All undergraduates have to complete university general education requirements. Students earning a BA or BS degree from the College of Humanities and Social Sciences or the College of Science must complete additional requirements.
The university offers two interdisciplinary programs for freshmen: Honors Program in General Education and Cornerstones. These programs meet in part the general education requirements listed here. See the websites below for more information.
Catalogs from different years may contain different requirements. Students must graduate under the requirements that are published in one single catalog, known as "catalog year." Students have to have the same the catalog year for all components of their degrees—the requirements for general education, for college requirements, and for the requirements of their major and concentration, if any.
Students should be aware of their catalog year when planning their course of study. See an advisor with questions about which catalog year applies.
The General Education Archive has requirements for earlier catalog years.
If there are no courses listed with a specific requirement, see the lists of approved courses below.
Students must fulfill each of these university general education requirements with a separate course. No course may be used to fulfill more than one university requirement.
Under some circumstances, students may use a single course to fulfill a university general education requirement and a college requirement or a requirement for the major. See your academic advisor for more information.
Students receiving a BS degree have one change to the university general education requirements. They must fulfill the requirement in natural science with an approved two-semester laboratory science sequence in a single science. Students should consult the relevant science department if they have questions about the courses that form an approved laboratory science sequence.
Students receiving a BA degree have the following additional requirements.
Under some circumstances, students may use a single course to fulfill a more than one college-level requirement. It is also possible under some circumstances to use a single course to fulfill a university general education requirement and a college requirement or a requirement for the major. See an academic advisor for more information.
Admitted and enrolled transfer students who have completed an AA, AS, or AA&S degree from the Virginia Community College System (VCCS) with a curriculum grade point average (GPA) of at least 2.75 are considered to have met all of George Mason University's lower level general education requirements. They are still required by the university to complete English 302 and a synthesis course. Transfer students who meet the conditions above and are pursuing a degree in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences are considered to have met all college requirements except for proficiency in a foreign language (required of BA students).