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 programDOC-001: Diversity (4 units)
Fall Quarter only
DOC-002: Justice (6 units)
Winter Quarter only
DOC-003: 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-002
- COGS-017
- BILD-001, 002, 003, 007, 010, 012, 018, 020, 022, 026, 028, 030, 032, 036, 038, 042, 046, or 061
Chemistry
- CHEM-004, 006A, 006B, 006C, 006AH, 006BH, 006CH, 011, 012, or 013
Physics
- ASTR-001, 002, 003, or 004
- ESYS-010
- PHYS-001A & 001AL, 001B & 001BL, 001C & 001CL, 002A, 002B, 002C, 004A, 004B, 004C, 008, 010, 011, or 012
- SIO-001, 010, 012, 015, 016, 020, 020R, 030, 035, 040, 045, or 050
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. Students whose major requires calculus are strongly encouraged to utilize the resources available through MathWays for guidance in selecting appropriate calculus courses and for additional academic support.
Mathematics, Advanced Statistics
- BIEB-100
- MATH-003C, 004C, 010A, 010B, 010C, 011, 020A, 020B, 020C, 180A, or 181A
Introductory Statistics
- COGS-014A
- HDS-060
- POLI-030 or 030D
- PSYC-060
- SOCI-060
Computer Programming & Logic
- BILD-062
- COGS-018
- CSE-006R, 008A, or 011
- CSS-001
- LIGN-017
- MAE-005
- PHIL-010 or 012
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-010, 010R, 011, 011R, 014, or 015
- ETHN-001, 001R, 002, 002R, 003, 003R, 020, 020R, or 030
- HILD-007A, 007B, 007C, 010, 011, 012, or 014
- LATI-010 or 050
- LTEN-027, 028, 029, or 031
- RELI-002
- GSS-020, 021, 022, 023, 024, 025, 026, or 027 (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-004 to 019, 020, or *080
- TDGE-001, 005, 010, 011, or 012
- TDHT-021, 022, or 023
- VIS-001, 002, 003, 020, 021A, 021B, 021C, 022, or 084
*MUS 080 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.
