Description of General Education Requirements
The new general education requirements are part of the University’s Pathway’s initiative. Please visit http://www.cuny.edu/academics/initiatives/pathways/about.html for more details about Pathways and for its implications for undergraduates, especially when considering transferring to another CUNY college.
The new General Education program comprises 42 required credits and is based on the learning outcomes listed previously. The curriculum includes a 30-credit liberal arts Common Core and a 12-credit College Option.
The Common Core is composed of two parts: a 12-credit Required Core and an 18-credit Flexible Core.
- The Required Core includes three credits of Life and Physical Sciences, six credits of English Composition and three credits of Mathematics and Quantitative Reasoning.
- The Flexible Core is composed of six (6) three-credit liberal arts and sciences courses. Students take at least one course in each of the following five categories: A) World Cultures and Global Issues; B) U.S. Experience in its Diversity; C) Creative Expression; D) Individual and Society, and E) the Scientific World.
Students may not take more than two courses in any discipline or interdisciplinary field. If a student has to satisfy the foreign language requirement at the 101 level, the student will need to complete a 101 level foreign language course in the World Cultures category, and the student’s sixth Flexible Core course also will need to be selected from the World Cultures category. See the discussion of the foreign language requirement on the next page for more details.
The College Option includes a six-credit Justice Core and six credits across two additional categories: 1) Learning from the Past, and 2) Communications. In the Justice Core, students take a first year seminar on Justice and the Individual and a 300-level course on Justice in Global Perspective or Struggles for Justice and Equality in the United States.
This diagram depicts the Common Core and College Option of John Jay’s new general education curriculum. The white and gray circles indicate the course requirements for the Common Core, with white corresponding to the Flexible Core and the gray corresponding to the Required Core. The black circles denote the College Option possibilities.
Please note: In accordance with the CUNY Board of Trustees Transfer Policy, students who have earned an Associate of Arts degree (AA) or an Associate of Science degree (AS) from an accredited college will be deemed to have fulfilled the CUNY Common Core portion (Required Core and Flexible Core) of the general education requirements for the baccalaureate degree. Students will still be required to complete two additional courses of John Jay’s College Option. Students who have earned an Associate of Applied Science degree (AAS) will also have to complete two additional courses of John Jay’s College Option in addition to any areas of the CUNY Common Core not filled by transfer credit. Students must fulfill all prerequisite requirements for courses.