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Information
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Frequently
Asked Questions
Topics discussed below:
General Questions
Who needs to fulfill the General Education requirements?
Any undergraduate student whose first college matriculation date is after May 20, 1996 must complete these requirements.
How do I find my "matriculation date"?
Any questions about your matriculation date should be directed to the Office of Admissions, which is responsible for the credit evaluation.
I already have an undergraduate degree; do I need to fulfill the Gen Ed Requirements?
If you completed the UW-Madison General Education requirements as part of your first undergraduate degree, you need not complete them again. But if your first undergraduate degree is from another institution and your matriculation date is after May 20, 1996, your previous course work will be examined to determine what requirements have been fulfilled by comparable courses taken elsewhere.
Where do I go to take the Math or English placement test?
If you need to take these tests at a time other than SOAR or the spring regional testing, contact the Office of Testing and Evaluation, 262-1747 to obtain information or schedule a testing appointment. The Center for Placement testing coordinates the UW Placement Testing Program; brief explanations of the placement tests are posted on its website.
Where can I find out more about the Math or English placement test?
If you need more information about these tests, contact the Office of Testing and Evaluation, 262-1747 or visit the Center for Placement testing website, where you will find brief explanations of the placement tests and a sample of the English Placement Test.
It may be possible to study abroad and also fulfill General Education requirements on a program offered through the Office of International Studies and Programs (OISP). We recommend that you first go to the OISP Resource Room in 252 Bascom to look at the many study abroad opportunities available to you. At that time you will be able to look at the list of courses which have been offered at the study abroad site(s) you are interested in. This includes the UW-Madison course equivalents so you can determine whether it will be possible to fulfill specific General Education requirements while abroad at the site you choose.
Also, you are encouraged to speak with an academic advisor in OISP to determine if your particular study abroad program will be able to meet all of your academic needs. You can schedule an appointment by calling (608) 262 - 2851; check their website (http://www.studyabroad.wisc.edu/officehrs.html) for available hours .
Each spring the Office of Admissions makes Course Equivalency Forms available for students who will be taking courses at another university for the summer. Students submit the completed form with a self-addressed, stamped envelope. The Office of Admissions reviews the course and then informs the students how the course will transfer back to Madison. Students should check with an advisor for more information on this topic, such as the need to complete a certain number of credits in residence at UW-Madison.
Are any General Education Courses offered in Summer Session?
The Division of Continuing Studies (DCS) coordinates for-credit summer session courses, offered in one to thirteen-week sessions. While DCS does not offer degrees as a separate entity, it does offer many courses that fulfill the general education requirements. Refer to (or Search) the Summer Timetable to find courses that fulfill specific requirements.
How do I find out which classes fulfill the General Education Requirements?
Information on most of the General Education Courses can be located in a number of ways.
| For
the most comprehensive perspective, |
| For
a list of all Communication, Quantitative Reasoning, |
| For
a list of Gen Ed courses offered in a particular semester, |
| To
find current courses for a specific requirement, |
| Ask
the Department |
| Talk with your advisor. |
How can I petition for a course that is not designated for General Education to count for one of the General Education Requirements?
There is a process available to all students seeking to substitute a course for General Education Requirements.
You are encouraged to first consult your primary academic advisor about whether a course seems a reasonable substitute. In many cases, there is a good reason why a course is not already designated as, or did not transfer as, meeting a General Education Requirement.
If after consulting your adviser you wish to pursue a substitution, contact the General Education Requirement faculty liaisons for that requirement. Bring a syllabus to your meeting and as much detail about the course as you can. The liaisons are:
Communication (Comm A, Comm B):
Sherry Reames, Professor
Department of English
719c Helen C. White Hall
slreames@wisc.edu
Quantitative Reasoning (QR A, QR B):
Richard Brualdi, Professor
Department of Mathematics
725 Van Vleck Hall, E B
brualdi@math.wisc.edu
Ethnic Studies (ESR):
Elaine M. Klein, Assistant Dean
College of Letters & Science
307E South Hall
kleine@ls.admin.wisc.edu
If approved, the liaison will submit an exception request to your Deans Office for processing. The change will be reflected on your degree audit (DARS), not on your academic transcript.
How can I find Comm B courses?
Locating Comm B courses is a little more complicated, since the Catalog doesn't list every course that fulfills the Comm B requirement. This is because Comm B credit may not be offered for every lecture or section, or it may not be available every semester. Therefore, checking the Timetable is even more important.
To search for Comm B courses at the section level, select the "Communication Course B" option when you search the Timetable. The search engine will return all courses that offer credit for Comm B. "Course-level" Comm B courses will have a "b" in the "geBLC" column. If there's no "b" in that column, go to the section detail. "Section-level" Comm B courses will have a "b" in the "Com B" column.
Remember, if you're registering for a section-level Comm B course, you must register for a Comm B section.
Why do I need to check the Timetable? Isn't the "official list" enough? Why can't I just check the Catalog?
| ALWAYS check the Timetable to be sure that the course you want to take fulfills the requirement you need. |
There are three very good reasons you should always check the Timetable before you register:
The Communication Requirement
What is the difference between Comm A and Comm B?
Both Comm A and Comm B courses address the four modes of literacy: writing, speaking, reading, and listening and they also include instruction in information literacy. Comm A is an introduction to writing and speaking students will encounter in their subsequent college courses, and to the kind of critical writing that will serve them well beyond the university. Comm B courses are designed to give students more in-depth practice with college writing, particularly as found in a particular discipline.
Who must fulfill the General Education Communication A and B requirements?
Any student whose first college matriculation date is May 20, 1996 or later must complete the UW-Madison General Education requirements.
Many students in any entering freshman class are exempt from the Communication A requirement based on placement test scores. Many students also receive AP credits or transfer credits that fulfill the requirement. Transfer students who have not yet completed courses that satisfy this requirement are required to do so. Although Comm A courses are freshman level courses, sophomores, juniors, and seniors who need to complete the requirement are allowed to register for a Comm A course.
There is no exemption from the Comm B requirement. Students must complete a Comm B course on this campus or receive transfer credits that fulfill the requirement.
Please contact Jim Ferris from the Communication Arts Department,262-1135, or Ron Harris, 263-3795 from the English Department to discuss if your composition and public speaking courses will satisfy the Comm A requirement. You will likely need to provide course syllabi.
I took a course at another university that seems to equate to a Comm B course here; will I get credit for Comm B?
Decisions about how courses transfer to your UW-Madison academic record are made by the Office of Admissions. Before taking a course elsewhere, it's always a good idea to confer with your advisor. If you are planning to take a course elsewhere to transfer back to UW-Madison, you should always check with the Office of Undergraduate Admissions in advance to be sure that the credit you seek will, indeed, transfer into your academic record in the way you intend.
In the case of Comm B, most often, the answer is "that depends." In cases where it's clear that instruction in communication is part of the course (as in the case of courses offered in English, Journalism, Life Sciences Communication, or Communication Arts), it is likely that you will receive Comm B credit. In cases where instruction in communication is not directly connected to the field of study (for example, in the cases of courses in Zoology or Geography), you may not receive Comm B credit.
Why is this? The UW-Madison faculty believe that the strength of our Comm B requirement is that it asks students to learn how to communicate both in writing and orally in the context of a subject they're studying. The results of our efforts to assess student learning in Comm B courses suggest that this strategy works well, and that students who take Comm B at UW-Madison seem to perform better when they face communication tasks in subsequent courses.
Courses at other institutions that appear to be the equivalent of Comm B courses on the UW-Madison campus may not teach you these tools essential for success in college and for your life after college. So, even if you do receive credit for a Comm B course taken elsewhere, if the course didn't really emphasize written or oral communication, you may wish to take a Comm B course on campus, just to be sure you have these skills.
Can I receive degree credit for more than one Comm A course?
Effective Fall 2006-2007, students may receive degree credit for only one Communication A course taken at UW-Madison. The prerequisite section of the Timetable listings for Comm A courses contains the phrase "students may receive degree credit for only one Comm A course taken in residence." If a student has taken a transfer course or has AP credit that would otherwise satisfy Comm A and wishes or needs to pursue additional instruction in written and oral communication and information literacy, she or he can take and receive degree credit for one UW-Madison Comm A course.
Some Comm A courses focus more on the oral component than on the written component. Other differences arise because some courses emphasize "disciplinary specificity" early on, so the course requires students to write in a particular style.
The Communication A and B courses emphasize written and oral communication, however, they also contain an important library instruction component to help students find and use research tools they need. This affects students who might "miss" Comm A because they've transferred to UW-Madison, because they're admitted with AP credits that satisfy Comm A, or because their English Placement test scores exempt them from Comm A. (While transfer students usually have considerable experience using a college or university library, they may not know as much about the large and complex UW-Madison General Library System, which has over forty libraries.)
All of these students can get a useful introduction to the campus library system by doing CLUE (Computerized Library User Education), an interactive, multimedia tutorial, located at http://clue.library.wisc.edu/. Students should also feel free to ask reference librarians in any campus library for help.
For more information, see the CLUE Website's informational handout for students who are exempted from Comm A. It's posted online at http://www.library.wisc.edu/libraries/Instruction/advisors.htm.
What are Writing Intensive Courses and how do they fit in?
Writing Intensive courses are not required as part of the General Education requirements. Particular schools or colleges, majors, or other programs may require that students take one or more courses that are designated as writing intensive as part of the program in that area. Since Writing Intensive courses are often upper level courses and provide students with on-going opportunities to practice writing skills, students are encouraged to take as many of these courses as possible.
Who must satisfy English competency within the major?
Demonstrating English competence in the major is required for majors in the College of Letters and Science only for students who are not subject to the General Education requirements. Students who matriculated prior to the adoption of the General Education requirements should contact the advisor in the major about completing the English competency requirement. Students who must satisfy the General Education Communication Requirements will be certified as competent upon the successful completion of the Communication A and Communication B requirements.
The Quantitative Reasoning Requirement
Visit the Math Tutorial Center Website.
Must I complete a Math course to satisfy the QR A requirement?
No, students may also take Philosophy 210, Reason in Communication, to satisfy the QR A requirement. Students may also be exempted from QR A based on their Math placement score.
Must I complete a Math course to satisfy the QR B requirement?
No, there are a wide range of courses that fulfill the QR B requirement. Students may also be exempted from the QR B requirement based on their Math placement score. See the list of Communication and Quantitative Reasoning courses.
Can I receive transfer credit that satisfies my QR Requirements?
Yes. The general policy is summarized below:
If I complete or receive transfer credit for a QR B course, am I automatically exempt from QR A?
Not necessarily. A student who is given transfer credit (or AP credit or credit based on a departmental exam) for a MATH course that equates to a UW-Madison QR B Math course, that student is presumed to have also satisfied the QR A requirement. Completing or receiving transfer credit for any other QR B course does NOT mean that the student has completed or been exempted from the QR-A requirement.
How do I know if I still have requirements to fulfill?
| Check your DARS report (if
available). |
Students can use the My UW portal (http://my.wisc.edu/portal/) to request a Degree Audit Reporting System (DARS) report to learn about the progress they are making toward their degree. DARS audits the list of courses an individual student has taken and, by comparing that list to the University, School/College and major requirements, generates a detailed summary of requirements that are and are not yet completed. Students' advisors can generate "what if" scenarios to consider a variety of majors students might pursue.
DARS is not available to students in School of Pharmacy programs or in some School of Education programs. Students in these programs should speak with their advisors.
And, as always, talk with your advisor.
Ethnic Studies Requirement
Why do we have this requirement?
The ethnic studies requirement is intended to increase understanding of the cultures and contributions of persistently marginalized racial or ethnic groups in the United States, and to equip students to respond constructively to issues connected with our pluralistic society and global community. This is increasingly viewed as a skill students need to acquire. As the Faculty Senate legislation states:
The University of Wisconsin-Madison is committed to fostering an understanding and appreciation of diversity, in the belief that doing so will:
- Better prepare students for life and careers in an increasingly multicultural U.S. environment,
- Add breadth and depth to the University curriculum, and
- Improve the campus climate.
One of the University's overarching goals is to infuse the curriculum in all disciplines with diversity, including those where traditionally it has been absent. The Ethnic Studies Requirement (ESR) is one of several key elements in reaching this goal. This is a requirement that all students take a 3-credit course that considers ethnic/racial minorities that have been marginalized or discriminated against in the U.S. Because issues of ethnic diversity and religion are often intertwined and cannot easily be separated, courses that focus only on religion may, where appropriate, fulfill the ESR.
All courses that the implementation committee approves as satisfying the requirement must provide evidence that the course material illuminates the circumstances, conditions, and experiences of racial and ethnic minorities in the United States.
(excerpted from Fac Doc 1736, approved by the Faculty Senate on 9/23/03)
Perspectives on the requirement include such statements as these:
The Ethnic Studies course I took before Fall 2005 isn't on the list; will I still get credit for it?
If the course you took was designated as an ethnic studies course at the time you took it, you will receive credit for it.
Do I need three credits of Ethnic Studies? or just one Ethnic Studies course?
The Ethnic Studies Requirement was recently revised, and the changes go into effect in Fall 2005.
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