A Guide To A&S Academic Requirements
This guide is designed to help students understand what courses they will need in order to graduate from Ohio University in a timely manner. This information provides a sense of how University General Education BRICKS requirements and College of Arts & Sciences requirements fit together over a four-year period.
There are three sets of academic requirements for graduation—many of which overlap.
These ensure that a student masters depth in a major as well as the breadth demanded by a dynamic global marketplace.
University Requirements BRICKS (General Education)
Ohio University has instituted a five–tiered General Education requirement that all baccalaureate degree students (except those in Honors Tutorial College) must fulfill.
- Foundation courses provide students with opportunities to learn to communicate effectively through writing, to reason quantitatively, and to build global and domestic intercultural knowledge and competence.
- Pillars courses provide students with opportunities to acquire subject-matter knowledge and learn the methods of inquiry associated with the humanities, natural sciences, and social sciences.
- Arches courses provide students with opportunities to explore a single topic through multiple liberal arts disciplines.
- Bridges courses provide students with opportunities to develop specific abilities frequently sought by employers and important to an educated society.
- Capstone courses provide students with opportunities to integrate and apply what you have learned throughout your learning journey.
More information is available in the OHIO BRICKS section of the Undergraduate Catalog.
In addition, students must earn a minimum of 120 semester hours and have a 2.00 GPA ("C" average overall) for graduation.
Arts & Sciences College Requirements
Major Requirements
The College offers two four-year degrees: the Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) and the Bachelor of Science (B.S.). The B.A. and B.S. degree programs differ in the language requirements and in specific major course requirements, as established by the departments.
The College also offers a wide menu of minors and certificates. A&S students can choose minors and certificates offered by any of Ohio University’s colleges.
- A student must complete one Arts & Sciences major—All students are assigned a faculty adviser in their major department. They must schedule a meeting with their adviser every term for the "advising hold" to be lifted so that they can register.
- For graduation, a student must have a 2.00 GPA in the major (not in each course unless minimum grade is mandated in the DARS)
College-Level Requirements
Foreign Language Requirement
- BA: Successfully complete 2120 (or place into 3110 or higher for waiver of the requirement)
- BS: Successfully complete 1120 (or place into 2110 or higher for waiver of requirement)
Humanities Area Requirement(9 semester hours)
Social Sciences Area Requirement(9 semester hours)
Natural Sciences Area Requirement(9 semester hours)
Level-of-Study Requirement—Minimum of 60 semester hours of A&S courses at the 2000 level and higher
Exploring the Arts & Sciences
There may be time to explore special interest elective courses from among the fun, recreational, and/or exploratory categories, without worrying about "falling behind." It takes all the pieces to make a pie! This advice is especially applicable during a student's first year or two—the best time to try a variety of academic disciplines on for size.
Depending upon major, there can be a great deal of free choice for selecting courses. Every credit earned applies in some way toward graduation hours. It is unnecessary to be overly concerned about how each and every course will count toward "requirements" that a student is denied the pure joy of taking a class or two for fun or to learn something new or unusual.
Science majors have to fulfill a sequence of courses that non-science majors do not. But, no matter the major, required A&S coursework is typically less than the total hours needed to graduate. These "elective" hours can be completely free choice or they may be dedicated to a second major, to a minor(s) and/or certificate(s) offered by departments across the university.
Not only is it possible to graduate from the College of Arts & Sciences in four years, it is also a fulfilling and memorable experience.