FAQ About the BSU Core Curriculum

When did the new Core Curriculum begin?

§         Any student who matriculated at BSU for the first time in the fall of 2006 or later must follow the new Core and must complete all components of it.  Students may elect to follow any subsequent catalog year, but they must fulfill all of the requirements for their major(s), minor and any other program that they wish to complete.

§         Students who are re-entering BSU after the Fall of 2006 for whatever reason were probably placed under the catalog in effect at the time of their readmission. However, if a student would prefer to follow another catalog, they may fill out a Request to Change Catalog Year form and follow the selected catalog. However, the catalog selected may be not more than eight years old at the time of the student's graduation and the catalog must have been in effect when the student was enrolled at Bridgewater State University.  Each student must follow a single catalog year and fulfill all requirements published in it.

§         When a student changes his major, he will be placed under the catalog in effect at the time of change of major.

What about the GERs?

§         All students who matriculated at BSU before fall 2006 must complete all graduation requirements, including the GERs, by August 2014.  Or, those students may elect to follow a new catalog by filling out a Request to Change Catalog Year form.

§         The GERs will no longer be published in the Course Schedule booklet published each semester. They may be found in the 2004-2006 BSC Catalog archive at http://www.bridgew.edu/Catalog.

How will transfer students meet the First and Second Year seminar requirements and the distribution requirements?

§         Students who transfer to BSU with 24 or more earned credits are not required to take and will not be permitted to take a First Year Seminar.   However, since the First Year Seminar is a prerequisite for the Second Year Seminar, transfer students will automatically be given a prerequisite override to take a Second Year Seminar.

§         Students who transfer to BSU with 54 or more earned credits will have both the First and Second Year Seminar requirements waived.

§         However, all students who elect to complete the Core Curriculum must meet all core skill requirements and distribution requirements, including the writing intensive and speaking intensive requirement in a distribution area and the application of quantitative skills requirement.  If a student believes that a course taken at another college or university fulfills a requirement, the student may petition the Office of the Associate Dean of the College of Humanities and Social Science for a substitution using the Core Curriculum Substitution Form. Courses taken at BSU that are not on the list of approved courses may not be substituted to fulfill requirements.

How many different requirements may a course fulfill?

• Courses that fulfill a skill requirement may not fulfill a distribution requirement or the other requirements of writing intensive, speaking intensive, global culture, multiculturalism, application of quantitative skills or U.S. and Massachusetts Constitutions.
• As long as a course is not a skills course, it may fulfill as many areas as possible. 

How many courses must a student take to fulfill the Core Curriculum requirements?

• There is no easy answer to this question because the individual courses that each student takes will fulfill different requirements.  Most students will find that they will need to take at least 14 courses, totaling 43 credits, to complete the Core Curriculum. Because students must fulfill all requirements, it may be necessary for some students to take more than 14 courses to fulfill all of the requirements for the Core Curriculum.

Will students be allowed to take the First or Second Year Seminar in their major department?

• Yes. One of the goals of the Core Curriculum is increased student choice of courses. In addition, some students may discover a new area of interest when taking a First or Second Year Seminar and decide to major in that discipline.
• Students may NOT use the First Year Seminar as an elective in the major. Students MAY use the Second Year Seminar as an elective in the major, if the requirements for the major allow it. *Please note:  Students may only take one FYS and one SYS

What about the other requirements of the Core Curriculum? Will students be able to complete a requirement and apply the same course toward a major or minor?

• Yes, if the major is structured in such a way to allow this.  For example, three of the courses that History majors are required to take for their major will be able to count toward their Humanities requirement.
• Each student should check the individual requirements for a major.

Is a lab science required in the new Core Curriculum?

• Yes. Students must take at least one 4-credit science course which includes a lab.

Are students restricted to only one studio art course in the new Core Curriculum?

• No.  In addition, students are not required to take their two Fine & Performing Art courses in different departments.

Are students able to fulfill a distribution requirement by taking two courses from the same department?

• Yes. For example, two Political Science courses will fulfill the Social and Behavioral Sciences requirement.

Will students be able to use any course from Arts and Sciences departments to fulfill a Core Curriculum requirement?

• No!  All courses used in the Core Curriculum will appear on a list published in the BSU Catalog. Only certain courses will fulfill certain requirements.

Will courses still need to be approved by College Governance to be approved as a Core Curriculum course?

• Yes. All courses that are currently approved as fulfilling the current GER will need to be submitted for approval for inclusion in the new Core.
• Approved courses will carry the following designations:

• Fine and Performing Arts -- CFPA                  
• Humanities -- CHUM                                      
• Natural Science, with Lab -- CNSL
• Natural Science, no Lab -- CNSN                                          
• Social and Behavioral Science -- CSOC                      
• Writing Intensive -- CWRT
• Speaking Intensive -- CSPI                 
• Global Culture -- CGCL                                              
• Multiculturalism -- CMCL                                           
• Quantitative Reasoning -- CQUR                                 
• US and Massachusetts Constitutions -- CUSC             
• First Year Seminar -- CFYS                
• Second Year Seminar -- CSYS
• Writing I -- CWR1
• Writing II – CWR2
• Foundations of Logical Reasoning -- CFOL
• Foundations of Mathematical Reasoning -- CMAR
• Spoken Communication -- CSPK