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General Education Requirements for First-Year Students

Please review the options below to learn how these requirements apply to you as a first-year student. These requirements include courses in areas such as writing, natural sciences, humanities, fine arts, and disciplinary breadth

 

Dimensions of Culture (3 courses)

Students are required to complete a three-quarter core sequence entitled Dimensions of Culture: Diversity, Justice, and Imagination. This three-course core sequence must be taken for a letter grade.

As a three-course sequence, DOC 1: Reading Diversity, DOC 2: Arguing Justice, and DOC 3: Imagination offer intensive instruction in university-level expository writing. Students entering as first-years are expected to fulfill this writing requirement within the first two years of residency and must complete the DOC sequence at UCSD (no exceptions).

All students must satisfy the UC Entry Level Writing Requirement (ELWR) before enrolling in DOC 2 and DOC 3. First-year students who do not take DOC 1 in fall quarter are advised to complete DOC 1, 2, and 3 in their second year.

Transfer Students: Please see the 'GE Requirements for Transfer Students' section below before enrolling in DOC 1, DOC 2, or DOC 3.

Learn more about the Dimensions of Culture program

DOC 1 - Diversity (4 units)
Fall Quarter only

DOC 2 - Justice (6 units)
Winter Quarter only

DOC 3 - Imagination (6 units)
Spring Quarter only

Natural Science (3 courses)

Students are required to complete a total of three (3) Natural Science courses: one in Biology, one in Chemistry, and one in Physics.

*Students are encouraged to select Natural Science courses that can overlap with sciences courses in their major.

Biology

  • ANTH 2
  • COGS 17
  • BILD 1, 2, 3, 7, 10, 12, 18, 20, 22, 26, 28, 30, 32, 36, 38, 42, 46, or 61

Chemistry

  • CHEM 4, 6A, 6B, 6C, 6AH, 6BH, 6CH, 11, 12, or 13

Physics


  • ASTR 1, 2, 3, or 4
  • ESYS 10
  • PHYS 1A & 1AL, 1B & 1BL, 1C & 1CL, 2A, 2B, 2C, 4A, 4B, 4C, 8, 10, 11, or 12
  • SIO 1, 10, 12, 15, 16, 20, 20R, 30, 35, 40, 45, or 50

Mathematics, Statistics and Logic (2 courses)

Students are required to complete two (2) courses for Mathematics, Statistics and Logic. Students have three options to complete this requirement from the approved list of courses:

Option A: Complete two courses in the Mathematics/Advanced Statistics category.
Option B: Complete one course in the Mathematics/Advanced Statistics category and one course in either the Introductory Statistics category or the Computer Programming & Logic category.

Option C: Complete one course in the Introductory Statistics category and one course in the Computer Programming & Logic category.

*Students are encouraged to select Mathematics, Statistics, and Logic courses that can overlap with mathematics, statistics, and logic courses in their major.

Mathematics, Advanced Statistics

  • BIEB 100
  • MATH 3C 4C, 10A, 10B, 10C, 11, 20A, 20B, 20C, 180A, or 181A

Introductory Statistics

  • COGS 14A
  • HDS 60
  • POLI 30
  • PSYC 60
  • SOCI 60

Computer Programming & Logic

  • BILD 62
  • COGS 18
  • CSE 6R, 8A, or 11
  • CSS 1
  • LIGN 17
  • MAE 5, 9, or 10
  • PHIL 10 or 12

Humanities and Cultural Studies (2 courses)

Students are required to complete two Humanities and Cultural Studies courses from the approved list of courses in domestic and global cultures.

Humanities and Cultural Studies 

  • AAS 10, 10R, 11, 14, 15, or 30
  • ETHN 1, 1R, 2, 2R, 3, 3R, 20, 20R, or 30 
  • HILD 7A, 7B, 7C, 10, 11, 12, or 14
  • LATI 10 or 50
  • LTEN 27, 28, 29, or 31
  • RELI 2
  • GSS 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, or 27 (formerly Third World Studies [TWS])

Fine Arts (1 course)

Students are required to complete one Fine Arts course among the list of approved courses in Music, Theatre & Dance, or Visual Arts.

Fine Arts

  • MUS 4-19, 20, or *80
  • TDGE 1, 5, 10, 11, or 12
  • TDHT 21, 22, or 23
  • VIS 1, 2, 3, 20, 21, 22 or 84

*MUS 80 must be taken for 4 units to count toward the Fine Arts GE.

Disciplinary Breadth (4 courses)

Students are required to complete four 4-unit Disciplinary Breadth courses - two (2) of which must be upper-division - outside the major field of study. At least one of the upper-division courses must include significant writing.

Transfer students with IGETC or UC Reciprocity only need to complete two (2) upper-division courses.  Transfer students without an articulation agreement, please see an Academic Advisor.

Guidelines:

  • One of the required upper-division courses must come from the Significant Writing list [PDF]. 
  • All students, regardless of major, can satisfy Disciplinary Breadth GE requirements through Public Service coursework. For more information, please visit the Academic Opportunities page. 
  • Courses used for Disciplinary Breadth cannot overlap with courses used towards the Major. 

Note: For students who are declaring a noncontiguous double major (majors from two different academic disciplines), they must complete just one Upper-Division Disciplinary Breadth with Writing GE. The course can be from any discipline and must appear on our pre-approved Significant Writing list.

Please select your major below to determine which departments you may choose from to satisfy the Disciplinary Breadth requirements.

Want to overlap GE courses with your major?

Review our list of GE courses that can overlap with requirements of different majors.

Learn More