All undergraduates need to complete Mason Core 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 described below.
The university offers two interdisciplinary programs for freshmen: New Century College's Cornerstones and, for a small group of outstanding students, the Honors College program.
Catalogs from different years may contain different requirements. Students must graduate under the requirements published in one single catalog. Students have to have the same catalog year for all components of their degrees—the requirements for Mason Core, 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. For questions about which catalog year applies, see an advisor.
See the pages in the General Education Archive below for requirements for earlier catalog years.
Where courses that meet a requirement are not listed, see the webpages at the end for lists of courses that are approved to meet that requirement.
Under some circumstances, students may use a single course to fulfill a Mason Core requirement and a college requirement or a requirement for the major. See your academic advisor for more information.
Students receiving a BS degree must fulfill the requirement in natural science with an approved two-semester laboratory science sequence in a single science. See the approved sequences from the Natural Science link below. 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 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.
George Mason University has Guaranteed Admission Agreements with certain Virginia community colleges. Transfer students who are offered GAA admission and meet all of the terms of the GAA agreement with their Virginia community college may be eligible for a waiver of George Mason University's lower level Mason Core requirements. GAA students who receive the waiver are still required by the university to complete English 302 and a synthesis course. GAA students who receive the waiver 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).