be found here .