All College Requirements - Colorado College

All-College Requirements for the Bachelor of Arts Degree (B.A.) at Colorado College

1. Students must satisfactorily complete 32 units of academic credit. To achieve the breadth central to liberal learning, students must take and pass at least one full unit in each division, excluding adjuncts and extended-format courses. International Baccalaureate and Advanced Placement credits will not substitute for this requirement.
2. Students must satisfactorily complete a major course of study. No major may require more than 14 units in any one department and no more than 16 overall (including prerequisites). (In departmentally based majors, the two units beyond the 14-unit limit can be courses outside the department or adjunct courses.)
3. Completion of the Critical Perspectives requirement: Diverse Cultures and Critiques (3 units); The West in Time (one two-block course, 2 units); Scientific Investigation of the Natural World (2 units, including at least one lab or field course).
   1. Critical Perspectives: Diverse Cultures and Critiques helps students understand the unique perspective of their own culture by confronting other perspectives, both those within the culture and those outside it. In contrast to The West in Time requirement, this requirement urges students to consider the different arrangements of human society across space. These courses will examine one or more of the following:
      • Some facet of a non-Western society;
      • Some aspects of marginalized communities within the Western tradition;
      • Critiques of the Western tradition.
      • Students may take three unrelated courses or three courses that address a common theme, group, or area of the world.
   2. Critical Perspectives: The West in Time asks students to position their knowledge of the broader world not just through multifaceted inquiry into “the here and now” but through critical inquiry across time as well. As an all-college requirement, The West in Time acknowledges the crucial importance of understanding the past as the context out of which contemporary modes of inquiry and contemporary fields of study have grown.
      
      The West in Time is a two-block, two-unit course in which students will explore compelling aspects of the Western experience over a significant period of time (antiquity to the modern period or the Middle Ages to the modern period). This Critical Perspectives requirement acknowledges the modern Western propensity to create cultural and historical narratives that assume development and progress over time. It also insists on the importance of understanding the contemporary Western ‘self’ in the context of previous iterations of the ‘self.’ Courses in this area of inquiry will accomplish some combination of the following:
      • Engage students in an exploration of the past through examination of ideas, events, cultural institutions, and practices;
      • Enable students to expand their understanding of narratives of the development of the Western tradition over time and provide them with the analytical tools to critique those narratives;
      • Engage students in critical analysis of the connections between the past and the present;
      • Encourage students to consider how our understanding of contemporary events is informed by our grasp of the historical past.
   3. Critical Perspectives: Scientific Investigation of the Natural World enhances students’ understanding of the natural world and of the methods central to modern science. It gives students opportunities to explore the broader earth system and universe, a sphere of inquiry that includes but is not limited to humans. In a world influenced by science and technology, informed citizens need to be familiar with the distinctive ways of thinking characteristic of the sciences and need to cultivate skill in quantitative reasoning. This requirement complements The West in Time and the Diverse Cultures and Critiques requirements by addressing a distinct approach to the understanding of the world that originated in the West but currently exercises global influence. These courses will meet the description of the preceding paragraph and will accomplish some combination of the following:
      • Explicitly address the nature of the scientific method;
      • Give students direct experience in the gathering and analysis of scientific data;
      • Emphasize the use of quantitative reasoning;
      • Introduce the foundations and principles of scientific knowledge;
      • Enhance scientific literacy.

      At least one of the two units must involve significant laboratory or field experience.

4. Basic competency in a foreign language (two blocks elementary or the equivalent).
   Colorado College believes that learning a language gives any student an important intellectual experience of cultural difference. A student may learn about other cultures in a variety of ways, but we believe interpreting and expressing individual experience and cultural values in another language is necessary for enhanced international and multicultural awareness. This requirement reflects the conviction that a liberal education is incomplete when it includes no language study. Learning a language other than one’s native tongue is not equivalent simply to acquiring a tool for practical use. It is a means to enter fully and directly into the vital perspectives and unique workings of another culture.
   
   The language requirement may be fulfilled in any one of the following seven ways:
   • The study of the same non-English language for four full years in high school;
   • An acceptable score (at least 5) on the International Baccalaureate language examination or an acceptable score of the Advanced Placement language examination (3, 4, or 5, depending on departmental policies in different languages at CC);
   • The placement examination administered by the language departments, with a score allowing placement at, or above, the 201 level, or a special proficiency examination administered by a certified proficiency examiner;
   • A beginning course in any of the languages offered at Colorado College, ordinarily a course numbered 101 (two units), unless the student presents acceptable evidence of a learning disability making language study impossible;
   • An acceptable language program at any accredited college or university, in any non-English language, equivalent to the 101 level at Colorado College, if approved by the registrar’s office;
   • Substantial use of a non-English language either in course work or in the living situation (Programs abroad will be assessed and certified by the registrar’s office independently to determine which programs fulfill the requirement);
   • Students who are native speakers of a language other than English are considered to have satisfied the requirement.
5. FYE: A two-block course required of all first-year students addressing issues likely to stimulate debate and including critical reading, effective writing, and a research project.
6. A cumulative grade point average (GPA) of at least 2.00.
7. Courses taken at other institutions will be granted as much equivalent credit as deemed appropriate by the registrar’s office.
8. All students must complete 32 units of credit to qualify for a Colorado College B.A. degree. Those students who have one unit or less to complete toward their 32 units (in both all-college and the major requirements) may be allowed to march in commencement ceremonies without receiving a diploma. There are no exceptions and no appeals to this policy. As described below, a specified number of the 32 units must be taken in residence, here at Colorado College, or through Colorado College-sponsored programs, including those affiliated off-campus and ACM programs detailed elsewhere in this catalog.
   
   The following rules apply to the academic residence requirement:
   • Students who enter Colorado College as first-semester, first-year students must complete 24 units at Colorado College or Colorado College-affiliated, off-campus, or ACM programs. Transfer students are required to complete a minimum of 16 units at Colorado College or Colorado College-affiliated, off-campus, or ACM programs.
   • All Colorado College students are required to complete their last eight units at Colorado College, except for students participating in Colorado College-affiliated, off-campus, or ACM programs. Students who have completed 16 units at Colorado College may petition to the Dean’s Advisory Committee to waive up to four units of the eight-unit rule.

   Because different departments have their own residence requirements for their major, students should consult their major department before conducting any off-campus study in their major.

   These policies should not be confused with residential life policies regarding college housing.

9. In extended-format courses, students may take no more than one extended-format course per semester (one-half unit) and one extended-format course spanning the year (one unit) unless the dean of the college grants permission for an overload.
10. In each adjunct course, students may earn one-quarter unit toward their degree requirement for each semester of work. Students may take no more than three adjunct courses per semester, unless the registrar’s office grants permission for an overload. In no case may students count more than two total units of adjunct credit towards the general education degree requirements.

BACK TO TOP