General Education Curriculum and Courses

The General Education curriculum at Geneseo dates to the early 1980s, when all degree candidates first began to take a "common core" of courses in natural science, social science, fine arts, humanities, and critical reasoning. The curriculum eventually grew to include a course in Non-Western traditions.

In 2000, critical reasoning was replaced by numeric/symbolic reasoning and a first-year course in critical writing/reading. At the same time, the curriculum grew again to include U.S. Histories and foreign language. (The required level of foreign language proficiency will increase for first-year students entering in or after Fall 2003, as described below.)

As a general rule, all current candidates for the Bachelor's degree at Geneseo must complete the General Education curriculum in its entirety.

Any student who is readmitted to Geneseo following withdrawal, resignation, or dismissal must complete all elements of the General Education curriculum in place at the time of readmission.

For more information on General Education, including minimum grade point requirements, please consult the Undergraduate Bulletin.

Advisors and students may wish to download a one-page General Education Advising Guide, viewable using Adobe's free Acrobat Reader.

THE GENERAL EDUCATION CURRICULUM

NATURAL SCIENCE (2 N/ lab courses from different departments) >>View list of courses	8 hrs

SOCIAL SCIENCE (2 S/ courses from different departments) >>View list of courses	6 hrs

FINE ARTS (2 F/ courses from different departments) >>View list of courses	6 hrs

You may not use a course offered by your major department to complete the Natural Science, Social Science, or Fine Arts Area.

WESTERN HUMANITIES (required 2-semester sequence: Humn 220/221)	8 hrs

CRITICAL WRITING/READING (required freshman course: Intd 105) >>View current course descriptions	3 hrs

NON-WESTERN TRADITIONS (1 M/ course) >>View list of courses	0-3 hrs

NUMERIC/SYMBOLIC REASONING (1 R/ course) >>View list of courses	0-4 hrs

U.S. HISTORIES (1 U/ course) >>View list of courses	0-3 hrs

You may use courses offered by your major department to complete the Non-Western Traditions (M/), Numeric/Symbolic Reasoning (R/), and U.S. History (U/) Areas. In addition, an M/, R/, or U/ course that also satisfies N/, S/, or F/ may be counted toward both areas.

FOREIGN LANGUAGE A. Any student who matriculates before Fall 2003 must demonstrate proficiency in one foreign language through the 102 level. B. Any student who begins a degree program at Geneseo or elsewhere in or after Fall 2003 must demonstrate proficiency in one foreign language through the 201 level. >>View ways to demonstrate proficiency	0-9 hrs

Note: The numbers in the right-most column of the table represent the credit hours allotted to each requirement. For the four "other general education requirements" (Non-Western, Numeric/Symbolic Reasoning, U.S. Histories, Foreign Language), the numbers are subject to variation. Hence designations such as "0-4." This variation has several sources:

Foreign Language. If a student tests out of the requirement with a non-credit-yielding exam (Regents or local placement exam, as opposed to AP), the student fulfills the requirement without earning Geneseo credit hours.
Non-Western, Numeric/Symbolic Reasoning, U.S. Histories. If a student fulfills one of these requirements with a course that does double duty by (a) simultaneously fulfilling a common core requirement (Social Science or Fine Arts) or (b) simultaneously fulfilling a requirement of the major, the credit hours are attached either to the core requirement or to the major requirement rather than to U.S. Histories, Numeric/Symbolic, or Non-Western.
Numeric/Symbolic Reasoning. A student may fulfill this requirement with either a 3-credit or a 4-credit course, depending on the student's high school preparation and the requirements of the student's major.