The School of Arts and Sciences (SAS) requires that all students complete a goal-based Core Curriculum, as well as an approved major and an approved minor. Students who are pursuing an approved credit-intensive major or who are double majoring will have the minor requirement waived.
The distinctive SAS Core Curriculum is structured as a set of Core Arts and Sciences learning goals. All are framed as activities students will be able to do at a foundational level by virtue of meeting the specified core goal. Courses may be counted as meeting up to two learning goals; students generally will complete the core in 10 to 14 courses of 3 or 4 credits each. A course used to meet core goals may also be used to fulfill a major or minor requirement. Only graded degree credit-bearing courses worth at least 3 credits and certified by the SAS faculty may be used to meet core goals. For lists of courses certified as meeting each goal, see https://sasundergrad.rutgers.edu/degree-requirements/core. These lists are also available in the Rutgers online degree audit system, which students use to track their progress in completing the Core Curriculum.
CONTEMPORARY CHALLENGES [CC] Students take two degree credit-bearing courses (at least 6 credits) and, in doing so, meet at least two goals.
DIVERSITIES AND SOCIAL INEQUALITIES [CCD] Students take one degree credit-bearing course (at least 3 credits) and meet at least one goal.
- Analyze the degree to which forms of human differences and stratifications among social groups shape individual and group experiences of, and perspectives on, contemporary issues. Such differences and stratifications may include race, language, religion, ethnicity, country of origin, gender identity, sexual orientation, economic status, abilities, or other social distinctions and their intersections.
- Analyze contemporary social justice issues and unbalanced social power systems.
OUR COMMON FUTURE [CCO] (3 credits) Students must take one degree credit-bearing course that meets one or both of these goals.
- Analyze a contemporary global issue from a multidisciplinary perspective.
- Analyze the relationship that science and technology have to a contemporary social issue.
AREAS OF INQUIRYNatural Sciences [NS] Students take two degree credit-bearing courses (at least 6 credits) and, in doing so, meet the first goal and at least one other.
- Understand and apply basic principles and concepts in the physical or biological sciences.
- Explain and be able to assess the relationship among assumptions, method, evidence, arguments, and theory in scientific analysis.
- Identify and critically assess ethical and societal issues in science.
Social and Historical Analysis Students must take two degree credit-bearing courses and meet both HST and SCL, as follows:
Historical Analysis [HST] Students take one degree credit-bearing course (at least 3 credits) and meet at least one goal.
- Explain the development of some aspect of a society or culture over time, including the history of ideas or history of science.
- Employ historical reasoning to study human endeavors.
Social Analysis [SCL] Students take one degree credit-bearing course (at least 3 credits) and meet at least one goal.
- Understand different theories about human culture, social identity, economic entities, political systems, and other forms of social organization.
- Apply concepts about human and social behavior to particular questions or situations.
Arts and Humanities [AH] Students take two degree credit-bearing courses (at least 6 credits) and meet at least two distinct goals.
- Examine critically philosophical and other theoretical issues concerning the nature of reality, human experience, knowledge, value, and/or cultural production. [AHo]
- Analyze arts and/or literatures in themselves and in relation to specific histories, values, languages, cultures, and technologies. [AHp]
- Understand the nature of human languages and their speakers. [AHq]
- Engage critically in the process of creative expression. [AHr]
COGNITIVE SKILLS AND PROCESSESWriting and Communication [WC] Students take three degree credit-bearing courses (at least 9 credits) including Expository Writing 01:355:101; one WCr; and one WCd and meet all five goals.
- Communicate complex ideas effectively, in standard written English, to a general audience.
- Respond effectively to editorial feedback from peers, instructors, and/or supervisors through successive drafts and revision. [WCr]
- Communicate effectively in modes appropriate to a discipline or area of inquiry. [WCd]
- Evaluate and critically assess sources and use the conventions of attribution and citation correctly.
- Analyze and synthesize information and ideas from multiple sources to generate new insights.
Students receiving a score of 4 or above on the AP English composition or literature tests are exempted from Expository Writing 01:355:101, and for such students the writing and communication goals become a two-course requirement: WCr and WCd. Transfer credits from courses taken in high school will not meet this requirement, even if they appear on a college transcript.
The Revision-Based Writing and Communication learning goal [WCr] must be fulfilled by taking a class at Rutgers University-New Brunswick; transfer and AP courses are not certified to meet this learning goal.
Quantitative and Formal Reasoning [Q] Students take two degree credit-bearing courses (at least 6 credits) and meet both goals.
- Formulate, evaluate, and communicate conclusions and inferences from quantitative information. [QQ]
- Apply effective and efficient mathematical or other formal processes to reason and to solve problems. [QR]
Transfer credits from courses taken in high school will not generally meet these requirements.
