College requirements ensure exposure to a broad range of frameworks of knowledge and modes of analysis. Courses that do not count towards your major or your college-wide requirements are “electives” that count towards the 32 units you need to graduate.
As you think about engaging in and completing college requirements and elective credits, you may want to think about some of the interests you uncovered when you were choosing a major, or perhaps about prerequisites for graduate school, or maybe fields related to a possible career.
You may want to use these courses to approach familiar topics from a new perspective. For example, a student planning to major in a field like English or Political Science might take Psychology for her Scientific Investigation approach because it allows her to think about questions of individuality and social norms through a different lens.
Students also use requirements to learn about topics that they might otherwise never study. For example, the same English or Political Science major might instead elect to study Physics in order to think about how researchers in a different tradition think and learn about law, as in natural law, and questions of order, regularity, and predictability.
Click here for an overview of College-Wide Degree Requirements.
Review your Academic Requirements Report to see which requirements you’ve already completed. (You’ll find this report in your Student Center in Virtual Bryn Mawr, on the left hand side in the Academics section, in the drop-down menu under “other academics.”)
To figure out what courses you might take to finish off your college-wide requirements, you might ask yourself the following questions:
Again, if the number of variables makes your head spin, considering talking with your dean, your faculty adviser, or another member of the faculty or staff (remember Campus Resources). You may also want to return to the Co-curricular Activities & Career Exploration to remind yourself of the things about your Bryn Mawr career that matter the most to you.
Happily, you don’t need to make firm commitments about any of these decisions right now. It’s fine to finish this step simply by noting the requirements left to complete and thinking about your options for completing them.
To complete your College-Wide Requirements Plan, go to the Sophomore Plan in your Virtual Bryn Mawr Student Center.
For instructions, please return to the Sophomore Planning Process homepage.
Once you have completed (1) your Major Work Plan, (2) your College-Wide Requirements Plan, and (3) your Sophomore Essay, meet with your Dean to review.
Back to Sophomore Planning Process