UW Bothell Academic Advising

General Education Requirements

Undergraduate Degree

Your journey to an undergraduate degree culminates with the successful completion of at least 180 college quarter credits. These credits encompass General Education, additional requirements unique to your school, and in-depth study within your major. Progressing at a rate of 15 credits each quarter (autumn, winter, and spring) allows for degree completion in approximately four years. Beyond coursework, graduation also involves fulfilling grade, credit, residence, and matriculation criteria.

Areas of Inquiry

Nearly half of your degree will be in the Areas of Inquiry (AOI)—more credits than most majors. These broad fields form the foundation of your UW Bothell education, helping you connect ideas across disciplines. You’ll take at least 15 credits in each AOI: Arts & Humanities (A\&H), Social Sciences (SSc), and Natural Sciences (NSc). Learn more about Areas of Inquiry.

Additional Course Requirements

Every degree requires that students complete at least 15 credits in each of the Areas of Inquiry (AOI): Social Sciences (SSc), Natural Sciences (NSc), and Arts and Humanities (A&H). However, some degrees may require more than 15 credits in each Area of Inquiry. In addition, you must demonstrate mastery in the areas of English Composition, Additional Writing, Reasoning (RSN) and the Diversity requirement.

  • Reasoning: your Reasoning course can, if applicable, also count toward any other requirement. Most students are able to count their Reasoning course toward AOI, or their major, or both. For more information see the Reasoning degree requirement web page.
  • Additional Writing: the courses you take to satisfy the additional writing requirement may also count toward any other requirements they otherwise qualify for. For example, if BES 301 Science, Methods and Practices (which is a NSc) was offered as a W-course, you could count it toward NSc and Additional Writing. For more information see the Additional Writing degree requirement web page.
  • English Composition: to complete your undergraduate degree, you must take at least one First-Year Composition course. On the UW Bothell campus, you can choose to take a one-quarter class (B WRIT 134: Composition), or you can choose to take a two-quarter stretch option (B WRIT 132: Composition Stretch I and B WRIT 133: Composition Stretch II) that will provide an extended experience at working with reading and writing. You should complete the Directed Self-Placement Survey in order to determine which option is best for you. Many majors will require Research Writing as well, called B WRIT 135. For more information see the English Composition degree requirement web page.
  • Diversity: the University requires students to take no fewer than 5 credits of courses, approved by the appropriate school or college, which focus on the sociocultural, political, and economic diversity of human experience at local, regional, or global scales. For more information see the Diversity degree requirement web page.

Minors

Courses taken toward a minor, if applicable, can also count toward any general education requirement. And although you can’t major and minor in the same area of study, there are some interdisciplinary minors that could overlap to some extent with your major. For more information, explore the Minors web page.

Other Requirements

Grades

To graduate with a baccalaureate degree, a student must earn a cumulative GPA of 2.00 for all work done in residence (see below) at the University. The school your major is in may also require a 2.00 minimum GPA in the major at the time of graduation. Some degree programs require a higher GPA overall and/or in the major.

Residence Requirements

To graduate with a baccalaureate degree, a student must complete at least 45 credits in residence at UW Bothell. Residence credits are UW credits earned through the campus granting the degree (i.e. UW Bothell).

In addition, 45 of the last 60 credits must be taken in residence; this is referred to as the final-year residence requirement. The idea is that in order to earn a UW Bothell degree, the majority of your final courses — which are usually upper division courses in your major — should be taken through UW Bothell.

Residence credit includes:

  • Day and evening courses from the quarterly time schedule at the student’s home UW campus, including fieldwork and individual-study courses that don’t require that the student be on campus
  • Foreign study credit earned through UW Bothell-sponsored Study Abroad program

Residence credit does not include:

  • Transfer courses
  • Any UW Bothell courses taken by students on drop status
  • UW Seattle or UW Tacoma credits, for students matriculated at the Bothell campus, and vice-versa. Only credits earned at the campus granting the degree are considered residence credits.
  • Credit courses offered by UW Professional and Continuing Education
  • AP and International Baccalaureate credit
  • Credit by examination
  • College in the High School, including courses sponsored by UW Professional and Continuing Education
  • Armed Forces Training School credit
  • Foreign study credit that appears on the student’s transcript as transfer credit, UW Seattle or UW Tacoma Credits

Matriculation Requirement

A matriculated student is one who has been admitted to a UW Bothell school, as a pre-major or declared major. To be granted an undergraduate degree, a student must complete at least 45 UW Bothell credits as a matriculated student.

After a student has been admitted to the UW Bothell, types of UW credit which count toward this matriculation requirement include “regular” credit courses listed in the quarterly Time Schedule, credits taken at another UW campus, credit courses offered by UW Professional and Continuing Education, and all UW online learning courses.