Guidelines for Completing the General Education Program
General Education courses are grouped into five curricular areas:
Each curricular area offers a choice between two course clusters that include several foundation courses and a larger number of second-level courses. You choose two courses in each curricular area - one foundation course and one second-level course in the same cluster (6 credit hours in area 1, 2, 3, and 4; 7 credit hours in area 5). General Education foundation courses differ from traditional survey courses by integrating perspectives and skills essential to a complete education.
To successfully complete the program, you will need to follow these guidelines:
- Select two courses from one of the two clusters in a curricular area, a foundation course followed by a more specialized second-level course.
- Register for your selected courses in sequence, the foundation first followed by the second-level in a subsequent semester.
- Do not take more than two courses in any one dicipline. A discipline is defined by the subject designator in the course number, such as "HIST" or "ANTH."
- Do not count courses that fulfill the college writing or university mathematics requirements in the two-course limit for a discipline.
- If you have placed at or below Finite Mathematics, be sure to satisfy the university mathematics requirement before enrollig in a foundation course in curricular area 5, the Natural Sciences.
- Pass courses with a grade of D or higher to gain General Education credit, or opt to take the course for a pass/fail grade - but note that courses taken for major or minor credit might require different grade standards.
- Once registered at American University, take all your General Education courses here. After that point, you may not transfer courses from another institution or substitute any courses outside the program.
