General Education Program Requirements

All undergraduate students (except those transferring to UF with an A.A. degree from a Florida public college or an A.A. certificate from a Florida public state university) are required to complete UF's general education requirement to graduate.

Subject Area State Core Gen Ed Courses Totals
Biological and Physical Sciences1 3 3 6
Composition 3 3 6
Humanities1 3 3 6
Social & Behavioral Science1 3 3 6
Mathematics 3 3 6
Additional Required Gen Ed Coursework (Humanities, Social Science, or Natural Science)2   6 6
OVERALL TOTALS 15 21 36
 

1To complete General Education, student must select a General Education course in the “Humanities” that features the “UF Quest 1” subject area for 3 credits, a General Education course in the “Social and Behavioral Science” or “Natural Science” that features the “UF Quest 2” subject area for 3 credits, a General Education course that features the "International” subject area for 3 credits, and a General Education course that features the “Diversity” subject area for 3 credits.

2Majors that feature extensive use of these subject areas may require a student to complete all 6 “Additional Required Gen Ed Coursework” credits in a particular subject area. See the Major Model Semester Plan for details.

*All general education courses are identified by letter in the course descriptions section of the University of Florida catalog. The subject area letter designations appear at the end of the course description. For example: PHI 2010 Introduction to Philosophy fulfills three credits in the Humanities (H) area.

The schedule of courses also includes a list of all courses that fulfill each Gen Ed subject area. In addition, course listings in every schedule identify whether a course section satisfies Gen Ed credit (refer to the G.E. column).

** Three credits must be from a general education mathematics course with a prefix of MAC, MAP, MAS, MGF or MHF (a.k.a., 'pure math').

*** Required of all students entering Fall 2020 or after. Students who entered Fall 2019 or earlier may satisfy this requirement with "What is the Good Life".

**** Some C, H, P, B and S general education courses carry the diversity (D) or international (N) designation. The latter can be assigned only to courses with the former designations. The general education program requires the completion of two 3-credit courses, one with the diversity (D) designation and the other with the international (N) designation.
 

Important Considerations

  • A minimum grade of C is required for general education credit. Courses intended to satisfy the general education requirement cannot be taken S-U.
  • Some majors require or recommend specific general education courses.
  • Certain classes are approved to count for multiple general education program areas. Students can count a general education course toward one area only except for (D) and (N) credits, which must be earned concurrently with another area. For example, a course designated as HD can count toward both the H and D requirements, but a course designated CH can count only as C or H.
  • Study abroad courses can fulfill international credit, in addition to fulfilling credit in other subject areas. Study abroad must be approved in advance by an academic advisor and the UF International Center.

Successful completion of these requirements will result in the student learning outcomes.

Selecting General Education Courses

Students can take Gen Ed courses at the 1000-4000 levels. First-year students generally take introductory (1000/2000-level) courses. If a student has the academic background and the interest they may take more advanced courses, but they should first check the course prerequisites and/or consult an academic advisor.

Applying Incoming Credits to General Education

AP, IB, AICE, and CLEP credit count toward completion of the general education program requirements. In general, course equivalencies are derived from the course equivalency charts from the student's year of matriculation at UF.

Acceptable dual enrollment and other transfer credit will fulfill the general education requirements that the same UF course fulfills if the course is equivalent. Courses from Florida public colleges and State University System schools generally adhere to the Statewide Course Numbering System. If the prefix (first three letters) and the last three digits of the course number are the same, then the course is considered equivalent.

If the course does not have a common-numbered equivalent at UF (either because UF does not offer the course or because the transferred course was not taken in the state system), then the student's college needs to evaluate the course to determine whether it fulfills a general education requirement.
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