Degree Requirements
Requirements for All Bachelor's Degrees
The following apply to all degrees awarded by the College of Arts and Sciences:
- Students must complete a minimum of 120 hours to graduate.
- The College does not accept certain types of credit, including engineering, technology, or self-acquired competency credits.
- Students must have a minimum cumulative College of Arts and Sciences grade point average of 2.000 (C) in order to graduate.
- Students must complete a minimum of 42 credit hours in courses at the 300–400 (junior-senior) level for the B.A. or B.F.A. degree. Students must complete a minimum of 36 credit hours at the 300–400 (junior-senior) level for the B.S. or B.G.S. degree. At least 18 of these 300–400 level credits must be completed in courses that apply toward students' major field of study.
- Following completion of their 60th credit hour toward degree, students are required to take 36 credit hours of College course work on the IU-Bloomington campus or in an IU-administered or IU co-sponsored Overseas Study program to graduate with a degree from the College. Also, students need to complete 18 credit hours of College course work in the major on the IU-Bloomington campus. In all cases, course work completed on an IU-administered or IU co-sponsored Overseas Study program counts as residential credit.
- Every degree candidate must satisfy the requirement of one Critical Approaches to the Arts and Sciences course, which must be taken on the Bloomington campus.
- Candidates for all bachelor's degrees in the College of Arts and Sciences are required to complete a course in Public Oral Communication.
- Requests for exceptions to College requirements may be granted by written approval from the Office of Undergraduate Academic Affairs, Owen Hall. Requirements cannot be waived.
- Students with a learning disability, hearing impairment, speech impairment, or any other disability that may affect their ability to fulfill a requirement of the College should contact the Office of Disability Services for Students, Wells Library, Suite W302, 1320 East Tenth Street, (812) 855-7578, prior to registering. Requirements will not be waived for students with disabilities; however, some modifications may be made within specific courses. Students seeking such modifications should do so early in their academic career to ensure timely progress to degree completion.
The following apply to B.A. degrees as well as all B.F.A. and B.S.degrees:
- At least 100 credit hours must be earned in courses offered by the College of Arts and Sciences. Students may select the remaining 20 credit hours from courses either inside (see item 3 below for clarification) or outside of the College.
- Any course taken to satisfy the requirements of a major must be completed with a minimum grade of C–, and the grade point average of all courses taken in the major must be at least 2.000 (C).
- Students must complete at least 30 College of Arts and Sciences credit hours in the major subject area. For B.A. programs, no major department may require more than 42 credit hours in the major. This stipulation does not apply to interdepartmental majors. However, especially for students considering graduate school, a maximum of 20 major credit hours taken in excess of 42 may be counted toward the 120 minimum credit hours required. Except for students pursuing Secondary Teacher Certification, the sum total of credit hours taken outside of the College and excess major credit hours may not exceed 20 credit hours, unless these credit hours are on top of the 120 that a student needs to graduate.
The B.F.A., B.S., and B.G.S. degrees have additional requirements:
- Students pursuing the B.S. or B.F.A. degree should consult the departmental entry in the Bulletin that offers that particular degree. For instance, for information regarding the B.S. degree in Chemistry, students should go to the listing for Chemistry.
- Students pursuing the B.G.S. should consult the program’s entry under "B.G.S. Degree Requirements" for specific degree policies.