General Education Requirements

The text of the current general education and other degree requirements for each degree program (BA, BMUS, five-year BA/BMUS, and BMA) can be found at Academics. Current students should refer to the catalog under which they entered to review the requirements for their degrees. Past catalogs can be found at Lawrence University Catalogs.

The most recent revision of the general education requirements occurred in Fall 2007 for the BMUS degree program, and in Fall 2008 for the BA and BA/BMUS degree programs. A comparison sheet (pdf) is available to help advisors who need to work with students completing under different sets of requirements (catalogs).

The university faculty has designated certain classes as meeting competency and diversity requirements. Symbols appear in the class schedule and on student transcripts for classes so designated. (G--global diversity, D--dimensions of diversity, A--BA foreign language competency, M--BMUS. foreign language competency, Q--quantitative and mathematical reasoning, S--speaking intensive, and W--writing intensive).

The definitive list of offerings meeting diversity and competency requirements can be found in the Class Schedule. There is no guarantee, however, that every time a particular course is offered it will taught in a way that fulfills a particular competency or diversity requirement. For example, not every offering of ENG 455 will be done as a speaking-intensive class. Classes that might be offered to meet these requirements can be found at

Instructors must request approval from the Committee on Instruction to have the courses they teach fulfill diversity and competency requirements.

Once a course syllabus has been approved for a competency or diversity requirement, the instructor is free to offer the course in a particular term using the approved syllabus. The instructor or department chair must indicate the competency or diversity requirement when scheduling the class.