GE Requirements for Students Beginning College in Fall 2015 or Later

All students who begin college in fall 2015 or later at USC (or who begin elsewhere in fall 2015 and then transfer to USC) must satisfy USC’s current General Education Program, which includes six Core Literacy categories and two Global Perspectives requirements. Together these provide training in the liberal arts — the critical skills necessary for a free person to function productively in a complex world. This General Education program has been designed to nurture habits of thought essential for professional success and personal development, and to establish a background for lifelong learning.

Students must complete eight courses in the six Core Literacy categories:

Core Literacies:

GE-A: The Arts (one course)

GE-B: Humanistic Inquiry (two courses)

GE-C: Social Analysis (two courses)

GE-D: Life Sciences (one course)

GE-E: Physical Sciences (one course)

GE-F: Quantitative Reasoning (one course)

Students must complete one course for each of the two Global Perspectives requirements:

Global Perspectives:

GE-G: Equity in a Diverse World (one course)

GE-H: Traditions and Historical Foundations (one course)

However, because a single course can satisfy both a Core Literacy and a Global Perspective requirement, students can satisfy all 10 requirements with eight appropriately chosen courses.

Transfer students and students admitted for the spring semester must complete at least two General Education courses among the Core Literacy requirements offered by Dornsife College.

General Education Seminars

All entering freshmen must complete one General Education Seminar during their first year at USC. Each GE Seminar satisfies one of the Core Literacy requirements above. Students may count only one GE Seminar for degree credit.

For more information about the 2015 General Education Program, visit usc.edu/ge.