General Education Requirements
The General Education (GE) curriculum at Thurgood Marshall College is designed to provide students with:
- The academic skills and basic knowledge to pursue any major.
- Flexibility to enhance the curriculum with unique educational experiences.
- The opportunity to enhance your critical writing skills through our unique freshman writing sequence focusing on contemporary American society and culture.
- A broad liberal arts and science background relevant to today’s society.
Each of the General Education requirements is outlined below, along with a list of approved courses to satisfy that requirement.
General Education Requirements for Freshmen Students
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 freshmen 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.
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
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
- Biology (BIEB) 100
- MATH 3C
- MATH 4C
- MATH 10A, 10B, or 10C
- MATH 20A, 20B, or 20C
- MATH 180A or 181A
Introductory Statistics
- Cognitive Science (COGS) 14A
- Political Science (POLI) 30
- Psychology (PSYC) 60
- Sociology (SOCI) 60
Computer Programming & Logic
- CSE 5A, 8A or 11
- Linguistics (LIGN) 17
- MAE 5, 9 or 10
- Philosophy (PHIL) 10 or 12
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, 20, 22, 30, 26, 36, 38
Chemistry
- CHEM 4, 6A, 6B, 6C, 6AH, 6BH, 6CH, 11, 12, 13
Physics
- PHYS 1A/1AL, 1B/1BL, 1C/1CL, 2A, 2B, 2C, 4A, 4B, 4C, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13
- SIO 1, 10, 12, 15, 16, 20, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50
Students are required to complete one Fine Arts course among the list of approved courses in Music, Theatre & Dance, or Visual Arts.
Fine Arts
- Music (MUS) 4 - 18, 20, *80
- Theatre/General (TDGE) 1, 5, 10-12
- Theatre/History (TDHT) 21, 22, 23
- Visual Arts (VIS) 1-3, 20-22, 40 or 84
*MUS 80 must be taken for 4 units to count toward the Fine Arts GE.
Students are required to complete two Humanities/Culture courses from the approved list of courses in domestic and global cultures.
Humanities/Culture
- African American Studies (AAS) 10
- Ethnic Studies (ETHN) 1, 2, 3 or 20
- History (HILD) 7A, 7B, 7C, 10, 11, 12 or 14
- Latin American Studies (LATI) 50
- Literatures in English (LTEN) 27, 28 or 29
- Literatures in Cultural Studies (LTCS) 52
- Third World Studies (TWS) 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, or 26
Students are required to complete four 4-unit Disciplinary Breadth courses outside the major field of study.
- Two courses must be upper division, one of which must include significant writing.
- Students with a major in the INTERDEPARTMENTAL/INTERDISCIPLINARY column may take courses the department/program or major would NOT accept as long as the courses are outside the primary focus of the major but should first verify the application of coursework with an Academic Counselor.
- Courses used for Disciplinary Breadth cannot overlap with courses for major.
- Please contact Academic Advising prior to enrollment in courses from academic departments/programs not listed.
- Transfer students with IGETC or UC Reciprocity only need to complete two upper division courses, one of which must include significant writing.
- Transfer students without an articulation agreement, please see an Academic Counselor.
Social Sciences
- Anthropology
- Cognitive Science
- Communication
- Design (DSGN)
- Economics
- Education Studies
- Environmental Studies (ENVR)
- International Studies / Social Science
- Human Developmental Sciences
- Joint Math/Economics (EN28)
- Law and Society
- Linguistics
- Management (MGT)
- Political Science
- Psychology
- Sociology
- Urban Studies & Planning
Natural Science, Math & Engineering
- Bioengineering
- Biology
- Chemistry & Biochemistry
- CSE
- Data Science
- Earth Science at SIO
- ECE
- Environmental Systems (ESYS)
- Joint Math/Economics (MA33)
- MAE
- Mathematics
- Physics
Humanities/Fine Arts
- Classical Studies
- German Studies
- History
- International Studies / History, Literature
- Italian Studies
- Judaic Studies
- Literature
- Music
- Philosophy
- Study of Religion
- Theatre & Dance
- Visual Arts
Foreign Languages
- American Sign Language
- Chinese St./Language
- Japanese St./Language
- Jewish Studies (Hebrew)
- Linguistics/Foreign Lang. (lower division)
- Linguistics/Heritage Lang. (upper division)
- Literature/Foreign Lang.
Interdepartmental / Interdisciplinary
- Chinese Studies
- Critical Gender Studies
- Ethnic Studies
- Global Health
- Japanese Studies
- Jewish Studies
- Latin American Studies
- Public Health
- Third World Studies
Public Service Options for Academic Credit
Marshall College invests heavily in the role we play off campus. Involvement in public service enables students to make a significant difference in our community. There are very exciting connections between formal education and life beyond the classroom. Students who participate in one of these opportunities may satisfy one upper division disciplinary breadth requirement regardless of major discipline.
Academic Internship Program
Partnership Schools Program
Partners at Learning Program
General Education Requirements for Transfer Students
General Education requirements will vary depending on your transfer agreement. Please review the options below to learn more about how your transfer agreement affects your GE requirements. Any transfer agreements – including but not limited to IGETC and Partial-IGETC – apply exclusively to students admitted as transfers. They may not apply to students admitted as freshmen.
IGETC Certification
- Completion of all IGETC curriculum requirements from a California Community College prior to transferring to UCSD.
- Send certification from the community college to UCSD Admissions Office to be posted to your Academic History.
- Students with a posted IGETC will be cleared from all lower-division Marshall GE requirements.
Thurgood Marshall College Requirements:
- Complete two (2) Upper Division Disciplinary Breadth courses, one of which must include significant writing.
Partial IGETC Certification
- Missing no more than two (2) IGETC curriculum requirements from a California Community College prior to transferring to UCSD.
- Send certification from the community college to UCSD Admissions Office to be posted to your Academic History.
- Students with a posted Partial-IGETC will be cleared from all Marshall lower-division GE requirements.
Thurgood Marshall College Requirements:
- Complete two (2) Upper Division Disciplinary Breadth courses, one of which must include significant writing.
- Complete the remaining one or two missing IGETC requirements for a letter grade with a D grade or better or for Pass/No-Pass grade with a Pass grade.
- Students with a missing Area 6 (Language Other Than English) requirement must meet with an academic counselor to discuss options to complete the requirement.
- Completion of all lower-division general education/breadth requirements at another UC prior to transferring to UCSD.
- Academic advisor from UC must send letter on official university/college letterhead to Marshall College Academic Advising to be verified and posted to your records.
- Students with a posted Letter of UC Reciprocity will be waived from all Marshall lower-division GE requirements.
Thurgood Marshall College Requirements:
- Complete two Upper Division Disciplinary Breadth courses, one of which must include significant writing.
Transfer students without IGETC, Partial-IGETC or UC Reciprocity are considered Articulation and can satisfy lower-division GEs in one of the following ways:
GE Completion
- Completion of all lower-division GE requirements at a non-UC four-year campus or an out-of-state two-year campus prior to transferring to UCSD.
- Must obtain a Letter of GE Completion from the originating campus to be waived from all lower-division GEs at Marshall College.
- Please meet with an academic counselor at Marshall College for additional information.
Thurgood Marshall College Requirements:
- Complete two Upper Division Disciplinary Breadth courses, one of which must include significant writing.
GE Petition(s)
If you do not meet the above criteria, you must meet with an academic counselor at Marshall College to review your transfer courses. They will determine on a course-by-course basis which lower-division GE requirements you have fulfilled as well as the lower-division GE courses still needed. It is very likely that you will need to petition some of your transfer courses for GE credit.
Thurgood Marshall College Requirements:
Students will need to complete missing GE requirements that may include:
- Dimensions of Culture (DOC)
- Mathematics, Statistics, and Logic
- Natural Sciences
- Humanities/Culture
- Fine Arts
- Disciplinary Breadth (up to four courses)
