GE & Graduation Requirements

In order to graduate, all Sixth College students must meet the following requirements:

I. Sixth College General Education Requirements

General Education Resources

Sixth College General Education (GE) requirements (PDF)
Checklist for Sixth College and University requirements
Art Making addendum (PDF)

Freshman Core Sequence: Culture, Art and Technology Requirement

Students must complete the core sequence (CAT 1, 2, and 3) in order. You should complete the sequence during your freshman year or as soon as you have completed the Entry Level Writing Requirement. The sequence cannot be replaced with college courses taken at another institution.

CAT 1 (4 units)
CAT 2 (6 units)
CAT 3 (6 units)

Information Technology Fluency

Choose one of the approved computing courses from the Sixth College GE requirements list.

Note: CSE 8A and 8AL, CSE 11, MAE 9, ECE 15, SE 9 are required for engineering students. We encourage students who are not engineering majors to choose other courses. (This area can overlap with your major requirements)

Breadth Requirements

Students must take 12 breadth courses encompassing a variety of disciplines.

Social Analysis (2 social science courses)
Narrative, Aesthetic, and Historical Reasoning (2 humanities courses)
Analytical and Scientific Methods (2 science courses)
Structured Reasoning (1 math/ logic course)
Exploring Data (1 statistics course. This area can overlap with your major requirements)
Societal Context (2 courses)
- Social Context
- Ethical Context (This area can overlap with your major requirements)
Art Making (8 units)

Note: Advanced Placement (AP) or International Baccalaureate (IB) credit may be used to satisfy only 1 course in each area.

Practicum course or project (This area can overlap with your major requirements)
CAT 125 (Public Rhetoric and Practical Communication)

Additional Information

A course offered by your major department cannot also fulfill a GE course requirement except for the "Information Technology Fluency," "Exploring Data," "Ethical Context," and Practicum GE requirements.
Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB) credit can only be used to satisfy one course per GE area.

II. University Requirements

University Requirements

American History and Institutions (AHI requirement)
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI requirement)

A knowledge of diversity, equity, and inclusion is required of all candidates for a Bachelor's degree who begin their studies at UC San Diego in lower-division standing in Fall 2011 or thereafter, or in upper-division standing in Fall 2013 or thereafter.
- This requirement shall be satisfied by passing, with a grade not lower than C- or P, a one-quarter, four-unit course expressly approved by the Committee on Educational Policy for that purpose. A list of approved courses will be provided in the UC San Diego General Catalog.
- This requirement may be satisfied by presenting proof of having passed a one-quarter, four-unit transfer course, or its equivalent, at a recognized institution of higher education, community colleges included, that has been articulated to one of the courses approved by the Committee on Educational Policy for the purpose of meeting the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion requirement.
A single course may be used to satisfy both the Social Context GE requirement and the requirement in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion if the course appears on both lists of approved courses.
Entry Level Writing Requirement (ELWR, formerly known as the Subject A requirement)
180 total units (this includes Advanced Placement units and UC transferable credit from other institutions)
At least 60 of these 180 units must be completed at the upper-division level
No more than 25% of your UCSD units can be taken for the pass/no pass grading option
35 of your final 45 units must be completed at UCSD to satisfy the Senior Residency requirement (students studying abroad may petition to waive this requirement)
Cumulative GPA of 2.0 or higher