CampusPin Glossary
General education ("Gen Ed")
A required spread of courses across humanities, sciences, social sciences, math, and writing — outside the student's major.
General education (or "core curriculum" or "distribution requirements") is the breadth of coursework every undergraduate must complete, separate from major and elective requirements. The exact list varies: liberal-arts colleges with strict cores (Columbia, U Chicago) require dozens of specific courses; flexible distribution-requirement schools (Brown's open curriculum being the extreme) require almost none. Gen Ed serves two purposes — exposing students to disciplines outside the major and signaling to graduate schools and employers that the holder has broad academic preparation.
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