Satisfactory proficiency in written communication is a requirement for all undergraduate degrees awarded at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The Composition I course requirement may be met by satisfactory completion of an approved course, taken at an appropriate skill level, in Rhetoric, Communication, or English as an International Second Language.

This proficiency can be certified by the satisfactory completion of the “Composition I” general education requirements below. Students should discuss the proper Composition I placement/completion with their academic advisor.

Completion of the “Composition I” general education requirement via the one-semester, four-hour course Rhetoric 105 (Writing and Research); the two-semester, eight-hour sequence of Rhetoric 101 (Principles of Writing) and 102 (Principles of Research); or the two-semester, six-hour sequence Communication 111 and 112 (Oral & Written Communication I and II).
A student who achieved, prior to enrolling in college-level coursework, a sufficiently high score on either the appropriate college-preparatory English exam (currently ACT, SAT, AP, or IB) will earn course credit that fulfills the general education “Composition I” requirement and thus will satisfy the Written Communication requirement for graduation. More information can be found on the Placement & Proficiency: Proficiency Testing website.
Non-native English-speaking students who are mandated to take the English Placement Test (EPT) and given an English as a Second Language (ESL) placement must fulfill their Written Communication requirement by taking the two-semester, six-hour sequence of ESL 111 and 112 or the one-semester, four-hour ESL 115 course. They might also be required to take ESL 110 (Pronunciation). Non-native English-speaking students who are not required to take the EPT due to sufficiently high TOFEL iBT or IELTS scores may elect to satisfy the Written Communication requirement by taking the ESL, or the Rhetoric, or the Communication sequences. Students in this category who wish to take ESL must take the EPT to determine correct placement.
If the academic credentials of a transfer student do not indicate fulfillment of coursework equivalent to fulfill the Written Communication graduation requirement, the student will need to do additional coursework to satisfy this requirement. Non-native English-speaking transfer students may be required to take the English Placement Test (EPT).

The Advanced Composition requirement is met by completing an approved writing-intensive course. This requirement will normally be completed through the Urbana campus. Courses taken elsewhere must be individually evaluated and substantial documentation of the writing component provided if they are to satisfy the requirement.

Approved Advanced Composition courses may be in any department on campus, and will fall into one of three categories:

approved courses in the rhetoric and communication disciplines that build upon the Composition I requirement and have writing as their principal focus;
approved courses meeting another area of the General Education requirements that have a substantial writing component;
approved courses meeting requirements within a major, minor, or elective field of study that are designed to require and enhance writing in the disciplinary subject matter.

If you entered college as a freshman in Fall 1991 or later, you need to complete an Advanced Composition course in order to graduate.

The Humanities and the Arts are those studies which foster skill in communication; discriminating judgment and the appreciation of ideas; an understanding of human cultural traditions; an appreciation of cultural, ethnic and national diversity; conceptions of literary, artistic, philosophical or historical criticism; and reflection on goals for human life.

All courses approved for General Education credit in the Humanities and the Arts should fulfill these goals by:

introducing students to the typical critical approaches and methods utilized in the discipline and to past accomplishments in the field;
relying substantially on primary texts and sources;
requiring substantial writing; and
approaching their subjects in ways that would be intellectually challenging for majors as well as non-specialists.

Each student must satisfactorily complete at least six credit hours of approved coursework in the humanities and the arts. It is recommended that one course be from an approved list of courses in literature and the arts (“LA”) and the other from an approved list of courses in historical and philosophical perspectives (“HP”).

Natural Sciences and Technology courses are placed into one of the following two subcategories: Life Sciences and Physical Sciences.

Physical Sciences (PS):

must be introductory in nature and present (or have as a prerequisite a college course that presents) the fundamentals of the physical science, and
should emphasize scientific methodology by involving the student in making observations, evaluating data, and solving problems.

Life Sciences (LS):

must be an introductory course which presents (or has as a prerequisite a college course that presents) the fundamentals of biological science, including genetics/speciation/evolution, growth/differentiation, metabolism/bio-energetics and ecology/ethology, and
should emphasize scientific methodology by involving the student in making observations, evaluating data, and solving problems.

Natural Sciences and Technology courses must be approved in either the Physical Sciences or Life Sciences, and may focus primarily on technology and its application to the Natural Sciences. Courses with an emphasis on technological application:

should emphasize the applications of the sciences to the solution of human and societal problems;
should be comprehensive enough to give a broad perspective on the implications of technology to society; and
should emphasize the problem-solving nature of technology by involving the student in such activities rather than being simply descriptive and requiring only memorization of facts.

If you entered college as a freshman in Fall 1994 or later, you need to complete six hours of Natural Sciences and Technology courses in order to graduate.

Social Sciences (SS):

should provide opportunities for studying social groups, institutions, and organizations, and their context;
should have a primary emphasis upon persons in relation to others and their environment;
should formulate basic questions and inquiry about the nature of social life through both interpretive and systematic analyses;
should address a broad area, chronologically, geographically or culturally; and
should reflect concern both for methodological and substantive issues.

Behavioral Science (BS):

should concern the empirical approach to the study of human behavior;
should be broadly conceived; and
should give appropriate attention to both the general issues and methods of the behavioral sciences.

If you entered college as a freshman in Fall 1994 or later, you need to complete six hours of Social and Behavioral Sciences course in order to graduate. Social and Behavioral Sciences courses are placed into two subcategories: Behavioral Sciences and Social Sciences.

Courses approved as meeting the Cultural Studies requirement:

should be concerned broadly with culture understood as the interaction among the intellectual, artistic, political, economic, and social aspects of a society or other cultural grouping;
should treat topics and issues that can be expected to promote a deepened understanding of the culture(s) focused upon; and
provide either (i) a broad description and analysis of the interaction of intellectual, artistic, political, economic, social, and other aspects of a society’s cultural life; (ii) an intensive investigation of the cultural life of a society or group in a particular time and place; (iii) a focused investigation of particular aspects of a society’s or group’s culture (e.g., its art, literature, and music); or (iv) a comparative investigation of cultural systems and the development of constructs for cross-cultural sensitivity and analysis.

(Click on the categories below to expand and read about each requirement)

Effective Summer/Fall 2018: Undergraduates newly admitted in Summer/Fall 2018 or later (note this includes both freshmen as well as transfer students matriculating in Summer/Fall 2018 and after) need to complete one course in Non-Western Cultures; one course in US Minority Cultures; and one course in Western/Comparative Cultures. These courses may fulfill other curricular requirements, but no single course can fulfill multiple Cultural Studies categories. Undergraduate students who matriculated Spring 2018 or prior need to complete one course in Non-Western or U.S. Minority Cultures and one course in Western/Comparative Cultures.

Each student must fulfill a two-part Quantitative Reasoning requirement, designated Quantitative Reasoning I and II. Options are to take two Quantitative Reasoning I courses, or to take one Quantitative Reasoning I course and one Quantitative Reasoning II course.

Quantitative Reasoning I (QRI or QR1)

To fulfill the Quantitative Reasoning I requirement the student must receive credit for at least one college-level course in mathematics, computer science, statistics, or formal logic.

Quantitative Reasoning II (QRII or QR2)

The Quantitative Reasoning II requirement may be met in any one of the three following ways:

completing a second course that has been approved to satisfy the Quantitative Reasoning I (QRI) requirement;
completing a course from the areas of mathematics, computer science, statistics, or formal logic that builds upon and expands a prerequisite course taken to meet the Quantitative Reasoning I requirement (courses may be listed as QRI or QRII); or
completing an approved Quantitative Reasoning II (QRII) course in any department at the 100, 200 or 300- level in which at least 25 percent of the course material and graded material require the use of mathematics, computer science, probability and statistics, or symbolic logic consistent with the Quantitative Reasoning II guidelines:
the use of calculus or mathematics for which calculus is a prerequisite; and/or mathematics which involves logical thought processes and places little emphasis on memorization and manipulation of mathematical formulas; clear organization and exposition of mathematical thought is expected
a course that incorporates the following computer science principles: problem formulation; algorithm development; coding in a programming language; and the application of computer programs to the solution of problems
a course that incorporates probability and statistics. Approved courses should emphasize the relationships between the assumptions of the probabilistic and statistical models presented and the conclusions drawn. The material should not be primarily “cookbook” in nature and must require that students understand when it is appropriate and inappropriate to apply particular models.
any course that incorporates philosophy which emphasizes the forms and methods of symbolic logic and scientific reasoning including: formal logic, including truth- functional logic and quantification theory; methods for the evaluation of scientific evidence; and the use of scientific information in decision making. The material must: (a) include the translation of verbal arguments into their symbolic counterparts (b) cover the relationships between premises and conclusions, and thus foster critical thinking; and (c) involve the manipulation of symbols

If you entered college as a freshman in Fall 2002 or later, you must complete both Quantitative Reasoning I (QR1) and Quantitative Reasoning II (QR2) courses in order to graduate. To complete the QR1 requirement you must take one course listed as QR1. To complete the QR2 requirement you must take a second course from either a second QR1 or a QR2.
If you entered college as a freshman between Fall 1993 and Summer 2002, you need to complete a Quantitative Reasoning I (QR1) course in order to graduate.

To ensure that all Illinois graduates will have a working knowledge of a language other than English (LOTE), each student must obtain credit or demonstrate proficiency at the third or fourth college semester level or satisfactorily complete the third or fourth secondary school year of language other than English. If you enter the university without three years of language other than English in high school (or four years for LAS students), you must take a language placement test to determine the courses in which you should enroll.

Students should consult with their academic advisor to determine their current level of completion and the level of completion required.

Campus LOTE Requirements:

Most students (with the exception of most LAS programs and one FAA program as noted below) students may satisfy the LOTE requirement in any of the following ways:

Successfully completing a third-semester college-level course in a language other than English;
Successful completion, in high school, of the third year of a language other than English; or
Demonstrating proficiency at the third semester level in a language proficiency examination approved by the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the appropriate department.

Musicology Major (College of Fine & Applied Arts) LOTE Requirement:

Successfully completing a fourth-semester college-level course in a language other than English;
Successful completion, in high school, of the fourth year of a language other than English;
Demonstrating proficiency at the fourth-semester level in a language proficiency examination approved by the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the appropriate department.

College of Liberal Arts and Sciences LOTE Requirements:

If you are a student in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences in the Sciences and Letters major, secondary education, or specialized curriculums not included in the exceptions listed on the LAS: Gen Ed language requirement website, you may satisfy the LOTE requirement in any of the following ways: 

Successfully completing a fourth-semester college-level course in a language other than English;
Successful completion, in high school, of the fourth year of a language other than English;
Successful completion of the third-semester level in each of two different languages other than English by any combination of high school and college work; or
Demonstrating proficiency at the fourth-semester level in a language proficiency examination approved by the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the appropriate department.

Effective for all entering freshmen in Fall 2000 or later, the language requirement must be completed for graduation. Gies College of Business (BUS) students who matriculated prior to Fall 2021 are required to complete to the fourth level. Consult with your academic advisor.

Exception to LOTE:

Students who can demonstrate and document a specific language-learning disability may petition for an accommodation to substitute approved cultural-based course work for regular language courses. Previous and current records of achievement, commentary from previous teachers, and clinical data are generally required to support petitions. All petitioners must be registered with Disability Resources and Educational Services. Students who are uncertain if they qualify for a language accommodation should start by meeting their Disability Resources and Educational Services (DRES) access specialist who will help to determine their eligibility and explain the various petition requirements. Students must work with both DRES and their college/school office on the exception and completing the proper petition and approved coursework.

General Education is just as essential to a student’s education as their specialized coursework because it provides students with the skills, knowledge, and experiences that will ensure their success during and after college, and in their professional, personal, and civic lives. No single major can provide a student with all the knowledge and skills they will need to be successful and fulfilled; it is General Education that provides students with the skills they cannot gain from their majors. Students who view the Gen Ed program as essential to their learning make the most out of their experience and are able to leverage the skills and knowledge gained from these courses towards their future success. Visit our Why Gen Eds? page for more information and read Gen Ed Program Testimonials to understand the impact.

In some cases, students will receive course credit that carries Gen Ed credit for AP, IB, or A-Level exams. Students should discuss any pre-college credit and Gen Ed completion with their Academic Advisor. Information about AP, IB, and A-Level credit is found on the Placement & Proficiency: Proficiency Testing website.

It is important to have your test scores sent to campus as soon as possible and check with your advisor to ensure it is recorded correctly.

In most cases yes, you may take Gen Ed equivalent courses at other institutions and transfer them to campus. Current University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign undergraduate students should contact their college office for information on transfer credit restrictions prior to enrolling in courses at other institutions. Find out more about Transfer Credits to Illinois or view our Transfer Student Gen Ed page.

Please visit our Transfer Student page to find information about the requirements, course transfer, Illinois Articulation Initiative (IAI), and other helpful information.

It may be possible to take Gen Ed equivalent courses while you are studying abroad. Students must follow the Education Abroad: Course Approvals process to have courses articulated, and part of the articulation process within the department/college/school where the course resides is evaluation for Gen Ed credit. It is important to discuss with your Academic Advisor, your college office, and the study abroad office.

Some campus departments offer proficiency exams that may allow students to earn credit for a course approved as Gen Ed. Students should discuss this option with their academic advisor to determine if earning the credit is necessary. Consult the Departmental Proficiency Exams website to determine which exams are available.

There is a Language Other Than English requirement which varies based on the program in which a student is enrolled (view details in the “Language Requirement ‘LOTE'” above). In some cases students may have this completed requirement from their high school transcript or AP/pre-college exams or they may be able to fulfill the requirement by taking a proficiency exam or coursework. Exemptions are only granted for special circumstances as listed in the section above. Consult with your academic advisor on completing this requirement.

It is important that you discuss this with your academic advisor as some programs may have specific requirements about the subcategories and students must follow for degree completion. The Gen Ed policy does not require students to take a course in each of the subcategories within these areas, but it is recommended that students explore courses in each of these areas to receive a more rounded Gen Ed experience (and example is taking one Behavioral Science and one Social Science, but most students have the flexibility to take two in the same subcategory). View the details under each of the categories above and speak with your academic advisor.

It is important to discuss your academic plan with your academic advisor to ensure you are on-track with both your specialized and Gen Ed requirements as there may be certain courses which must be taken in a particular order. We recommend students take their Gen Ed requirements throughout their undergraduate experience to gain the most from the Gen Ed Program and balance with specialized coursework rather than rushing to complete Gen Ed requirements. Spreading out these courses allows students to select Gen Ed courses which better align with interests, skills, and future goals which develop throughout their academic career.

Gen Ed themes are not listed in a student’s record or on a transcript, as they are an optional addition to the Gen Ed Program. There is no “completion” of a Gen Ed theme and no minimum number of classes a student may take in one or more themes. Instead, themes will act as a map for students to curate their undergraduate education, and then students will communicate what they’ve gained from these courses via their resume and discussion with potential employers.

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign students can view their degree audit through the Degree Audit System. This report is an unofficial audit of your degree progress which includes in progress coursework. Students are able to see which categories of Gen Ed requirements are completed, in progress, or unfulfilled in order to plan accordingly for the next courses in their academic sequence as a whole, as well as the Gen Ed program specifically.

The Course Explorer provides students the schedule of classes by term and a browsable database of General Education requirements and courses in addition to other resources. Students may also utilize the Gen Ed Themes to browse courses in specified areas, tailored to their personal interests.

Gen Ed requirements have change over time, so students should review Gen Ed requirements in the Course Explorer based on the year they started their undergraduate degree at Illinois, and discuss their Gen Ed requirements with an academic advisor.